Litera: Dil, Edebiyat ve Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies Litera 2020; 30(2): 343-363 DOI: 10.26650/LITERA2020-0044 Review Article The Rule of the Three, the “third force”, and The Quiet American Roxana-Claudia TOMPEA1 ABSTRACT This paper explores the three reception phases of the story The Quiet American – the 1955 novel by Graham Greene, its first film adaptation by Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1958 starring Michael Redgrave, Audie Murphy, and Giorgia Moll, and the later adaptation from 2002, directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Michael Caine, 1Miss, Diplomatische Akademie Wien, Brendan Fraser, and Do Thi Hai Yen. In this sense, it aims to understand the reactions, Department of International Relations, appropriations, and the chronological depictions associated with each of the three Vienna, Austria works, and to present the story of the “third force” in the context of the Rule of the Three (omne trium perfectum). As such, the principle of the Rule of the Three presents ORCID: R.C.T. 0000-0001-5487-5433 the three main characters, coming from three contrasting countries with diverging Corresponding author: foreign policy aims, in three complex dimensions (historical, cinematographic/ Roxana-Claudia TOMPEA, artistic, and political/ individual). The findings suggest that the time of release, Diplomatische Akademie Wien, the cast, as well as the individual spin of specific historical events have granted Department of International Relations, Vienna, Austria each of the three works very distinct results. Ultimately, their legacies witnessed E-mail:
[email protected] disproportionate peaks of success, with some being categorised as persistent rather than particular.