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Home , Alexander Korda, Anton Karas, Michael Rennie, The Third Man

reacted to suggestions for but who at the same time could turn into without seeing one single line of the had only just departed for Florence. Korda $100,000. Th e picture grossed, you know, its undisputable star. Would Noël Coward, “Nobody thinks in terms of the casting of Harry Lime in much the a cynical, nihilistic criminal and remain screenplay. Th en it was ’s followed him to Florence, not yet unduly something unbelievable … in America it or even Robert Mitchum same way as he reacted to the screenplay unaff ected by the fate of the anonymous turn to be persuaded. He had strong upset by this cat and mouse game, but he was only a success, but in the rest of the have been able to convey the same sense human beings.” suggestions of David O. Selznick: he victims of his adulterated penicillin. reservations about Welles, although not missed Welles again in Florence, as he had world it was an absolute bombshell - it of melancholy and wit, self-pity and simply ignored them. No one was going He had to be a charismatic actor whose as much as David O. Selznick, who felt apparently gone on to Venice. Th is game was Th e Sound of Music, you know. Th ere brutality, the loveable yet disreputable to tread on his toes. He wanted an actor presence could dominate the screen and that hiring Welles would be a commercial repeated itself in Venice, in Naples, and never was such a hit in twenty-fi ve years as and unceasingly cynical personality in and who was able to incorporate the angelic who would leave a powerful impression risk. Korda had been forced to break off fi nally on Capri. At least there was in Europe.” How could he have the way that Welles did? with the diabolic, the lovable school friend on the audience in a screen appearance of several projects with Welles, which would managed to catch a glimpse of Welles here. known that would make had succeeded in concentrating his views the Cult of the Bad and brat “who made it all seem such fun”, only a few minutes. Kirk Douglas? Robert have given the American star the chance His ferry was just mooring on the island, seven million dollars in the USA alone? on the world into perfectly composed Mitchum? Noël Coward? Trevor Howard? to make three fi lms for Films as the actor was returning to Naples by dialogue, and chosen the Great Wheel as For Carol Reed there was only Orson as actor, director and even producer, speedboat. Welles was obviously enjoying Th e money Korda spent defi nitely paid the most symbolic location for the action. Welles. Th e multi-talented Hollywood and all under conditions he could only the game, but knew at the same time that off : Orson Welles’s charismatic presence Carol Reed had shot this turning point child prodigy was an excellent actor, as have dreamt of in the States. But he had he needed the money, not least to pay his and his extraordinary acting ability made of the fi lm in a truly innovative manner. much at home on stage as on screen. He to admit that he could not imagine the horrendous hotel bills, and Korda had the penicillin profi teer one of the most Yet it was to a large degree the bravura was artistically extravagant and eccentric suave Noël Coward in the rôle of a villain promised to pay cash. “I was going to do irresistible anti-heroes of fi lm history. performance of the American wunderkind in the extreme. He had great personal such as Harry Lime. Moreover, he knew it, but I was going to pay Alex for all those Choosing Orson Welles was truly a stroke that made The Third Man what it is charisma, and was not unlike Reed‘s that Welles always needed money. His movies I hadn’t done”, he later admitted. of Carol Reed’s casting genius. Th e cast today: a classic. own father, the legendary London actor- Broadway show Around the World in Eighty Th e chase fi nally came to an end in Nice. was brimming with talent, but Welles was manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree. Days had fl opped, and Korda had rescued Vincent Korda had caught up with Welles. Only Welles would be able to personify him from his creditors. Now Welles was And where else would he have found him the attraction and abhorrence of evil. trying to raise money for another project but in one of the fi nest restaurants in Furthermore, it would be an absolute very dear to his heart, a fi lm version of town? Not wanting to take any further coup to bring together the two old friends Othello. chances, Korda sent him to London in a Orson Welles and , who private jet. Th e journey itself was trouble- “Primarily, I consider myself a writer and had known each other since their days However, Orson Welles would not have free. However, Welles still felt it necessary director, an actor only secondarily, but I together at Th eater and who been Orson Welles, if he had not carried to make a point. Vincent had brought love acting as much as I love writing and had not starred next to each other since out a completely crazy game of hide and back with him a basket of exotic fruit for direction.” Orson Welles did play his usual . seek across half of Europe just before his his brother Alexander. Th e present was a contract needed to be signed. Perhaps real luxury as post-war England was still practical jokes, but at the same time his Reed and Welles were in touch for the this wilful and unpleasant prank was his in the grip of rationing, but by the time charisma as well as his artistic genius combined fi rst time in Rome. Reed knew that he revenge on Korda for letting their mutual Vincent handed over the fruit, Welles had to make his Harry Lime one of the all-time would need to be persuasive, as Welles projects collapse. Perhaps he was feeling taken a bite out of each piece! cult fi gures of the fi lm industry. would probably have a hundred reasons intimidated by Reed, who was considered for not wanting to be in The Third Man. one of Britain’s best directing talents of Negotiations with Alexander Korda began Who but he could have Not least of which was the fact that the the time. Whatever the reason, Korda immediately. Welles was not particularly furnished Harry with man whom he was supposed to play does was forced to send his younger brother enthusiastic about the part of Harry the same demonic yet not appear until the second half of the Vincent to Rome to fi nd Welles and bring Lime, and was only interested in getting lovable features, who fi lm, and then only for a few minutes! He him to London. He was told to be clever the best possible fi nancial deal. Normally, was also reluctant to break off his work about it, and not to let Welles feel how Korda off ered an advance payment and could have portrayed the in Venice on Othello. Of course, an actor much they needed him. Vincent Korda a percentage of the royalties. However, ambiguity of his character, the such as Welles would have preferred to be arrived in Rome and set up residence in this time he off ered Welles an option of melancholy and boisterous, the The rôle of Lime was hotly debated. When Mitchum was still in the running, Selznick wired London: “There can be no question whatsoever about on screen throughout the fi lm, and then the Hassler Hotel in order to catch Welles, either a 20% share of the royalties or cash charming and brutal, the lovable and fabulous difference in gross here with Mitchum who is clearly star of fi rst rank against Welles whom Gallup claims is detriment and who in my under his own direction! Nevertheless, whom he believed to be resident in the payment of $100,000. Welles made the opinion would not add a dollar to gross.“ Reed succeeded, and Welles agreed even Grand Hotel only to learn that the latter biggest mistake of his life: “I took the cynic more aptly than him?

