How Orson Welles Stole ”The Third Man” • Hacker News Board

Re: How Orson Welles Stole ”The Third Man”

#11

Post by LaundroMat » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 7:27 AM UTC

salimmadjd wrote: post #5

One of my favorite movies of all time. So much so that I own it in Blu-ray and when I visited Vienna I took a ride on the famous ferris wheel. The night images are amazing and they spent so much time spraying the streets every night with water to get that look. I'm also so glad the director fought hard to avoid the typical movie score that was pushed by Hollywood producers and went for the iconic sound of the zither…

As a side note, last time I was in Vienna, there was an old cinema playing the Third Man every day.

Re: How Orson Welles Stole ”The Third Man”

#12

Post by triggercut » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 9:24 AM UTC

salimmadjd wrote: post #5

One of my favorite movies of all time. So much so that I own it in Blu-ray and when I visited Vienna I took a ride on the famous ferris wheel. The night images are amazing and they spent so much time spraying the streets every night with water to get that look. I'm also so glad the director fought hard to avoid the typical movie score that was pushed by Hollywood producers and went for the iconic sound of the zither…

Fun fact: My grandfather was a sound recordist on location for The Third Man. One day Reed told him to just grab his gear and come with him to the restaurant after they had finished shooting for the day. IIRC it was quite late, and it was a nightmare to record because of all the background noise from the restaurant. Probably another reason they re-recorded later.

They shot the Ferris Wheel over the course of a whole day, going around and around and around whilst there was light. The cars were quite small for filming, so Reed, the cameraman and my grandfather were pressed up against the other side as far back as they could. He would recall it as being a grueling day.

I don't know if they ended up re-shooting that later, because in the film the background out the windows looks projected. He never watched any films he worked on, so might not have known.

He had so many stories from that shoot, which was odd because he didn't like talking about work, so I got the impression it was one of his favorite location shoots.

Re: How Orson Welles Stole ”The Third Man”

#13

Post by ralfd » Sat, Sep 21, 2019, 12:13 PM UTC

salimmadjd wrote: post #5

One of my favorite movies of all time. So much so that I own it in Blu-ray and when I visited Vienna I took a ride on the famous ferris wheel. The night images are amazing and they spent so much time spraying the streets every night with water to get that look. I'm also so glad the director fought hard to avoid the typical movie score that was pushed by Hollywood producers and went for the iconic sound of the zither…

Wiki: > [The film] initially offended some Viennese inhabitants, as it focused on the disgrace of the destroyed city. Vienna's newspaper critics hated the film, except for its music.

I understand the sentiment of the time, but I found it really striking to see the rubble and destruction in the city.

Re: How Orson Welles Stole ”The Third Man”

#14

Post by emmelaich » Mon, Sep 23, 2019, 6:47 AM UTC

jweir wrote: post #7

While on the topic of Graham Greene - I recommend his novel Quiet American. Written in the mid 50s it shows amazing insight into the future of American foreign policy and regime change. And does so through a great story.

Made into a good movie. Brendan Fraser (surprisingly?) very good. His best role.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quiet_American_(2002_film)