Classic movies often take me by surprise because they have so much substance, so much more to show than many of the recent Hollywood eye-candies do. Older movies like Metropolis (1927), Modern Times (1936), and To Be or Not to Be (1942), to name but a few, are all very engaging throughout their runtime.
Unfortunately, The Third Man is a disappointing "too little, too late" movie. The movie should be cut down to 1 hour because it doesn't really get started until the last 30 minutes. The first 1 hour is a long, melodramatic nothingness. Storytelling is clumsy. Scene transitions are awkward. True, the background and characters need to be developed before Lime shows up; but the job can be done in 20 minutes, 30 at most. The movie gets more dull than suspenseful if it takes too much time showing too little. The music doesn't help, either.
In my opinion, this movie doesn't stand the test of time as other classics do. It may have been ahead of its time when it came out, alright. Is it worth watching now? Not really.
Unfortunately, The Third Man is a disappointing "too little, too late" movie. The movie should be cut down to 1 hour because it doesn't really get started until the last 30 minutes. The first 1 hour is a long, melodramatic nothingness. Storytelling is clumsy. Scene transitions are awkward. True, the background and characters need to be developed before Lime shows up; but the job can be done in 20 minutes, 30 at most. The movie gets more dull than suspenseful if it takes too much time showing too little. The music doesn't help, either.
In my opinion, this movie doesn't stand the test of time as other classics do. It may have been ahead of its time when it came out, alright. Is it worth watching now? Not really.
