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A little above that label.
It is now years I did not quietly watch it, and I must really say that Reed´s film is quiet remarkable, photographed the German Expressionist way, gorgeous black & white, Alida Valli still a beauty with high class, Trevor Howard untouchable, Bernard Lee, Cotten Joseph, many wonderful Austrian actors, a story by Graham Greene and the dark force of Wells in a story shadowing the whole adventure.
I am more than satisfy.
Now why can´t they make nothing of this intensity any more, or is it me ?
I doubt it.
And and then the music, a bit much too monotone and proeminent in the end, but, but...
" Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine."
Follow Ups:
-------------Call it, friendo.
Well I look in Germany, 99% pop corn movies, ok 95%...
" Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine."
...there are many remarkable films available on Blu-ray, including Pan's Labyrinth, Babel, No Country for Old Men, Letters from Iwo Jima, Dog Day Afternoon, Goodfellas, The Prestige, Unforgiven, Master and Commander, Oldboy and many documentaries. It's not all garbage.
-------------Call it, friendo.
Early reviews for both discs are very positive-I may have to pick up both.
Paul McGann's 2004 film In My Father's Den is one of the best Kiwi movies ever made, and one of the best films of 2004. It ranks with Once Were Warriors, Heavenly Creatures, The Piano. Winner at Toronto International and several other prominent fests - alas, it isn't available in the US except as an import from R2 or R4. Highly recommend this title.
Also available in Region B is the BBC production of Bleak House, certainly worth a view. Criterion is also preparing its first BD releases.
For these BDs, as well as Master & Commander, Goodfellas, The Searchers, Pride & Prejudice, Great Epectations (Lean), Black Narcissus and several others, I'm going to have to get a BD player, one that converts PAL> NTSC.
of the BD hat is region free.
Available at Xploited Cinema
Jack
...for all intents and purposes, just re-packaged for Oz and NZ, you lucky dogs. The German version is Region free, and in PAL. This is the same mastering, same set - note it even has German subtitles.
It's all the same to me technically since I gotta have a BD player that does PAL> NTSC whether I order from Holland or Xploited Cinema.
Anyway, thanks for the update. Seems ridiculous that The Price Of Milk is released in US on DVD but not IMFD - also a mortal shame the director passed away soon after it made the festival rounds and won all those prizes. Glad I got to see IMFD at a film festival.
> > > It's all the same to me technically since I gotta have a BD player that does PAL> NTSC whether I order from Holland or Xploited Cinema. < < <
There is no PAL or NTSC for BD.
Jack
I should explain "gotta". The PAL> NTSC is for my DVDs only. But I want *one* machine that will play BDs and R1-2-4 DVDs. I have many standard DVDs from UK/Europe and a couple from R4 that I doubt will be on BD any time soon. I hate having so many boxes to play movies, hate hooking up so much stuff. I can live with it short term, but I don't like it.
I wish Oppo had their BD model ready but that probably won't happen any time soon.
Since it looks like the Oz/German discs were the same, it doesn't matter where it comes from for my purposes. But for the 20-30 other non R1 standard DVDs I really need that BD region free, DVD PAL> NTSC thing. So far the only ones I've seen available from HK or Europe are $800-1000.
The good news is that so far all of the Europe only BDs I want are region free.
I'm in the same boat. I probably have hundreds of imported DVDs, and right now, I have 3 players under my TV.
Jack
Many TVs can handle both PAL and NTSC inputs. My Denon DVD player happily outputs either PAL or NTSC and my TV accepts both. Ditto for my PS3. The Denon's front panel display happily states that the output is 480 i or p for NTSC discs and 576 i or p for PAL depending on whether I let it do the de-interlacing. My display doesn't care.
Hell, I'm in Australia which is Region 4 with a PAL standard def TV system and some of the studios even release some Region 4 discs in NTSC. People don't look, they simply pop them in their players and the TV looks after it. Most people probably don't even know what they're doing and have never heard of PAL or NTSC. The studios could only get away with it if the TVs and displays were capable of handling both signals.
Check your display's manual and I suspect you'll find there is no problem.
David Aiken
The vast majority of TVs in US are not PAL compatible. Never have been. In fact, I'd say 99.9% of displays sold in retail outlets can't display PAL - there are some front projecters that are exceptions and there may be specialty dealers still importing Loewens (doubtful, haven't seen any of these CRT German TVs in about 7 years). There were a few CRT Sampos sold a few years ago, but they're long gone and your average person never knew they existed. Most people here have no idea there are even diferent video standards.The TVs that ordinary consumers see at their local electronics stores definitely don't do PAL. Plus many of the DVD players available in stores are set to R1 and aren't region free without hacks - plenty of players don't even have a conversion capability. Some that do don't do it very well. You have to research what players do what out of the box and which have hack codes.
Several online sellers, including Amazon, sell DVD region free converting players. There used to be a specialty dealer selling NTSC/PAL/SECAM tvs on the net - smallish 4:3 aspect ratio CRT TVs targeted for people moving from US to foreign lands. Extremely exxpensive for mediocre, outdated TVs when people can get a much better display that does NTSC and PAL at their destination.
