Customer Reviews

Third Man & Other Original Recordings [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those disappointed with the 'Third Man Soundtrack' CD. Weep not. Buy this one. It is the closest thing I've been able to find to a true Third Man soundtrack. Not only does it contain all of the music from the film (as far as I can tell) it also features some of his other work. This particular CD is amongst my very favorites: Both for the quality and amount of music (25 tracks!) and it goes without saying, for the talent and of Kara's playing. Which is at once both beautiful, poignant and not without its humor.
I am delighted that Amazon is now listing this CD!

You've been looking for the original version of the music in "The Third Man", right? Every other CD on the market wouldn't work for you. But lucky for you, this is the one! Don't go wrong.

Carol Reed's veteran cinematographer Robert Krasker's quirky angles under Reed's direction perfectly framed the ready-made-for-an-art designer bombed out shadows and stark, isolated street lights of post-war Vienna and its underworld. Unique to cinema history the whole score (but for some canned incidental cafe music) was just the brilliant zither playing of Anton Karas, adding his nuances to every dramatic transition. Krasker won an Oscar, and Karas was nominated.

The "Third Man Theme" (also known as the "Harry Lime Theme") is alternately brittle, jaunty, bittersweet, romantic, wry, and even sardonic piece of music--which fits the mood of the story and the film perfectly -- that, once heard, can't be forgotten.

The "Third Man Theme" turned Anton Karas into a wealthy man after 28 years of toiling in obscurity an relative poverty in Vienna.

One night, Carol Reed was passing by a wine tavern where growers offer their own wines for sale directly, and heard Anton Karas's playing in the background. Reed had never heard a zither before and found the sound to be attractive. He approached Karas and persuaded him to play for him at his hotel, and made a recording, which Reed brought back to the studio to test. He liked the effect when the zither's sound was placed against the recorded dialogue and, ignoring the protests of many around him, hired Karas and brought him to London for 12 weeks.

Anton Karas screened the movie hundreds of times, devising music for each scene. The Third Man ended up with a vast amount of music, scored in virtually every scene of its 104 minutes. Ironically, the piece that became known as the "Third Man Theme" was something that Anton Karas had written two decades earlier and hadn't played in over 15 years. As he later explained to Reed, playing the zither for a whole night for tips was hard work, and one tended to play the easiest pieces the most often, to save the fingers.

Other zither players never got it to sound just right. The truth was that as recorded for the movie, "The Third Man Theme" was one of the first practical examples of overdubbing on a hit record, rivaling Les Paul's work--Anton Karas had gotten just the right effect working underneath Reed's kitchen table, and had gotten the piece just right by recording and mixing more than one zither part.

The Third Man was finished and prepared for release, and Reed and the production company, London Films, tried to raise interest in it through the music. None of the record companies, however, was interested in recording Karas or releasing the "Third Man Theme." The music was too strange and different, and although British movies had produced some soundtrack successes in the past, those were usually more conventional light classical pieces, not a jangly piece of music played on a central European folk instrument.

The CD didn't sound as good as the movie sound track. Ity sounded a bit rushed as if the sampling during the transfer was not sufficient

"The Third Man" is one of the greatest movies ever made, and one of the most distinctive things that made it so was is its soundtrack. It consisted entirely of a single person, Anton Karas, playing a very unusual instrument, the concert zither. This CD, and no other (to my knowledge), contains the original tracks from the movie (two of them, "Rendezvous Waltz" and "Farewell to Vienna", previously unissued), and a great deal more, all arranged or composed, and played, by Anton Karas. Almost all the music here is just as evocative as what you hear in the film. It also stands very well on its own and is a delight to listen to.

The accompanying notes are fascinating reading, not only about Karas himself but also about the making of the film and the subsequent popularity of the famous Third Man Theme.

Two very minor caveats: Firstly, it's mono, as if this should matter (it's the music that counts). Secondly, to my taste, the two tracks with Kay Armen singing don't quite fit in stylistically with the rest of it.

The bottom line: If you like "The Third Man," you'll love this CD.

The Third Man is one of my all time favorite films. The music has always left me with the flavor of the film, the setting and the story. I don't remember the year when I first saw the film, but it was a nearly new film at the time. I remember the Third Man Theme from 1949 when it became popular. In my opinion, this is the best recording of the film music. While the CD is in monaural sound, and the actual recording is not as perfect as it could be in today's world, it does a near perfect job of putting me right smack dab in the middle of the story as if I was seeing it for the first time. Excellent!

I am a fan of the Third Man, Movie and music, I could listen to this music all day long without getting tired of it. In this original recording the zither sometimes gets a bit chirpy at some stage, but altogether you get a very good program for the price. Since I have seen the film at least ten times, listening to the music alone, brings back the scenes and I enjoy it very much.
The other songs on the CD are also very enjoyable, a must for lovers of Schramml music.

We bought it for a friend. They loved it.

The tunes on this disc have a nice, comforting sound. Some of the selections are haunting, some have a peasant-liveliness. Nothing great or revolutionary, but plain good zither music, very enjoyable.