Posted by jefty
on 9/14/2009, 6:18 am, in reply to "NOTW: The Third Man (1949) 9/14/2009"
75.176.18.73 | Message modified by user jefty 9/14/2009, 6:21 am
Excellent and entertaining write up on this great film. I agree about the zither music..after the familiar opening strains which instantly identify the film, I find the rest mostly annoying and distracting...often too loud in places where a miid undertone would have sufficed...it's a case of the theme taking over the movie. I agree that a less intrusive classical score with treatments on Strauss's waltzs or the music of other composers associated with Vienna like Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Mozart and so many others. I have several episodes of the radio drama, Harry Lime and like the film, I recoil at the ear shattering dissonance of the zither, an instrument better left in it's case. It's Bohemian strains certainly lend to the sense of place but theexpert camera work, lighting and the abject starkness of post war Wein (Vienna) make the music redundant and unnecessary. Opposite to the familiar, in this case, more is less.
""Is the casino vault armored? No, it's made of wood! -" Bob Le Flambeau" -1956
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