CONSENSUS #71 - The Third Man (1949)

SYNOPSIS: "The Third Man" is set in post- WWII Vienna. An American novelist (Joseph Cotton) visits to see a childhood friend (Orson Welles). He finds out the friend is dead, but the circumstances are suspicious. He hooks up with his friend's girl. He finds out that his friend was a racketeer responsible for selling tainted penicillin on the black market.  The authorities are still looking for the charismatic profiteer which culminates in a famous chase through the sewers.

BACK-STORY: “The Third Man” is a classic film noir released in 1949. It foreshadowed the boom in that genre in America in the 50s. It is a British film, however. It was directed by the acclaimed Carol Reed and is considered his greatest film. The screenplay is by Graham Greene. The British Film Institute in 1999 designated it the greatest British film of the 20th Century. It was awarded the top prize at Cannes and won an Academy Award for Cinematography (a no-brainer) and was nominated for Director and Editing. It was set and filmed in Vienna, including the scenes in its famous sewer system. The remarkable score is done with a musical instrument called a “zither”. The opening theme (“The Third Man Theme”) was an international hit. The movie was a hit with both critics and audiences. The rumors that Orson Welles actually directed are not true. He did have a lot of influence over the dialogue of his character, however.

TRIVIA:  Wikipedia, imdb, TCM

1.  Reed shot in Vienna for six weeks.  Because of time constraints, he ran three camera crews – daytime, nighttime, and sewer.  He worked twenty hour days, with the aid of Benezedrine.

2.  Welles worked only one week on the film and his character has only five minutes of screen time.  When he arrived in Vienna, he took one whiff of the sewer and declined to work in it.  He eventually opened to the idea, but still much of his footage is of body doubles or was filmed on a sound stage in Britain.  The final iconic image of his hands on the grate is actually Reed’s hands.

3.  Reed got a Vienna fire brigade to water down the streets at night to get a proper glistening look.

4.  Reed wanted James Stewart, but producer David O. Selznick had Joseph Cotten on contract.  Robert Mitchum was considered until his arrest for marijuana possession.  Selznick proposed Noel Coward for Lime, but common sense prevailed.

5.  Greene based Lime on the infamous double agent Kim Philby.  Philby had been Greene’s superior in British Intelligence.

6.  Because of the popularity of the movie, Vienna created a tour of the sewer locations called “Der Dritte Man Tour”.

7.  “The Adventures of Harry Lime” was a series of 52 half-hour radio episodes starring Orson Welles.  He wrote some of the scripts.

8.  Although it is clearly a British film, it was placed at #57 on AFIs original list of 100 Greatest Films.  In 2008, it was ranked #5 in the mystery category.  It was #75 in the list of 100 Thrills.  Lime was #37 on the Greatest Villains list.  In 1999, the British Film Institute named it the greatest British film.

9.  Greene was inspired by a trip to Vienna where he was told about the special police unit that patrolled the sewer system.  He wrote a novella which became the basis for the script.  The main difference between the treatment and the final screenplay was the ending.  In the novella, Martins and Anna hook up and live happily ever after.  Reed insisted on the downbeat ending of the film and although Greene argued against it, he later admitted Reed was right.

Belle and Blade  =  N/A

Brassey’s              =  N/A

Video Hound       =  5.0

War Movies         =  N/A

Military History  =  #80

Channel 4             =  not on list

Film Site                =  yes

            101 War Movies  =  no

            Rotten Tomatoes =  no

OPINION: I do not care what anyone says, this is not a war movie by any stretch of the definition. It is a movie set in post-war Vienna, true. I can accept movies set on the home front during the war, but not after the war. I make exceptions for movies like “The Best Years of Our Lives” because they deal with the after effects of a war on warriors. Neither Martins nor Lime appear to have fought in the war and even if they had, it is immaterial to the movie. The movie could be described as a Cold War movie, but then a ton of spy movies would have to be included as war movies. I cannot agree to that.  With that said, this is undoubtedly one of the great movies of any genre. The score, the cinematography, the setting, the acting - all great.  Do not watch this movie because it is a great war movie. Watch it because you love movies and want to be able to say you have seen one of the masterpieces of film history.

PICTURE, QUOTE, MOVIE #60

1.  What movie is the picture from?

2.  What movie is this quote from?

The new kids that come up, that's what gets you. The new ones, some of them have just got a little fuzz on their faces. They don't know what its all about. Scared to death. You know, Ernie, I know it ain't my fault that they get killed, but it makes me feel like a murderer. I hate to look at 'em, the new kids. 

