As a long-time devotee of the Brattle in Cambridge, I was embarrassed to find that I'd failed to discover an art/rep theater right in my neighborhood, the Film Forum, after a good three-quarters of a year living there. Chalk it up to my general dislike of Houston St., which feels to me like the least pedestrian-friendly street in Manhattan, or at least my neighborhood. Anyway, tonight I went to see The Third Man, because I always go to see that movie when it's on the big screen.
First, I must say that the Forum doesn't hold a candle to the Brattle in terms of price, amenities, or facilities, especially after the latter's renovation. I don't really expect to pay the same price for rep films that I do for first-run movies (one of the reason I've seen so many more rep films than first-run over the past several years has been economics!) and I certainly don't expect to pay $3.40 for a 22-oz. cup of Coke, which is steep even by first-run movie house standards, but if I do, then I expect facilities commensurate with the price. I've made many a joke about the Brattle being the middle-school auditorium of our youths preserved in amber, and some of the marginal seating there is pretty marginal, but that's better than being jammed into a narrow rectangle (I think it was eight seats across) between two big red pillars in front of a postage-stamp screen, with worn, old seats featuring not so much as a cupholder. When you consider that you can see a double-feature in the comfy new seats of the Brattle for about $8 (with the discount cards, another feature lacking at the Forum, more like $6.50), and actually get real butter on your popcorn--the Forum doesn't even offer the artificial kind, no lie, and I don't eat that stuff, but come on!--there's a clear winner here. The Forum strikes me as typical of the nasty New York institution that assumes you'll pay a good bit more for a good deal less and like it, just because it's in Manhattan. Well...no. (None of this means, however, that I'll never go back. The sad fact is, I'm a sucker for old movies, it's close, and The Battle of Algiers is playing til Thursday. I'll just kvetch when I do.)
Second, The Third Man. What can I say about this movie, except that it deserves to be at least as well-known as Casablanca, and you should all run out and rent the Criterion DVD release right now? It's gorgeous to look at, blackly witty in a way few films ever can be, and heart-breaking, and it has a cracking great chase sequence at its climax. Although it is not explicitly a political film, its topicality is as great as it's ever been, as a clueless American careens about a foreign city he doesn't understand and leaves nothing but wreckage in his wake. Rarely has a film had such a tremendous realization of place; the "bombed-about-a-bit" post-WWII Vienna is a character in its own right.
Most people who know of the film do because of Orson Welles's small role. Although his performance is memorable, the greatness of this film really rests on director Carol Reed's brilliant assimilation of German Expressionism into a style at turns lyrical and grotesque which is in the service of the story rather than the point in itself, and Joseph Cotten's full commitment to an increasingly unysmpathetic character. (I consider Cotten to be one of the most underrated actors of the last century.) The closing shot is one of the most memorable in film history, and it's only possible due to their conviction. This film ends in a way you can't possibly imagine a Hollywood film ending today, and that's a great pity.
Rent it. Rent it (or, if you must, go to the Forum), and you'll thank me. But do avoid the introduction by Peter Bogdanovich--not merely because he's the most annoying little butt-monkey in the world of film, but because he gives away the twist without so much as a warning.
Posted by Sarah T. at April 12, 2004 06:34 AM | TrackBackSarah--
Did you get the package I sent last week?