The Third Man

AI prompt:

I know the movie "The Third Man" was a straightforward movie (linear narrative), but one could argue that the opening scene, almost identical to the closing scene, suggests that the entire movie could have been a flashback of what was going through Holly Martins' mind in the jeep passing Anna Schmidt walking down the road. I'm obviously overthinking this but the opening scene and closing scene certain make one wonder. Thoughts?

Reply: 

That’s a perceptive—and quite plausible—reading. The Third Man is one of those films whose formal symmetry invites exactly this kind of speculation. The bookending scenes—the long road, the leafless trees, Anna’s slow, implacable walk—frame the film like parentheses, suggesting that what happens in between could be a memory, a reverie, or even a kind of moral autopsy in Holly Martins’ mind.

Viewed this way, the film’s middle—Vienna’s labyrinth of shadows and betrayals—becomes less a sequence of events than the psychological unpacking of that final moment: Holly’s realization of his own futility, his misplaced loyalties, and his late awakening to moral complexity. Carol Reed’s decision to mirror the opening and closing shots wasn’t accidental—it transforms a noir thriller into something closer to tragic introspection.

So yes, while The Third Man functions perfectly as a linear narrative, its structure supports a deeper, cyclical interpretation: the film as an interior monologue, beginning and ending with the one truth Holly cannot alter—Anna walking past him without a word.

 

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Casablanca and The Third Man

AI prompt: 

1942, Casablanca; 1949, The Third Man -- so many similarities; so many parallel scenes. One wonders Graham Greene and Carol Reed were influenced by "Casablanca." 

AI reply: 

It is widely noted by film critics and scholars that

Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949) was influenced by, or at least shares significant thematic and structural parallels with, Casablanca (1942). The similarities are often discussed when comparing the two films, which are frequently recommended as a double feature. 

Key Similarities and Parallel Scenes

• Setting: Both films are set in transient, post-war/wartime cities—Casablanca, Morocco, and Vienna, Austria—that are divided by occupying powers and serve as a refuge for expatriates, criminals, and refugees.
• Protagonists: Both feature a mysterious American expatriate businessman/writer (Rick Blaine and Holly Martins, respectively) as the central figure, whose past in the U.S. is "a little vague". Both Rick and Martins are initially passive agents who are forced to navigate a complex, morally ambiguous world of black market operations and shifting loyalties.
• Characters: Both films feature a "melting pot" of characters from different nationalities and value systems.
• Central Object: Both plots revolve around a highly sought-after, illicit item: the "letters of transit" in Casablanca and the stolen penicillin in The Third Man.
• The "Girl": Both heroes are involved with a woman battered by the war (Ilsa Lund and Anna Schmidt) who remains loyal to another, more controversial man.
• Themes: Both explore themes of loyalty versus self-interest, betrayal, sacrifice, and the loss of innocence in a war-torn world.
• The "Grand Finale": The iconic, cynical final scene of The Third Man, where Anna walks past Holly without a glance, is often described as an almost a parody or a direct contrast to the more hopeful ending of Casablanca, where Rick and Captain Renault walk off into the fog together. 

Influence and Intent

While the creators of The Third Man may not have explicitly stated their work was a direct homage, the connections are widely acknowledged by critics. The films are seen as bookends to the World War II era, with Casablanca embodying a sense of hope during the war and The Third Man reflecting the subsequent Cold War cynicism and moral ambiguity that followed.

Graham Greene, who wrote the novella and screenplay for The Third Man, was a writer who dealt with complex moral issues and espionage. The similarities are likely a product of the shared post-war social climate and popular narrative structures of the time, rather than a mere coincidence.