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 26060-2 26161 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 11:51:371:51:37 He came all the way here to visit a friend of his. The name was Lime. Harry Lime..... Where are you staying? – With him, Stiftgasse 15. – His name? – Lime, Harry Lime.....Coffi n? – Mr. Lime’s.....Could you tell me, is this? – A fellow called Lime.....So you were a friend of Harry’s?.....Mr. Martins, excuse me, Baron von Kurtz. – It’s a mistake. – I was a friend of Harry Lime. I would much like to meet you, Baron. Come around.....I wanted to ask you some questions about Harry Lime..... I’ve been talking to a friend of Harry’s. Baron Kurtz. Do you know him?..... He said Harry had been anxious....He was Harry’s driver.....You and I were both friends of Harry Lime – I was his medical adviser....I want to meet all of Harry’s friends.....I helped Harry fi x her papers, Mr. Martins..... I was talking to the porter at Harry’s place.....Give me the Harry Lime fi le..... Harry was real. He wasn’t just your friend and my lover. He was Harry.

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 26262-2 26363 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:17:292:17:29 To a great extent Harry Lime’s myth is Harry Lime‘s racket. But to Anna, “Harry belly that has known too much good food as I have my uses.” But he would not be the hint, and thereafter he was as good credits. Angela Allen remembers working founded on Welles’s brilliantly staged was real. He wasn’t just your friend and for too long, on his face a look of cheerful Harry if he did not regain the upper hand, as gold. When asked about this later, he with him: “He was a tremendous wit. You entrée in a darkened, night-shrouded my lover. He was Harry.” rascality, a geniality, a recognition that and try to justify his crimes and those of said that he could see through the whole could feel his aura and his presence, but doorway in Schreyvoglgasse, (‘Anna’s his happiness will make the world’s day.” the rest of the world: „In these days, old game, but that Reed had caught him out he was also like a spoilt child that loved street’), where Harry’s face is briefl y Welles once compared his appearance But Calloway knows only too well that man, nobody thinks in terms of human with one of his own tricks: “As a director I playing games.” illuminated by a light from an upstairs out of the darkness of the doorway with he is worse than just a charming villain. beings. Government’s don’t, so why soft-soap the actors. I caught Carol doing window. Could there have been a greater the part of the great magician Mr. Wu, Not only does he know how to obtain a should we? Th ey talk of the people and that with me and, what was worse, I found And still, in the Great Wheel scene Welles entrance for an actor who appears only in which he had acted years before on stage. false passport, where to slip into ’s the proletariat, and I talk of the mugs. It’s myself believing him. Carol and I have one manages to put everyone else in the shade, the second half of the fi lm? As if by magic, As he explained to in underground passages and how to buy the same thing. Th ey have their fi ve year thing in common: we are awfully patient Alexander Korda, Graham Greene and he steps out suddenly from the darkness an interview, “Th e old star actors never the cooperation of the Soviets, but he plan and so have I.” He discards any sense with me.” However, when asked whether Carol Reed. Even if The Third Man of the doorway, a saint and a sinner rolled liked to come on until the end of the is also one of the “worst racketeers who of guilt and instead reveals precisely the working with Orson Welles was worth all was not his fi lm and the genius actor and into one, with a mocking smile. He fi lls fi rst act. Mr. Wu is a classic example. I‘ve ever made a dirty living in this city”. “He contempt of mankind and cynicism so the trouble, Reed replied with composure: director was never part of the production the screen with so much intensity that played it once myself. All the other actors could fi x anything … how to put up your redolent of the times. And, as if to make “He is quick, and very, very fast. It’s like team, some fi lm writers still seem to be one could almost believe he had been boil around the stage for about an hour temperature before an exam, when he was sure that his friend really gets the message, working with a volcano, but it’s fun. One clinging to the myth that Orson Welles standing behind a gravestone since the shrieking, ‘What will happen when Mr. fourteen he taught me the three card trick,” he smugly delivers his famous, perverse day you think he’s caught your idea. Th e not only wrote his own dialogue, but was beginning of the fi lm just waiting to burst Wu arrives?’ ‘What is he like, this Mr. Wu?’ reminisces Holly, full of melancholy. For justifi cation of his crimes correlating the next day he is off on quite a diff erent track. also responsible for the screenplay as such, into the plot in the fi fty-ninth minute like and so on. Finally a great gong is beaten, Greene he was the incarnate force of evil. aesthetic triumphs of and He’s a wonderful showman. He likes to or at least parts of it. It is suggested that a diabolical deus ex machina. and slowly over a Chinese bridge comes When the two friends fi nally come face Leonardo da Vinci in Italy with warfare, make everybody laugh…” Joseph Cotten he had added “certain characteristics” Mr. Wu himself in full mandarin robes. to face on the Great Wheel, Harry Lime terror, murder and bloodshed under the later explained to Elizabeth Montagu that to the rôle of Harry Lime and that he Orson Welles once gave an interview in Peach Blossom (or whatever her name is) looks contemptuously down at the people Borgias, and linking brotherly love, fi ve Welles, no matter how brilliant he was directed some scenes himself. One also which he said that he did not care how falls on her face and a lot of coolies yell, reduced to the size of dots: “Victims? hundred years of democracy and peace as a director, was unsure of himself as an reads that The Third Man contains many many lines he had as Harry Lime. Th e ‘Mr. Wu!!!’ Th e curtain comes down, the Don’t be melodramatic. Look down in Switzerland to the development of no actor, especially when playing opposite elements which made Citizen Kane such a most important thing was how present he audience goes wild, and everyone says, there. Would you really feel any pity of more than the cuckoo clock. his old friend: “It all goes back to our days masterpiece. was in the fi lm. And present he certainly ‘Isn‘t that guy playing Mr. Wu a great one of those dots stopped moving forever? 2 together at the Mercury Th eater, when he was, for his name was mentioned fi fty- actor!’ Th at‘s a star part for you! What If I off ered you 20,000 pounds for every Th e line about the cuckoo clock is had a kind of inferiority complex about Following the extraordinary success of Carol Reed, Alexander Korda, Vincent Korda (his back towards the camera) and Orson Welles seven times before his fi rst appearance. matters in that kind of rôle is not how dot that stopped, would you really, old perhaps the most frequently quoted line embroiled in conversation. Korda, who had told Carol Reed, “Try not to let him know how acting, especially with me.” The Third Man, whether consciously Th e prologue gives him the leading rôle in many lines you have, but how few. What man, tell me to keep my money? Or of the fi lm. Euphoric critics claim it is much we need him, but get him back here and I’ll persuade him to sign a contract” makes a or unconsciously, Orson Welles had the very fi rst minutes: “Ah, I wanted to tell counts is how much the other characters would you calculate how many dots you the key message of the fi lm. Witnesses personal appearance at Shepperton to make sure Orson Welles does not usurp the director‘s Critics praised Carol Reed unstintingly started to create a myth around his own authority. you about Holly Martins from America. talk about you. Such a star vehicle really is could aff ord to spare? Free of income to the fi lming, however, are convinced for this tour de force with Orson Welles. contribution. He had always been a great He came all the way here to visit a friend a vehicle. All you have to do is ride.” tax, old man, free of income tax.” With that everything followed from Welles’s His fi rst-class performance was a sure raconteur, and gradually the impression of his. Th e name was Lime, Harry Lime.” a dangerously roguish smile, he opens the mood. For just one moment he wanted to give Carol Reed directorial notes again, as authority. Hardly had Reed turned his proof of his strength as a director. Reed arose that he was not only responsible for At the funeral Martins is told it is a Harry car door: “I carry a gun. You don’t think slip out of the director’s fi rm grip and to he had a few weeks earlier in the sewers? back to him that he started doing a gay understood Welles, and realised that him the cuckoo clock lines but also for the whole Lime who is being buried. Baron Kurtz Orson Welles was not only the perfect they’d look for a bullet wound after you challenge Reed’s direction. Whatever the Everyone knew that the actor was jealous imitation of the director’s clumsy, duck- made the highest demands on himself, scene in the Great Wheel. Th is seemed introduces himself to Martins as a friend Mr. Wu, but also the perfect charmer. hit that ground.” It is only when he learns reason, this cynical afterthought binds the of Carol Reed, who, following Odd Man like walk, intending to raise a laugh and always searching for new terrain and to irritate Graham Greene considerably. of Harry: “I think his best, except you, of Not only Anna‘s purring cat, but in fact that his body has been exhumed that he name of Orson Welles to The Third Man Out and Th e Fallen Idol, belonged to win the unit to his side. All he won was experimenting. Not always successfully, When the author sent a friend a personal course.” At Smolka’s Bar Martins assures the whole world is at Harry’s feet. His becomes insecure. His smile freezes. His forever. the top echelon of directors. Th e air was a dead silence. Anyone else would either however. One time it may have been the copy of the screenplay, he stipulated in Major Calloway that “nobody knew friend admires him, and his lover remains movements show discomfort. He cannot thick with tension, but Reed was not have had words with Welles or thrown in critics who tore him to pieces. Another the dedication that only those lines which Harry like I did.” Anna talks of Harry truthful to him. In the novel Calloway look his childhood friend in the eye. Only And yet the auspices had not always been perturbed. Welles on the other hand was the towel (which is what Reed actually time he may have been let down by he had marked in the text were Welles’s. former doctor. Th e police are searching warns the reader, “Don’t picture Harry by walking up and down the car and good. Once Orson Welles had fi nally nervous. Sweat appeared on his forehead, did with on the set of Th e fi nanciers, and then Korda would not Th e rest were all his own. Later Greene, for Harry’s letters. Anna assures Calloway Lime as a smooth scoundrel. He wasn’t chewing indigestion tablets can he control arrived for fi lming at and he had diffi culty in remembering Mutiny on the Bounty). Instead, sotto voce, see a future in their ambitious mutual however, admitted that Welles’s lines that Harry never did anything. Popescu that. Th e picture I have of him on my his unease. Does he feel that fate is fi nally on 17th January 1949, studio boss his lines. After thirty unsuccessful takes, but loud enough for Welles to hear, Reed projects. Whatever the case, Welles was were some of the best in the fi lm. Guy welcomes Martins at the Casanova Bar: fi les is an excellent one: he is caught by catching up with him? He is bothered by Alexander Korda decided to attend in he began to look exhausted. Hysteria told Ted Scaif, the camera operator, to try always able to attract attention to himself, Hamilton is doubtful that the lines came “Any friend of Harry is a friend of mine.” a street photographer with his stocky legs Anna’s lot: “I’ve got to be so careful. Th ese person on set, and to watch fi lming of the took over. To make up for his insecurity, the next take without fi lm. Th e next take whether positive or negative, and to make from Welles: “I have no justifi cation for Major Calloway describes in great detail apart, big shoulders a little hunched, a Russians, Holly – well, I’ safe so long Great Wheel scene. Would Welles try to Welles tried to undermine the director’s was perfect. Reed had won. Welles took headlines and get the largest share of the saying this, but my whole instinct tells

