A must see film, no doubt. Great disc too.

The jangling zither score can be overbearing but that may be the intention. To me, it's an effective contrast ... on the surface, happy, major key cafe music, contrasted against the bombed out city, and the corruption and ruined lives of the citizens. That may be a superficial interpretation but it's how it always strikes me.

At the risk of overselling it, YES

The CC disk is the 104 minute UK cut. My understanding of the U.S. version (I haven't seen it) is that it doesn't drop any entire scenes, but a number of trims were made throughout of non-dialog bits and pieces to reduce the running time to 93 minutes. The UK version has the introductory voice over by Carol Reed, the U.S. version has the same (or very similar) narration done by Joseph Cotten. The Cotten voice over scene (just a few minutes if that) is included as an extra on the CC disk.

Yeah i think i remember reading Casablanca, The Third Man, and something else were among his favourites.

I guess I may be in the minority that I love the zither music. So much I even tracked it down on cd.

I'll agree with some previous comments that it has one of the best entrances by a character. Rivaled only perhaps by the entrance of Jesus in The Big Lebowski (I feel a little strange comparing the films...but hey, why not).

Citizen Kane is what he says is the best movie ever, so maybe that's the one you're thinking of.

Great, great movie. I would place it up there with Casablanca an Citizen Kane.

is this doc on the criterion dvd?

I have the Criterion DVD and they don't have the documentary.

About the movie, I have to admit I don't like it when I watched it the first time around. I was expecting some kind of a thriller and dark suspense (a la Mulholland Falls) but it turned out to be different. But sometimes that's what happen with great movies - it let you down when you watch it the first time, but the more you watch it, the more it grows on you. This was the case with The Third Man. At least to me, that is. What a great movie.

One of the major things cut from the U.S. version of the film is the strong implication that a couple of the supporting characters are gay. Another is that the Joseph Cotton character has a bit of a checkered past.

This was one that I had to watch twice but what a rewarding movie. Is Orson Welles not one of the most charismatic actors you have ever seen?

Very good movie. Not the best ever made, but definitely memorable. And I really liked the zither music.

I finally got around to watching this, and I am a little pissed (not at the movie, the movie is amazing), but pissed that the disc froze with about maybe 10 or 15 minutes left (a little bit after the carnival scene)
What i really liked is that for once, here is a movie from the 40's that doesn't have that old fashioned "talking really fast" style of acting that never sounds natural. Also, while Welles is only in the movie for a few minutes, he is amazing in his role. And also, the score did take some getting used to.

I watched this awhile back and didn't think much of it. I'll have to give it another chance.

But .... is it better than Taxi Driver?

I didn't find the entrance to be anything spectacular, but that my be because that's all I ever heard about the movie.

Other than that minor problem, I thought it was great. I'm very happy to have seen it, and would definately recommend it to others.