Y'all are lucky in Oz and Europe. It's assumed you'll be watching imported discs. In North American it's just the opposite, it's assumed we won't.
That's why many of us are eagerly awaiting the BD player from Oppo, which will have BD capability, superior DVD upscaling and outstanding PAL> NTSC conversion.
.
No not all. But how long will it take to see the real films?
I take my time until.
And I must say that the Krell DVD is not only having a good picture and with a good made film an excellent one it also have a sound that I certainly not get from another Ray Blue player so easily.
" Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine."
.
Don't want to repeat other comments I have made on this forum, but will add that this is one film that bears repeated viewings, and grows in grandeur and subtlety with each one. It is a simple morality tale, in a sense -- a conflict between good and evil, between love and duty -- which reveals that frailty and virtue are indistinguishable within the human heart, and which thereby attains mythic stature.
There's the famous soundtrack, the famous sewer sequence, the fabulous cast and the splendid cinematography and ... and then, there is that final scene, that parting shot of all parting shots, with the wind blowing and the leaves scuttling across an autumnal landscape, and the a lady walking down a road which recedes into a vanishing point, leaving behind every yearning man's heart that ever beat. Exquisite!
Give me a minute, and I'll think of two or three other peerless shots in this film.
Some may find this mid-twentieth century gem's ethos somewhat unfamiliar to the palette, to be expected with one's first taste of caviar. But, if you just give it a chance to work on you, it'll go down like honey barbecue flavor fritos!
I would put even more weight on the fact that Greene wrote it.
It is typical work for his ( catholic ) conscience.
It is not only philosophical it is also a time document, and when you hear the dialog of the Austrian actore IT IS SO real as real can goes for the time back then.
Where we disagree is the film music, less would have been more.
I would have ease with a bit of orchestra music with the main theme.
But wo am I?ff
A masterpiece, and the end show the real grandeur of this life like, un. Hollywodian film par excellence.
English film realistic and crude.
In the best 100 / 200 films-of all time-
" Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine."
You know, I've been meaning to pick up a Greene novel lately, having never read one. Have you? Any thoughts?
I am in no position to say whether it is one of the best 100 or 200. I would have trouble coming up with 100 great movies, period. I don't think I've seen as many as you have. I wouldn't call my self a serious student of film.
But it certainly stands out in my mind as one of the greatest films I have ever seen.
I guess there is a case that could be made against the use of a single instrument to carry the entire score, and it does seem to stand out more in places, drawing attention to itself, that today's more "professionally done" orchestral scores. But when it works, it is achingly good, and for this sentimentalist, it is so much a part of the film's experience that I find it hard to imagine without it.
I would start with his " Short Stories " it gives you a taste of him then later with his novels if you like him.
Most of his books have been filmed BTW.
You can make an IMdb search...
Films are a wonderful pleasure.
" Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine."
patrickU,
"The Third Man" has long been one of my all-time favourite movies, "Seven Samurai", being another that approaches all-round perfection.
For those who don't know this one, it concerns cowboy Western novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) who arrives in immediate post-war Vienna to write for a charity of his old school chum Harry Lime (Orson Welles). But, Martins learns that Lime was killed when hit by a car, and decides to look into the suspicious death when the eye-witness accounts vary- the caretaker of Lime's apartment building saw three men carry the accident victim to the pavement- intead of the offical two men, hence the titular "third man". While Martins is looking around he's approached by Trevor Howard, who tries to convince Martins that Lime was a dangerous clack-marketeer, whose medicinces have injured and killed children, and in the meantime falls for Lime's somber girlfriend, played by Valli. But, Martins discovers more than he wanted to know and is caught up in a dark intrigue.
A powerful theme of how loyalty to an old friend can blind one's judgement. As you mention, every part was superbly cast, plus war-ravaged Vienna is a fantastic character itself. This movie could never have been as sublimely, depressingly beautiful except in black and white and could never be remade as the cast could never be equalled- Trevor Howard's nonchalant keen-eyed Major, Howard's laconically efficient sargeant Payne, the ghostly Dr. Winkle, "That's 'VEEn-kel', and I can have no opinion, the injury vould have been the same", the ruined Count witht he Cheshire cat smile, the intensely loyal Valli, the sinister Romanian Pepesco, the cheerfully ammoral Welles- all unrepeatable. - This movie has the most beautifully photographed sewer system ever!
Don't wait to see "The Third Man" too long as you may have to reset your lifetime movie watching clock back to "0".
Then, for another treat of intrigue and black comedy, watch another of Carol Reed's masterpieces, "Our Man in Havana" with Alec Guiness, Burl Ives, and Noel Coward in which Guiness, as a Havana vacuum cleaner salesman is caught in Cold War/Cuban Revolution espionage maneuvering.