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 26464-2 26565 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:17:362:17:36 Harry Lime’s entrance remains one of cinema’s greatest moments: “THE THIRD MAN had no face: only the top of a head seen from a window,” is what Graham Greene wrote. Carol Reed has made it a fi lm classic. The fi lm is already more than half over. For fi fty-nine minutes Harry has just been a word. The cat is the clue for an observant “What kind of a spy do you think audience, but for most what happens is a surprise you are, satchel-foot? What are you - for sure also for Holly Martins! tailing me for? Cat got your tongue? Come on out, come out, whoever you are. Step out into the light and let me have a look at you. Who’s your boss?”

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 26666-2 26767 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:17:372:17:37 1 3 4

Orson Welles has fi nally arrived in Vienna. The long-awaited star is met at the “Unless I try something new, I get bored with everything”. Orson Welles discusses a theatre project with the director of Austria’s National Theatre, Raoul Aslan. Südbahnhof Station by Assistant Director to his right and Production Between the two men Helga Romanow, who looked after Orson Welles during his stay in Viena in 1955. Manager Hugh Perceval to his left. There had been a great sense of anticipation among the cast and the unit. Welles’s reputation as an independent-minded, highly talented bully of an actor had intimidated most actors and directos who had worked Orson Welles back to Vienna. with him before. Here he is having a good time at ’s Heurigen wine tavern.

5

Sightseeing in Vienna. No matter how diffi cult Orson Welles may have been on the set, when it came to In 1955 Orson Welles stayed at the Sacher Hotel where meeting people in the street he was he spent many happy hours in the Red Bar. This is what as easy as could be. In this picture he wrote into the guest book: "for the creator of the he poses with an Austrian policeman best bloody Marys in the world! With thanks, Orson in front of the parliament. Welles"