3.  What movie is this?

It was a remake of a 1930 film and even uses a lot of the aerial footage from that film.  The plot is from the short story “The Flight Commander” by John Monk Saunders (who also wrote the “Wings” story).  It was the third teaming of Basil Rathbone and Errol Flynn and once again they play antagonists.  Rathbone was a decorated WWI veteran and wore his decorations in the movie.  The film used 17 vintage aircraft (and 15 crashed during production).

BOOK/MOVIE: A Walk in the Sun (1944/1945)

                        Harry Brown was a poet.  His first book was a 156 page poem entitled “The Poem of Bunker Hill”.  In January, 1941, he enlisted in the Army Corps of Engineers.  He did not make it overseas as he was stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.  In 1942, he joined Yank magazine.  In 1944, he wrote the book.  The book was a hit with readers and critics, but it got engulfed by the spate of epic war novels like Norman Mailer’s “The Naked and the Dead” and is largely forgotten today. The movie germinated when Burgess Meredith (the narrator in the film) encouraged producer Samuel Bronston to turn it into a movie.  Bronston ran into financial difficulties and the project fell to Lewis Milestone.  Milestone convinced Brown to move to Hollywood and become a screenwriter.  He did not write the screenplay for the movie.  Robert Rossen, who later wrote “All the King’s Men”, was the screenwriter.  As we will see, Rossen did not have to work hard on “A Walk in the Sun”.  Brown had a productive career as a screenwriter.  He wrote “Sands of Iwo Jima” and “Eight Iron Men” (based on his play). 

                        The novel is the opposite of a “big” war novel.  It covers only half a day in the war.  A platoon lands at Salerno in Italy and has the mission to assault a farm house that is several miles inland.  It follows the heterogenous group as it moves down a road to its objective.  The men discuss various topics and evidence the  black humor, griping, and wistfulness typical of G.I.’s.  They lose their commanding officer early and his replacement cracks due to combat fatigue (what we today call “post-traumatic stress disorder”).  They carry on because they have a job to do.  They are not patriots.  There is a limited amount of action leading up to the attack on the farm house and a bridge.

                        Lewis Milestone brought in Colonel Thomas Drake as technical adviser for the film.  Drake had been taken captive at Kasserine Pass and was exchanged due to ill health.  He did not have a lot of advising to do as the story is a simple one.  The Army did request that the nonuse of bazookas against the farm house be explained by having the bazooka team use up their ammunition (off screen).  Milestone ignored the request that a scene be added where the mission is outlined for the platoon.  He felt the objective was simply a means to the march.

                        I would have liked to have Robert Rossen’s job.  The screenplay is almost exactly like the book.  He borrowed the dialogue almost verbatim.  I could find little that the men say that they didn’t say in the novel.  To his credit, Rossen was smart enough to realize the dialogue could not be improved on.  Brown, although he apparently did not have first-hand experience with combat infantry, had a way with soldier banter.  The book is heavily dialogue-oriented and it works because the interchanges between the soldiers are cracking.  Much of it is humorous.  But the movie is not just a stroll in the Italian countryside with soldiers yammering away.  It explores several themes.

                                        One of the themes is comradeship.  The platoon is from the Texas Division, but the men are a cross-section of the nation (including Brooklyn, of course).  They were clearly thrown together by the war and would not have been comrades otherwise.  The dialogue indicates how these veterans of North Africa have evolved their social dynamic, which has a twinge of dysfunction in it.  The love is there, but it can’t be stated.  This means the dialogue could have come from any American war, up until Vietnam.  Watch and listen to “Hamburger Hill” and you will see the difference between G.I.’s and grunts.  And the difference between all previous American wars and Vietnam.  It also explores leadership, in a realistic way.  The green lieutenant dies in a greenish way.  He is replaced by Sergeant Porter, who is clearly in over his head.  A veteran who has been with the platoon for a while, he should be a good leader, but his wits have been dulled by too much war.  Tyne (Dana Andrews in the movie) reluctantly steps up to take command when Porter inevitably cracks.  A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.  Tyne makes mistakes reflective of the Army’s tactical doctrine.  The men follow him because they respect him and someone has to lead.  An unusual theme for a movie made in the 1940s is combat fatigue.  Porter suffers from a classic case of it.  He has been through so much that he reaches his breaking point.  Brown laconically introduces him by saying that “he has a lot on his mind”.   Brown conforms to the theory that every WWII infantryman had a certain breaking point directly related to time in combat.  He has the other soldiers showing apathy more than sympathy, but they are not critical of Porter either.  They understand, but they don’t condone.   None take the Patton approach.  There is relief that it doesn’t happen in the middle of a fight.

                                        There are slight differences between the book and the movie.  While the book expands on the characters’ thoughts, Rossen was able to translate some of those thoughts into dialogue.  You still will learn more about the characters from reading the book, but not as much as you would think.   One improvement Rossen makes is with Brown’s strange decision to make Tyne a corporal.  This means Tyne is advanced over the competent Sgt. Ward (Lloyd Bridges).  In the book, Ward has no problem with this, but it’s an oddly unrealistic aspect of the novel.  Windy Craven (John Ireland) is bumped up to a major character in the movie.  He serves as a secondary narrator as he composes letters in his head.  Craven does not appear in the book until page 142.  It was a good decision by Rossen, but an odd one considering this was Ireland’s first film and clearly he did not have the clout to enhance his role.  The ending in the book takes a minimalist approach.  There are no details about the taking of the house or the blowing of the bridge (which in the book is more realistically a pontoon bridge).  Tyne, not Windy, gets the last words:  “It was so easy. It is so terribly easy.”

                                        Normally, I find that war movies improve upon the novels they are based upon.  The screenwriter has the luxury of having the blueprint for the house and then he can make improvements.  In this case, the movie is essentially the novel.  That is a good thing because the novel is one of the great war novels and was easily adapted to a movie.  For people who are more visual than print-oriented, the movie is an outstanding substitute for reading  the book.  The ensemble cast brings the characters to life perfectly.  The action is well-done.   I actually used the farm house scenario in my Military History class.  Spoiler alert:  Tyne could have handled it better.  One area where the book is superior is it does not have any ballads in it.  The movie has five sappy songs!  (Down from twelve due to preview audiences vomiting.)  There is another difference from “Hamburger Hill”, by the way.

                BOOK =  A

       MOVIE  =  A

Here are some of my favorite passages from the book:

There is something about a dead man’s face that cannot be explained.  Something has gone from its features.  It’s as though life lent an aura, a glow, that unseen, could yet be perceived through some unknown sense.  

It was odd how many people you meet in the Army who crossed your path for perhaps only a few seconds and then went on , never to be seen again.

When a man is uncomfortable, through either heat or cold, he finds it hard to think consecutively.  He is too conscious of his ever-present discomfort.  The body, as always, thwarts the mind.

Every man … had his own thoughts as he walked along, and they hovered unseen over the little group, an indefinable armor, a protection against fate, an indestructible essence.

The men were not even interested in Tinker’s hand, poised above the wall.  They had seen such things before.  It was very much like going to a bad movie for the second time.  It was wonderful what could bore them after a year in battle.

CONSENSUS 72. Colonel Redl (1985)

SYNOPSIS: Col. Redl (Klaus Maria Brandauer) is a closet Jew and homosexual who rises through the Austrian army pre-WWI by ratting out any comrades who are less than enthusiastic with the monarchy and the army. He is appointed head of military intelligence where his ambitious ferreting can flower. Ironically, he gets ensnared in his own game.

BACK-STORY: “Colonel Redl” is a Hungarian film directed by Istvan Szabo. It was the second in a trilogy and came after the acclaimed “Mephisto”. It is based on a British play by John Osborne entitled “A Patriot For Me”. The movie won the Jury Prize at Cannes, was chosen Best Foreign Film at the BAFTAs, and was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. The movie was hardly shown in America and made just $2,357 in one week at one theater.

Belle and Blade  =  N/A

Brassey’s              =  4.0

Video Hound       =  N/A

War Movies         =  N/A

Military History  =  #50

Channel 4             =  not on list

Film Site                =  yes

101 War Movies  =  no

OPINION:  “Colonel Redl” is overrated at #72. It is interesting, but not special.  It is an interesting movie, but predictable. The themes that power corrupts and ambition is bad have been explored ad infinitum. There is little that is outstanding about the film.  The strength of the movie is the acting. Brandauer is excellent as Redl. His portrayal of a tormented man is mesmerizing. His performance is the main reason to watch the movie.

PICTURE, QUOTE, MOVIE QUIZ #59

1.  What movie is the picture from?

2.  What movie is this quote from?

Everybody does his duty at Zinderneuf, dead or alive! We'll make those Arabs think we've got a thousand men. 

3. What movie is this? 

 It was directed by Lewis Milestone of “All Quiet…” fame.  He also directed another “Forgotten War” film entitled “Steel Helmet”.  It was his last war movie.  It was released in 1959.  The screenplay is based on the nonfiction by the famous war author S.L.A. Marshall (SLAM).  The main character, Joe Clemons, acted as technical adviser.  Clemons was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for the battle.  The movie is populated by many familiar actors from the 1960s and includes a small role by Barry McGuire of future “Eve of Destruction” one hit wonder fame.

CONSENSUS #73 - Ministry of Fear (1944)

SYNOPSIS: The movie is set in Britain during the Blitz.  A Brit (Ray Milland) straight out of an insane asylum (for the murder of his wife) gets caught up in intrigue in WWII England when he accidentally acquires an item of value to spies.  Going from pursued to pursuer, he tracks down a Nazi spy ring and finds love in the process.

BACK-STORY: “Ministry of Fear” is a classic film noir by the acclaimed Fritz Lang. It was based on the novel of Graham Greene which is noirier than the screenplay. The movie was released in 1944 and is black and white. It is partly Lang’s reaction to Nazis dominance of Europe. Lang, a German, had been offered a job in the Ministry of Propaganda by Josef Goebbels and immediately fled from Germany.

TRIVIA:  imdb

1.  Lang was disappointed with film because he felt the script differed too much from Greene’s book (see #3), but he was not allowed to tamper with it.  This was because the screenwriter was also the producer.

2.  The McGuffin is a cake.

3.  The main character in the book is much more tormented with guilt over his wife’s death and it is more clearly murder.  The romance is also less idyllic.  She is a spy and he is a murderer.

Belle and Blade  =  N/A

Brassey’s              =  4.0

Video Hound       =  N/A

War Movies         =  N/A

Military History   =  #53

Channel 4             =  not on list

Film Site                =  yes

101 War Movies  =  no

OPINION: Sadly, “Ministry of Fear” is nothing special. It is not a great war movie and it is not even great film noir. The acting is satisfactory, but not up to the great film noir classics.  The plot has holes and bizarre aspects, but you expect that from film noir.   It does not belong on this list.

CATCH-22 Private Screening

Recently, I and my wife went to the WWII Museum in New Orleans to see a private screening of the first episode of the new Hulu miniseries. It is co-produced by George Clooney and he directed two of the six episodes. He also plays a minor character - Scheisskopf. Scheisskopf, as well as several other characters, did not appear in the movie. Since the miniseries is three times as long, it clearly will cover more of the book. For those of you who were put off by the nonlinear structure of the movie and the book, the miniseries is in chronological order. Probably a decision aimed at the comfort of the masses. Based on the first episode, it appears the project is well done. The cast is mostly unknowns, with the exceptions of Clooney, Kyle Chandler as Cathcart, and Hugh Laurie as de Coverley (another character that does not appear in the movie). I am sure the young cast is competent, but they will have to go a long way to match the movie. The episode evidenced realistic depiction of the missions, something that CGI allows over the original. They only had access to two B-25's, but the formation scenes are seamless. If you enjoyed the book, or don't want to have to read it, it looks like it will do the trick. It should be a boon to the summer reading students. Just be aware that the book is partly chosen by your English teacher because of Heller's style as well as his satire.

After the screening there was a panel discussion featuring a co-writer (Luke Davies) and three actors - Rafi Gavron (Arfy), Graham Patrick Martin (Orr), and John Rudnitsky (McWatt). Considering they were at the WWII Museum and there were veterans in the crowd, it was nice that the lads made it clear that their experience of making a movie at an Italian resort was not comparable to that of the B-25 crews.

I'll try to watch the series soon and post on it.  Stay tuned.

Here is my review of the book and the movie.

CONSENSUS #74 - Scipio Africanus

SYNOPSIS: "Scipio Africanus" is an epic that covers the last campaign of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage. It covers the events leading up to and including the Battle of Zama. The main character is the famous Roman general who won that battle. Hannibal is his foe.

BACK-STORY: “Scipione L’Africano” (“Scipio Africanus”) was a propaganda extravaganza commissioned by Benito Mussolini to fire up Italians for the upcoming conquest of the new Roman Empire. It was produced by his twenty-one year old son Vittorio, but we can assume daddy was very hands-on. It was the most expensive Italian movie up to then as Benito spared no expense. It paid off as the movie won the Mussolini Cup at the Venice Film Festival. That must have been a shocker! Mussolini “convinced” the army to provide a division of extras. But more infamously, numerous elephants were used and some did not survive (the ones with poor agents). The soldiers were soon sent to Ethiopia after production ended. Hopefully the ones who wore wristwatches in their scenes were put in the front lines.

