The Third Man

In Carol Reed's The Third Man (1949), every second is a photograph. The well thought out exposures and compositions are unlike any I have seen in cinema. They are consistently artful, but the film is far removed from the arty, pretentious genre- it's full of every other quality that makes a film great and exciting to watch. There is really nothing like the suspense that suffused movies prior to the 60's. The shots are vividly graphic, and bursting with the play of lines and shapes. The lighting is immaculate, the shadows are deep, everything and everyone has a silhouette in true film noir style.




What captured me the most through this film was the linear quality in nearly every scene. Whether it was the attention to repetitive detail (the grates, windows, stairs, etc) or all the shapes (architecture and shadows to name just a few). For me it evoked thoughts of three of my favorite artists/photographers- László Moholy-Nagy, Eugène Atget and Bernice Abbott.


Atget


Abbott


Maholy-Nagy