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 26868-2 26969 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:17:562:17:56 tried it again, over and over, till he thought Orson Welles might well have been a thorn by a hair’s breadth. In A Ticket to Tangier in Vienna ( Orson Welles’s Vienna) with it was right.” Welles also gave Reed full in the side of Hollywood’s studio bosses Harry gets caught up in a dangerous drugs Mickey Rooney and Austrian star Senta credit for the ending on the cemetery: “It because of his proverbial extravagance and racket. In Two Is Company Harry uses his Berger. Ironically, this rather bizarre was a great shot invented by Carol, not lack of commercial marketability, and he mafi a connections to arrange a marriage ten-minute stint was shot on location in by Greene or anybody else. Wonderful might have divided legions of critics, fi lm in an unconventional if lucrative fashion. Zagreb, Croatia. Unlike in The Third idea.” He watched the scene, and wished historians and fans into opposing camps. It was brilliant and witty entertainment Man, Welles strolls through Vienna at a that he could pretend he had contributed Nevertheless, they all agree on one thing from a man who calculated that, as long leisurely pace, commenting on the city at least something to this marvellous take. that Harry Lime became the bravura as people associated him with Harry Lime, and its inhabitants. He visits the Sacher Th e man who was always at Reed’s and performance of his career; despite the fact he might as well benefi t from the fact and Hotel and the Great Wheel, and fi nally he Welles’s side is the one who knows for that it was more or less only a supporting at the same time create publicity for his fi nds himself involved as spies abduct the sure: “Welles had bugger all to do with the rôle, that he never cared to play it and own production of Othello. Although most beautiful woman in town. A print is direction”, said Guy Hamilton. And still, that he accepted it only because of his only two of the fi fty-two episodes were kept in the Orson Welles Collection at the when one looks for The Third Man video notorious lack of money. Harry Lime actually written by Welles himself and Munich Film Museum. or DVD in the shops, one can be sure to remained Orson Welles’s trademark some unoffi cially directed, his persuasive fi nd it fi led under “W” for “Welles”. character which helped him and the fi lm and secretive voice and his gift of turning Th e fi gure of Harry Lime was also to become unforgettable. virtually every situation into a practical resurrected in seventy-seven episodes Orson Welles stood neither behind the joke gave the series its vitality and suspense. of the BBC. spin-off The Third Man, camera nor sat in the director’s chair, nor Whenever Welles appeared in public or Th e actor Robert Arden, who appeared starring British star . Th ey gave interviews, he was Harry Lime and he regularly in the Harry Lime series, praised were produced in Hollywood and the did he write the screenplay, but there was ensured that even after fi fty years people Welles’s uncanny speed with which he Shepperton Studios between 1959 and a larger-than-life personality encapsulated would remember him as such. In 1951, was capable of piecing together an entire 1963. But the only points in common in his part. His charismatic appearance as cinema, dance and variety stages across show: “To those of us more used to between the original and the spin-off on screen was simply imbued with the the world were still vibrating to the working with the BBC. in radio shows his were the title and the title music. In the 1 compressed power of his multi-facetted music of Anton Karas, he resurrected technique was a revelation. At the BBC. new version there were no hosed-down personality, his knowledge of the human Simply wanting to look good: The rôle of Harry Lime was the only one Welles ever played Harry Lime with a popular spin-off radio they would take three days to record a cobbled streets, none of the spectacular psyche, his almost obsessive love of without false hair or make-up. In all of his appearances in THE THIRD M AN he gives the impression show for the BBC titled Th e Adventures half-hour show. Orson had it all together nor the sublime suspense of stepping directly out of his own life, and so he stayed in tune with Carol Reed’s realistic experimenting both in theatre and fi lm, approach. of Harry Lime hosted by, and starring, and recorded inside one morning.” Th e of its model. The Third Man also lived and his almost childish love of games of himself as a re-creation of his famous musical accompaniment in the shape of on in a colourised television version illusion. So the key part of Harry Lime character from The Third Man: “Th at zither music was of course by Anton Karas. produced by Ted Turner, on hoardings, me that it is not Orson’s line. Orson takes Man. Asked what else he had done apart was the pivot around which everything was the shot that killed Harry Lime. He And, if that was not enough for dedicated in television advertisements, in political credit for it … I’m convinced that it’s not from playing Harry Lime, the actor else had to revolve, and this left very little died in the sewers underneath Vienna, Harry Lime fans, they could buy the radio caricatures, on an unrecorded Beatles‘ an Orson Welles original. More than that answered that he had also written his part. room for the others, both on the set and as everyone knows who saw The Third plays in book form a year later. One of version of the famous Harry Lime Th eme I can’t say and I could be very wrong.” Bogdanovich: “Every word of it?” Welles: in the fi lm itself. If it weren’t for Welles‘s Man. Th at was the end of Harry Lime. the episodes eventually became the germ or in the sound track of the German He wasn’t wrong. Welles may have got “ Carol Reed is the kind of director who’ll milestone performance as the attractive as But it was also a beginning. Harry Lime of the Orson Welles classic Mr. Arcadin Western parody, Der Schuh des Manitu the inspiration from his research on the use any ideas – anything that’s going. I had well as repugnant Everyman in the style had many lives. And I can recount all of (1955), a study of the shady background of (2002). In Vienna, the city of its making, Borgias for his part in Prince of Foxes as notions for the dialogue, and Carol liked of Hugo von Hoff mannsthal, The Third them. And why can I? Because my name is a mystery man, with which Welles hoped it is still screened three times a week all Cesare Borgia, the epitome of corruption them.” He was asked if he had anything to Man might not have the world-wide Harry Lime.” With the same nonchalance to recapture some of the ingredients that year round and The Third Man’s fi ftieth and evil. In an interview he once revealed do with the actual setups and shots in the reputation it enjoys today, and it might as Harry but not quite as ruthless and had made Citizen Kane such a landmark anniversary was crowned with its being that he had drawn the inspiration from a picture. He replied that he only had a few not be one of the most honoured fi lms of villainous, Welles had Harry charging success. A year later Welles produced the voted in a poll Best Hungarian play. ideas, such as the fi ngers coming through all time. Undisputedly, Welles was the one from one adventure to another, mixing television series Around the World with British Film of the Century, and with the the grille. And the cat scene? “Th at was who added the touch of emotion, glamour with the underworld in some of Europe’s Orson Welles, one episode of which was release of a digitally re-mastered DVD Bogdanovich’s interview with Welles also pure Carol”, he admitted. “He had a little and thrill, which elevated The Third most disreputable cities, seducing pretty entitled The Third Man in Vienna. version. 2

