Posts

Showing posts with the label orson welles

THE THIRD MAN - REVIEW

Image
Written by Graham Greene, The Third Man was a 1949 film noir starring Joseph Cotten as a writer arriving in post-WWII Vienna only to find that his friend was killed in a car accident. After some inconsistencies with that story come to light, he starts to look deeper into the case. A British production, Carol Reed's film is not your typical film noir with its unusually upbeat yet genuinely inspired zither-led score and the rarely seen broken Vienna setting offering a particularly atmospheric backdrop for the mystery to unfold. Joseph Cotten's Holly Martin is a likeable makeshift detective who wants to know the truth about what happened to his friend Harry Lime yet the closer he gets to figuring it all out, the darker his path becomes. Italian actress Alida Valli is very good as Lime's actress girlfriend Anna Schmidt who assists Holly on his search and Orson Welles almost steals the show when he shows up randomly near the end of the second act. The Third Man has some cl

THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI - REVIEW

Image
Released back in 1947, The Lady From Shanghai was a moody film noir directed by and starring Orson Welles about how a femme fatale (played by a blonde Rita Hayworth) lures an Irish seaman into sailing with her and her wealthy husband on a yacht. Eventually, a murder is committed and Welles' protagonist is framed for it and is even made to confess to it on paper. Based on Sherwood King's novel "If I Die Before I Wake", The Lady From Shanghai was not a huge hit upon its release and pretty much mystified its producers. Since then, it has received more critical acclaim, mostly due to Orson Welles' technical creativity in full force during the film's admittedly impressive and memorable funhouse climax. The use of mirrors, elaborate sets and projection making for a brilliant, much ripped-off stand-out sequence. This is what most remember from this movie, that and Rita Hayworth, whose one song in the middle of the movie may not have been Welles' own idea but

THE BIG REWIND: EPISODE 51 - PODCAST

Image
In this 51st episode, Adam (aka The RetroCritic) and fellow film buff Jamie discuss movie news, the Oscars 2015 and talk retro stuff. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes  and now  Stitcher  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula