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The Third Man

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Cynical pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime, and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder. Thanks to brilliant performances by Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; Anton Karas's evocative zither score; Graham Greene's razor-sharp dialogue; and Robert Krasker's haunting deep-focus shots, off-kilter angles, and dramatic use of light and shadow, The Third Man, directed by the inimitable Carol Reed, only grows in stature as the years pass.

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich
• Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by film scholar Dana Polan
• Shadowing "The Third Man", a ninety-minute 2005 feature documentary on the making of the film
• Abridged recording of Graham Greene's treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke
• "Graham Greene: The Hunted Man," an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC's Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist
• Who Was the Third Man? (2000), a thirty-minute German documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
• The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 A Ticket to Tangiers

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY

Original DVD:
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This is one of the highlights of my DVD collection and one of the reasons I started buying DVD in the first place. Fantastic film presented with integrity and respect. Really superb job.

I'm right with ya, Joe - this DVD is one of the reasons I invested in converted from VHS to DVD way back in the 90s. It was the first DVD I bought - imported, in fact - it cost me £33.99 ($48!!!) when acquiring R1 DVDs was very difficult for people not on the Net.

It is actually quite amazing that a film like The Third Man is available exclusively in the USA from Criterion. It could quite easily be a different story and be owned by a lesser company and with a weaker transfer and no extras at all. Still, the high price must put off a lot of buyers; it maybe ought to be a $29.95 title and probably would be if released today, although if it was released today, it would have more video extras and a commentary and the $39.95 tag would be easier to justify. Will it be revisited in late 2008 for the 60th Anniversary?

Here is a link to a review on a new Making Of book by Brigitte Timmermann.

Sounds interesting...

Was in Vienna a week before Christmas and saw Third Man at the bottom of a cinema marquee and was surprised as it definitely wasn't a small indie/art cinema. This book review kind of explains it I suppose. Definitely love this film. Top 10 in the collection IMO and a fine example of how "perfect" some films can be.

Now, OOP, apparently.

Really? It's still listed as shipping in 24 hours from Amazon and DVDPlanet, and it "ships immediately" from DVDEmpire.

and will probably continue to do so for the next month or so even if oop. These stores have a stock and this title has been available for a long time so I doubt this will result in a mad dash.

I'm basically piggy-backing on the Amacord thread, in which Kinjitsu informed us of recent OOP Criterions, listed here. A highly reliable site. The current transfer is not HD-sourced. I'm sure that Criterion would be a bit more adventurous with the extras, second time around - the Shadowing the Third Man would seem a must. Who would be best to record a commentary, though?

Of course, it could just be a UPC change.

Actually, it was me who brought up and put the link that list the Third Man along with the other Criterions as going OOP on the Amacord thread:

I still think that this situation is most likely a change of UPC since Criterion is pretty sharp on announcing discontinuations or re-releases of titles before sites like Michael's Movie Mayhem recieve the information. As of right no, none of these titles are going OOP according to Criterion's site and the last newsletter.

A possible extra for a Third Man SE: "Shadowing the Third Man"

I do realize the some of the rights are owned by TCM but maybe Criterion could trade them a commentary or something from one of their LDs.

dx23 wrote:I still think that this situation is most likely a change of UPC since Criterion is pretty sharp on announcing discontinuations or re-releases of titles before sites like Michael's Movie Mayhem recieve the information. As of right no, none of these titles are going OOP according to Criterion's site and the last newsletter.

Technically, no, but only in terms of an official announcement. We've had good indications from Criterion that all of the titles concerned except The Third Man will be upgraded in the near future, and the original editions always go out of print before the upgraded editions are released.

Repeating myself as well. I still think it odd that the newsletter failed to mention Alida Valli's pivotal role in The Third Man.

Furthermore, Eyes Without a Face could hardly be classified as one of her earlier roles considering that she began her career in 1934! Who writes this material anyway?

So, is The Third Man OOP or not? Almost three months since the last post, and no new info.

barnyard078 wrote:So, is The Third Man OOP or not? Almost three months since the last post, and no new info.

Apparently discontinued.

With all of the rumors of a revisiting of this title, I would have sworn that it would have been paired alongside the November release of The Fallen Idol. I wonder if the upcoming release of new two-disc editions in the UK and Australia has sent Criterion back to the drawing board in terms of supplemental content. As we can see from their Double Life of Veronique disc, they are not content to merely duplicate what is being presented in other regions. I think the presence of Shadowing the Third Man is a given. They're going to need a commentary (with someone other than The Ascot) to distinguish themselves from the pack. I've never seen the spin-off television series, but I suppose that an episode or two of that might be appropriate as well.

or possibly they need to finalize a few things, like how the Brazil reissue appeared later than the other titles when it was anounced

I've got good news! It sounds like you're right, Miles.

Dear Jeffrey,

That information is correct. You can expect our Third Man re-release to hit streets around November.

I hope this helps, and please feel free to contact us with any future questions or concerns.

Best,

Matt Lipson
The Criterion Collection

Speaking of which, the November press release is due any day now. Anybody seen it yet?

The Third Man is easily one of the most accomplished and entertaining films I've ever seen, and I'd love to see something really special done with it. Penguin released The Third Man and the retitled story that served as the basis for The Fallen Idol together in a single volume once. I'd love to see some sort of Carol Reed/Graham Greene box, but considering that Orson Welles is the more prominantly recognized figure involved, I'd imagine that The Third Man vastly outweighs Fallen Idol in popularity and acclaim, which would render a box set virtually pointless. Still, I think it'd be great to given the choice to aquire both films simultaneously (like the Malle set or Fanny and Alexander) or seprately as is clearly already planned.

arsonfilms wrote:Speaking of which, the November press release is due any day now. Anybody seen it yet?

The Fallen Idol

**ATTENTION CANADA - The Fallen Idol is available in English Canada only.

its funny that it says double life is not available in canada... I wonder if amazon.ca will keep their pre-order price when the ridiculous price gouging canadian distributor tells them they can't carry it, or stop selling the item completely.

I don't want to have to buy Third Man again, although it is one of my favorite DVDs in my collection. Hope it's stellar.

I think a lot of people were hoping for "The Third Man" re-release in Dec06. But there's no sign of it in CC's press release of its December releases. The new year then...

I thought I would provide the link to the Out Of The Past: Investigating Film Noir podcast on The Third Man. I've just found out about these podcasts through the link filmlover put on their website - thanks!

Joe Buck wrote:I don't want to have to buy Third Man again, although it is one of my favorite DVDs in my collection. Hope it's stellar.

Just sold mine on amazon for $62- sold in less than 10 hours
just mentioning that as it mght be a good way to ease the pains of double dipping...with a cherry on top
Damn I love this film. If the folks at CC mentioned a November 06 release I suppose we can expect it springtime then?