touched upon the subject of Welles’s second-unit specially set up for it, and at Man from an undisputed masterpiece to women, concocting bizarre intrigues and Not even in the late sixties did he let go Once a myth, always a myth. Modern Double-checking continuity: The star general contribution to The Third the end of every day we went there and a classic. escaping dozens of dangerous situations of Harry. In 1968, he produced Spying producers continue to be drawn in by the with Peggy McClafferty

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 27070-2 27171 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:18:062:18:06 fascination of The Third Man, and talks not, tolerate his unviable artistic demands created a greater impact in the world of of him: “One Orson Welles is enough. whom he had met during the making of of sequels never stop. Even when Graham and eccentricities which would prevent fi lm. It pushed cinematic boundaries If there were ten thoU.S.And Orson Th e Trial and who acted in his fi lms and Greene was still alive, the Austrian his productions from making money at to the limits and broke all Hollywood Welleses, society would fall apart like an often helped co-produce them, a collection director Robert Dornhelm dreamt of the box offi ce. Born the second son of a records, at least in artistic, if not fi nancial exploding bomb”. Disenchanted with the of fi lm material unprecedented in fi lm making Th e Fourth Man. Th e story about wealthy inventor and a concert pianist, he terms. Critics raved over his acting ability pragmatism of Hollywood and hoping history. Th e full scope of his oeuvre only Orson Welles coming to Vienna to play showed remarkable gifts already in early and his extraordinary directorial debut as to fi nd more artistic freedom in Europe became clear when she handed the work Harry Lime in order to make money for childhood, excelling at poetry, painting, well as the rendering of the story of Citizen where he could work on his own terms, to the Munich Film Museum for keeping his delayed Othello production is still acting, music and magic. His earliest Kane himself, based openly on the life of he left the States for a prolonged self-exile and research. It included fragments of high on his agenda. Originally, everyone artistic pursuits were dramatisations of the legendary and eccentric newspaper only eight years after his greatest triumph. unfi nished fi lms, outtakes, rehearsals, wanted to take part, from Orson Welles Shakespearean dramas in the puppet magnate Randolph Hearst. His innovative In Europe in the 1950s, he was able to improvisations and interviews. to Joseph Cotten and the entire Austrian theatre of his playroom, directorial use of camera and sound set the trend for realise his many high-fl ying projects more cast. Graham Greene, however, was interpretations of classic and modern fi lming in the , and the screenplay, or less independently of outside producers. When one thinks of Harry Limes’ Vienna, not interested. Nor did the plans of the playwrights at school, and a stage debut at which Welles had co-written with Herman Luckily, his skill and reputation as an actor two locations come immediately to mind: Australian producer Phil Brady for a the age of sixteen in a production of Jew Suss J. Mankiewicz, won an Academy Award. was most helpful in this period. His fees the Giant Wheel of the Prater Amusement sequel to The Third Man materialise. In in Dublin’s Globe Th eatre, where he had With Citizen Kane Welles carved out a for his supporting rôles and cameos, such Park and the city’s extensive sewers. Th ere 1997, Oliver Stone planned a remake in a misrepresented himself to the director as a place of lasting importance for himself as the $100.000 he earned for playing is no doubt that both locations have co-production with Lumière Pictures, but star of New York’s Th eatre Guild. In 1934 in the world of the cinema. Unlike many Harry Lime, fl owed directly into his own contributed immensely to the overall nothing materialised. Who could actually he hit Broadway playing Tybalt in Romeo others of his fi lms which were re-edited or projects. “I use my own work to subsidise appeal of The Third Man. Graham take on Orson Welles, or wear a duffl e and Juliet. At about this time Welles met even wholly or partially re-written, Citizen my work. In other words, I’m crazy”, Greene in the original story as well as coat more casually than Major Calloway? John Houseman with whom he formed Kane unquestionably belonged to himself he said later. For years he shot his fi lms Carol Reed in the fi lm ensured that both Steven Spielberg had a better idea: Harry the Mercury Th eater, which soon became alone. But it also started Welles’ sdubious wherever his engagements would lead him loomed large in the relationship between Lime and Holly Martins in the bodies of famous for its original, bold productions. reputation as “box offi ce poison” – the in his nomadic life. Th us, Othello became the two friends Harry Lime and Holly two world-dominating mice in Th e Th ird He also set new standards for radio drama, fi lm-genius who was fi nancially unviable. a four-year enterprise, shot in many