TRIVIA:  Wikipedia, imdb, ihffilm.com

1.  Mussolini “persuaded” the Italian army to donate a division of soldiers as extras.  The division was subsequently sent to participate in the Spanish Civil War.

2.  Up to 50 elephants were used in the production.  Some of the elephants were killed in the shooting.  One of them took a spear in the eye.

3.  It had one of the earliest uses of zoom lenses.

4.  It was the most expensive Italian film up till then.

5.  If you look closely, you can see some of the legionaries wearing wristwatches.

Belle and Blade  =  N/A

Brassey’s              =  4.0

Video Hound       =  N/A

War Movies         =  N/A

Military History  =  #56

Channel 4             =  not on list

Film Site                =  yes

101 War Movies  =  no

OPINION: “Scipio Africanus” is not well known and is hard to find. It’s worth the trouble if you can find it. It is definitely a spectacle. For a silent movie, it holds up well. It is probably seeded properly at #74.  I can assure you it is better than some movies ahead of it. The key strength is the historical accuracy. As a huge Scipio fan, I can attest to the movie getting the highlights of the Battle of Zama correct. I did not expect it to be worthy of the man, but I was wrong.

PICTURE, QUOTE, MOVIE #58

1.  What movie is the picture from?

2.  What movie is this quote from?

Tough monkey. Guys like you end up in the stockade sooner or later. Some day you'll walk in; I'll be waiting. I'll show you a couple of things. 

3.  What movie is this?

It is one of the most beloved movies of its time.  It was directed by the acclaimed William Wyler and released in 1946.  Wyler had earlier done the famous documentary “Memphis Belle”.  Producer Samuel Goldwyn wanted to make a movie about returning veterans so it is set in the period immediately after WWII.  It is based on a blank verse novel by MacKinley Kantor and was adapted into the screenplay by Robert Sherwood – two heavyweights.  The movie was a box office smash in America and was actually even more popular in England.  It won seven Oscars:  Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Frederic March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Editing, Adapted Screenplay, and Original Score.  AFI ranked it as the 37^th best motion picture of all time.  Russell had lost his hands from a faulty fuse setting off some explosives during a training session.  He is the only actor ever to win two Oscars for the same performance.  The Academy felt he would lose for Best Supporting Actor so they gave him an honorary Oscar.  Wyler insisted on the crew being veterans.

CONSENSUS #75. The Tin Drum (1979)

SYNOPSIS: "The Tin Drum" is an extremely bizarre movie about a young Polish boy who does not age. He is uncommunicative other than playing his tin drum. He and his family live in Nazi-occupied Danzig. He and his dysfunctional family go through some incidents with the war as the back drop. (I strongly suggest you go to my blog and read the summary so you can see what I am talking about.)

BACK-STORY: “The Tin Drum” is a 1979 German war movie based on the novel by Gunter Grass. The movie is set in WWII Danzig. It was directed by Volker Schlandorff. It is one of the most critically acclaimed war films of the 1970s. It shared the Palme d’Or with “Apocalypse Now” at Cannes and won the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.

TRIVIA:  Wikipedia, imdb

1.  The movie was filmed mostly in West Germany.  The Soviets allowed only brief filming in Gdansk, Poland because the book was banned in the Eastern Bloc.

2.  It was the first German film to win the Best Foreign Film Oscar.

3.  There is a controversial underage sex scene that caused an Oklahoma County District Judge to rule the movie contained child pornography.  Without search warrants or a court order, Oklahoma City police raided libraries and rental outlets to confiscate copies of the VHS.  They got addresses of customers and went to their houses to get the copies.  The District Attorney threatened to arrest anyone with a copy.  The ACLU got involved and federal courts ended the censorship. 

4.  The movie was also banned in parts of Canada.

5.  David Bennent had a condition that caused him to age slowly.  He was an 11 year old playing a 16 year old.  The sex scene was with Katharina Thalbach, who was 24 at the time.

Belle and Blade  =  N/A

Brassey’s              =  4.0

Video Hound       =  N/A

War Movies         =  N/A

Military History  =  #60

Channel 4             =  not on list

Film Site                =  yes

101 War Movies  =  no

OPINION:  I am glad to report that “The Tin Drum” is not a bad war movie because it is not a war movie. It is an odd tale set in a war.  I hate this movie.  I can’t even see how generic critics like it, much less war movie critics.   In my opinion, it belongs nowhere near this list.