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I watched this brilliant move- twice- over the weekend on TCM, part of their series "The Essentials". This movie just gets better and better everytime I watch it. The direction, the incredible B&W cinamatography, performances and sheer atmosphere of post WWII Vienna are intoxicating. I really paid attention to Karas' scoring of the initial scene where Harry Lime appears in the shadows and the tabby cat runs to his feet while he stands in the doorway. This has got to be one of my favorite movies of all time- a masterpiece. I have the London lp imported from Britain circa 1978 with the B&W phote of Orson Welles' as Harry Lime on the cover. It was called The World of Anton Karas and Harry Lime and contains most of the zither music from the score- Has this ever been released on CD? At any rate, I'm ordering this DVD immediately!
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A great film but I don't really like the 'whole' score.The last time I watched it I thought it was too reliant on the Hary lime theme with little,or no,variantion.So sez I,anyway.
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Karas' score is wonderful. Minimalism at its very best!
A bit too minimal for me,Ray.
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Be sure to get the Criterion DVD. It's the same transfer as was shown on TCM and has great extras.
I remember the video tape that Hal Roach Studios released back in the 80's. They monkeyed with the finale and played the End Cast (Harry Lime Theme) over the final shot of the picture where Vali is doing her long walk. Talk about ruining an ending!! For years I thought this was how the Selznick version played but I finally got an actual Selznick print and the music is correct.
Karas' score is wonderful. Minimalism at its very best!
Thanks. This is the kind of film I can't imagine ever getting tired of. I was really focused on Bernard Lee's performance this time around. It's excellent. Oddly, Guy Hamilton was Carol Reed's assistant director, and would later direct Lee in 4 Bond movies, most notably Goldfinger.
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Jeez, Ford, thanks- ordering today with some Citadel sale cd's!
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Great film, perfect and rather daring choice of a lone zither player to score it! For me, the entire score works like a charm, and "charm" is the operative word. Obviously this is one that either works its magic on you or it doesn't. I'm always entranced.
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I have to confess, that I also still wonder, if any of the original London session acetates are still in existence. I know, there are several Anton Karas albums out there, but all these feature other "Wiener Lieder" instead of an representation of the entire score.
Ray?
The old lp I mentioned all sounded like archival recordings- It also had Karas' renditions of things like Lili Marlene and the like- I'd dig the lp out but it's boxed away as I'm moving.
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Just ordered the new recording of this and I notice that it has several bands that are actual dialog from the film- which doesn't bother me because it's a great screenplay, but it got me to thinking about a comment Robert Osbourne made in the introduction while he was discussing it with Molly Haskell, that being just what was the extent of Welles' participation in the making of the movie, as it was something more than just his dazzling portayal of Lime. Anybody know?
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Just ordered the new recording of this and I notice that it has several bands that are actual dialog from the film- which doesn't bother me because it's a great screenplay, but it got me to thinking about a comment Robert Osbourne made in the introduction while he was discussing it with Molly Haskell, that being just what was the extent of Welles' participation in the making of the movie, as it was something more than just his dazzling portayal of Lime. Anybody know?
By most accounts, including his own, Welles wrote the famous "cuckoo clock" speech delivered by Harry Lime, and he may also have written the short bit about having run out of digestion tablets in the same scene. Welles also claimed that he suggested the shot in which Harry's fingers come up through the sewer grille at the end of the picture. And that's the entire extent of his involvement in the film, except as an actor. Welles himself denied that he had anything more to do with the film than these few small contributions.
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By most accounts, including his own, Welles wrote the famous "cuckoo clock" speech delivered by Harry Lime, and he may also have written the short bit about having run out of digestion tablets in the same scene. Welles also claimed that he suggested the shot in which Harry's fingers come up through the sewer grille at the end of the picture. And that's the entire extent of his involvement in the film, except as an actor. Welles himself denied that he had anything more to do with the film than these few small contributions.
Thanks. I urge anybody who has never seen this masterpiece to do so post haste. It just keeps getting better every time.
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If you ever get the chance to see this film projected, do so. The images of the ravaged postwar landscape are incredibly arresting... and if you think Welles' entry looked great on television...
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If you ever get the chance to see this film projected, do so. The images of the ravaged postwar landscape are incredibly arresting... and if you think Welles' entry looked great on television...
I did! Back in the late 70's, Benson & Hedges (yes, the purveyor of carcinogins) sponsered a series of the "100 best movies of all time" as a midnight movie series in theaters- ended up being only 20 or so as they dropped sponsorship-- but this was one of them and it was gorgeous! They'd show the trailer for next weeks feature and a short subject and newsreel from the year of the features release. Others in the series that I remember were Citizen Kane. All About Eve, Gilda, African Queen, To Catch A Thief, Casablanca- nice idea sadly aborted.
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Limelight Editions, the outfit that published my book about THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, also put out a volume called IN SEARCH OF THE THIRD MAN, containing plenty of info about Carol Reed discovering Karas and putting his music into the film.
I remember reading Karas's obituary and getting a distinctly poignant feeling. Here was a little guy, content to ply his art and craft in cafes in his home town, who suddenly found himself catapulted into a fame he'd never sought and felt he had to live up to the rest of his life. If Orson Welles had made a film about him, CITIZEN KARAS, the word spoken by the musician on his deathbed would turn out, in the last reel, to be the name of the streetcorner cafe where he'd been contentedly playing his tunes before all the hubbub started...
***
Incidentally, there was a THIRD MAN TV series starring Michael Rennie, if memory serves, and Karas's music was featured not only in the series but in a soundtrack LP. Probably fine fidelity if you can run across a copy.
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