Martins: the highest point of the ride Mouse, an episode in the cartoon series and with one of these productions Welles During the course of his spectacular career, locations with frequent interruptions, marking the end of Martins’ innocence, Pinkey and the Brain, a twenty-minute received world-wide attention for the fi rst which evoked almost constant controversy but fi nally it was worth the eff ort, when the sewers representing death. Perspectives homage, with zither music played by time: his dramatised radio adaptation of over its more than fi fty years, Welles it was awarded the Golden Palm at change at the giddying top of the journey. unseen hands in the prologue, a tilted H.G. Wells’s apocalyptic novel Th e War succeeded in completing only thirteen fi lms Cannes. Many other projects remained Height challenges our assumptions: what camera in the style of Carol Reed and of of the Worlds caused widespread hysteria for commercial distribution, including, fragmented. Apart from a short return diff erence does it make “if one of those course the Giant Wheel, cuckoo clock among one Sunday evening in however, some of the milestones of fi lm to the States, during which he appeared dots stopped moving forever?” One sees and sewers. Even outside the English- October 1938. Originally conceived as a history. Among them are Th e Magnifi cent in his own Broadway production of King the world through diff erent eyes. Th at speaking world The Third Man has left macabre contribution to the forthcoming Ambersons (1942) again starring his friend Lear and starred as corrupt police chief surely was also the point for Vienna’s its imprints. It served as inspiration for Halloween celebrations, the extremely Joseph Cotten, Th e Lady from Shanghai Hank Quinlan in Touch of Evil which he number one entertainment tycoon Gabor Zoran Tadic‘s Croatian production Th e realistic presentation of Martians landing (1964) in which he co-starred with his also directed, he would not return fi nally Steiner: to be lifted high above all worldly Th ird Woman, set against the background in New Jersey sent thousands into a panic, then wife Rita Hayworth, award-winning to the USA for three decades. When he matters for a few pennies, and to spend of war in Yugoslavia. and the police into the studio. Everyone Othello (1952) and Touch of Evil (1958), a did in 1975, the year of the release of F a few carefree minutes looking out over started talking about him, and it was not tale of corruption set in a sleezy American for Fake, the the ghost trains and merry-go-rounds of When Welles signed his contract for The long before Hollywood showed an interest border town, all of which ironically honoured its prodigal son with a Lifetime the amusement park below and over the Third Man, he was thirty-three years old in the brilliant outsider. Barely twenty- earned him only mediocre success at the Achievement Award – of course against cityscape of Vienna. and had already a purported fi ve thoU. fi ve-years-old, he was given carte blanche box offi ce. And yet his reputation went the backdrop of a huge image depicting S.And engagements to his credit. As actor to show off his talents as (co-)author, way beyond this rather limited number. him as Harry Lime! In 1984 the Directors’ and director, he was praised as a genius by a director and actor in Citizen Kane, in Welles was constantly coming up against Guild bestowed on him its highest honour, large fan club, but he was also condemned which he co-starred with Joseph Cotten. the boundaries of the possible. Each of the D.W. Griffi th Award. When Welles by legions of Hollywood executives and Perhaps no other director’s fi rst publicly his fi lm projects charted new territory, died of a heart attack a year later, he left critics who simply could not, and would shown fi lm had caused as great a stir nor but often foundered. It was once said his partner and collaborator Oja Kodar, 1

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 27272-2 27373 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:18:092:18:09 Graham Greene uses the unforget- table location of the Great Wheel for the crucial turning point in the story about Harry Lime. It is at its highest MARTINS: Have you seen point that Harry reveals the depths any of your victims? of his infamy. His cynicism encap- HARRY: You know, I never feel sulates the crimes of the twentieth comfortable about these MARTINS: I should be pretty century and crosses the Communist- things. Victims! Don’t be easy to get rid of. HARRY: You‘re just a little mixed Capitalist divide. Greene’s story is melodramatic! Look down here. HARRY: Pretty easy. up about things in not just a thriller, but also a modern [Harry opens the sliding door of the car.] MARTINS: Wouldn’t be too sure. general. Nobody thinks in morality play. HARRY: I carry a gun. I don’t think terms of human beings. they’ll look for a bullet Governments don’t, why wound after you hit that should we? They talk of ground. people and the proletariat, MARTINS: They dug up your coffi n. I talk about the suckers and HARRY: And found Harbin? the mugs. It’s the same Hm ... Pity. thing. They have their fi ve year plans and so have I.