Cheers,
Bambi B
PS> Patrick, il y a seulement deux jours nous avons parle du "Hobson's Choice". Et voyance delicieuse ! ce film a ete montre la nuit derniere sur TCM. -Avec grand plaisir pour moi !
Yes, "The Third Man" should be on anyone's very short list of great films.
Thanks for reminding me about "Our Man in Havana." It has been quite a while since I've seen that film. I fear, however, that events since viewing that film have changed my perspective on it. I thought it was an amusing dark comedy back then. But, since then, the U.S. has gone back into Iraq, base heavily on evidence given by someone who drew pictures of what he claimed was a biological weapons laboratory, a claim which brought this fella a lot of "sponsorship" and money from the U.S. government. As it turned out, the facility he drew looked remarkably like a vacuum cleaner. I would guess that "Our Man" would not play as funny these days. The same thing happened to "Network;" I wonder if "Fight Club" is next.
Warning to those who've never seen "Our Man in Havana"- plot spoilers follow:
Larry I,
The connection you make between the atomic vacuum sketches in "Our Man in Havana" and the contrived WMD evidence in Iraq is brilliant- it nicely demonstrates the way truth is manipulated to support previously derived intentions of the powerful. George Bush Sr. once said, "I'll never apologize for the United States. Ever. I don't care what the facts are," and in "Our Man", Guiness is completely unapologetic for his deceptions to earn the money to give his daughter a pony. He only fears discovery- but is eventually rewarded for his duplicity while the innocent pilot he named had been murdered, his friend (Burl Ives) was murdered, and Guiness murders the agent after him after nearly being poisoned himself. This is indeed as about as dark as humour goes, and all the darker because of the resemblence to current reality- 50 years after.
All the more reason to see "Our Man" and reflect.
Cheers,
Bambi B
Bises d´Allemagne!
" Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine."
Mon ami,
Je tombe dans la vieillesse
Le corps a moulé dans le béton irritable
Esprit distrait par pensée de la mort
Regrets de l'unexperienced, le non fini, l'inimaginable
Le paradis tellement mat doit être
Prisonnier d'un film éternel
Rappel de la pluie froide de l'ennui.
Bambi B
ANNABELLE LEE
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love -
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me
Yes! that was the reason
(as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we
Of many far wiser than we
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Edgar Allan Poe.
" Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine."
like "Kanal" are considerably more sinister and 3-dimensional by comparison
Tho' I am impressed by the echoes the "3rd Man" sewers have; especially with gunfire....
The sewers in Fellinis "Roma" are on a far more majestic scale, and contain crypts and ancient artworks...( Just teasin' you Bambi B., all well filmed! )
Grins
grinagog,
First, in defense of "The Third Man" sewer precendence, that was filmed in 1946 while "Kanal" -no matter how sweet smelling it is- was released in 1957.
But, thank you, I always appreciate learning about other good sewer movies. A search for "sewers" on the IMdb yields:
1.William S. Burroughs: Commissioner of Sewers (1991)
2.Égouts du paradis, Les (1979) aka "The Sewers of Paradise"
3.The Great Riviera Bank Robbery (1979) aka "Sewers of Gold" - UK
4.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers (1991) (VG)
5.Children of the Sewers (1999) (TV)
Don't all of these- except the Turtles rubbish- sound intriguing?
There is also the role of the sewer in "The Shawshank Redemption" - Tim Robbins crawls 500 yards through a sewer to escape.
I had never heard of "Kanal", but the IMdb synopses sounds promising.
It's interesting as sewers- like the Viennese in "The Third Man" was used as a metaphor for Harry Lime's (Welles) complete ammorality and degredation- he's trapped like a rat. The shot of Welles' fingers poking through the street grate waving like blades a grass feeling the free air above ground a final time was very sriking. In "Shawshank" the crawl to freedom suggests his "final payment" as part of his redemption.
Now, I'm wondering what will be the promise of "The Sewers of Paradise"?
Cheers,
Bambi B
And yes, Valli is loyal to her now past love, Orson never care for her, but she sublime that and can go beyond, and find a love who sufice to itsel, for a life time long.
That is pure religion.
Au hasard Balthasar come to my mind.
HC is on my shelve waiting for my pleasure....
" Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine."
Reading again about 'The Third Man' I think of Welles' character here as being "bookended" in a sense in 'Touch of Evil', as if he survived and wound up as a broken, corrupt cop many years later.
Absolutely the two darkest things Welles did, in my opinion. And both shattering performances.
And if you have never seen it, go to Youtube and seek out Welles doing either (depending on who you ask) 1. A spoof of his Paul Masson commercials, or 2. Just being absolutely hammered on-set and delivering two takes that will have you bent over in pain from laughing.
C.
Touch of Evil , this one is " unclean " I don´t like it, it may be a very good film, and it has many qualities one being a perfect B&W photography, but Wells is too much of Wells and the story is too brutal for my sensible soul.
Now I now the commercials, and even his last interview near Paris.
Rosebud that is my name for his greatest.
Have a good time!
" Mieux vaut une tête bien faite qu'une tête bien pleine."
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