HARRY: Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving for ever? If I offered you twenty thoU.S.And pounds for every dot that stops, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my “… and a world for Martins money - or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? had certainly come to an end, Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax. It’s the only way to save a world of easy friendship, nowadays. hero-worship, and confi dence that had begun twenty years before in a school corridor.” (THE THIRD MAN, p. 82)

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 27474-2 27575 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:18:122:18:12 “Don’t be so gloomy. After all, it isn’t that awful. Remember what the fellow said: in Italy under the Borgias they had warfare, trerror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the . In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 2 fi ve hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? Orson Welles as Citizen Kane and Joseph Cotten as Jey Layland: It was a clever The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.” coup of Carol Reed, to cast them again side by side in THE THIRD MAN.

1 "The Cuckoo Clock Speech": The only scene where Orson managed to slip in his version“ of the script. The confrontation between the two friends counts Orson Welles is having some fun with his long-time friend Joseph Cotten. among the fi nest performances of both actors. At the same time it is a perfect blend of great writing, directing and acting. The colloquial tone belies He loved making mischief because he had a “low boredom threshold” as the philosophical as well as religious character of their conversation. Greene, the Catholic convert, was steeped in religion - even when he was often a he once told a journalist. prodigal son - and knew his Bible well. The inspriration came from Matthew 4,9-12, the temptation of Jesus by Satan on the mountain.

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 27676-2 27777 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:18:352:18:35 1 2 3 The umpteenth take: The expert acting and perfect interaction of the two actor-friends belie the Trying to direct the director: On the mock-up steps Joseph Cotten looks concerned about Orson Welles´s rearranging his lines to suit himself. He himself fact that this sequence had to be shot thirty-two times. of the Great Wheel stayed as close to the script as Welles would allow him. Assistant Director Guy Hamilton is on the left.

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 27878-2 27979 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:18:582:18:58 “He was out of the café again before Martins had put down the receiver. It was one of those rare moments when none of my men was in the café. One had just left and another was on the pavement about to come in. Harry Lime brushed by him and made for the kiosk.” (THE THIRD MAN, p. 113)

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 28080-2 28181 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:19:062:19:06 However memorable that defi nitive image of Orson Welles illuminated by the light shining from a living-room window, however extraordinary his performance in the Great Wheel scene, what makes his performance unforgettable is his last scene in the sewer. Caught by Major Calloway’s trap and with the Viennese Sewer Police in hot pursuit, Harry Lime descends down into the underground world of the sewers so familiar to him, and meets his fate half way up the steps of a cast-iron spiral staircase. He is only inches away from freedom when his friend catches up with him and fi nishes him off . It is Welles’s wonderfully expressive face that stops this scene becoming sentimental. His eyes refl ect not only the panic of a murderer for whom escape is no longer possible. In

High Tension on the Sewer Location: “Carol, I can’t work in a sewer. I come from California.” his eyes we see the total helplessness of a man who at the very bottom of his heart is not so bad that he does not deserve either redemption or pardon. As his glance meets that of his friend, his fear leaves him; he nods almost imperceptibly and thus signals to his friend that he is ready to pay for his crimes. Evil is fi nally redeemed.

The legendary chase scene through Vienna‘s labyrinthine sewers. It made Welles the city’s quintesssential underground man.

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 28282-2 28383 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:19:322:19:32 “Paine took a whistle out of his pocket and “Th e silly thing is the bastard blew, and very far away, here and again doesn´t stand a chance. Th e there, came the notes of a reply. He said, manholes are all guarded ‘Th ey are all down here now. Th e sewer and we‘ve cordoned off the police, I mean. Th ey know this place just way into the Russian zone.” as I know the Tottenham Court Road. I (THE THIRD MAN, p. 114) wish my old woman could see me now.” (THE THIRD MAN, p. 114)

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 28484-2 28585 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:20:172:20:17 286 - - 287

DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 28686-2 28787 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:20:382:20:38 The Final Shootout: Cornered, the massive iron steps, the supports and the damp bricks have turned the sewer into his prison. His small caliber handgun is dwarfed by the structure, all that is revealed of his face is an eye revealing his desperation. The fi ngers of his other hand grip the step in a futile gesture.

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 28888-2 28989 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:21:052:21:05 “For a moment I thought he was dead, but then he whimpered with pain. I said, ‘Harry,’ and he swivelled his eyes with a great eff ort to my face. He was trying to speak, and I bent down to listen. ‘Bloody fool,’ he said - that was all. I don´t know whether he meant that for himself - some sort of act of contrition, however inadequate (he was a Catholic) - or was it for me - with my thoU. S.And a year taxed and my imaginary cattle-rustlers who couldn´t even shoot a rabbit clean? Th en he began to whimper again. I couldn´t bear any more and I put a bullet through him.” (THE THIRD MAN, p. 117)

Harry’s Dying Moment: It releases all tension and allows the moral meaning of the story to seep through.

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DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 29090-2 29191 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:21:422:21:42 DDERER_k korrorr_G GUNUN_K Kapitel7apitel7_1 .i inddndd 2 29292-2 29393 2277.0 099.2 2005005 1 12:22:002:22:00