Customer Reviews

The Third Man

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

 

 

"The Third Man" was a late 1950s/early 1960s U.S./British co-production that was very loosely based on Carol Reed's classic 1949 film of the same name and starred Orson Welles as Harry Lime. In this television adaptation, Lime is an international businessman portrayed by Michael Rennie and, in many of the episodes, he is joined by his assistant Bradford Webster, portrayed by Jonathan Harris (yes, the same Jonathan Harris of "Lost in Space" fame). The tone and texture of this weekly series is much lighter than the film, but it can be enjoyed on its own merits.

This 10-episode, 2-DVD set from the Timeless Media Group, while much anticipated by this viewer, could have been better. The good news is that the episodes included in this set are, visually, a major improvement over a 4-episode single disc of "The Third Man" from Critics Choice Video that was released a few years ago. The prints are fairly crisp and clean looking, certainly better than what I would have expected for a release in this price range. Some background audio "flutter" can be heard in some episodes, but it's really not too intrusive. And, fortunately, none of the episodes in this collection are duplicates of the Critics Choice release, a real plus for collectors of this series. There are plenty of recognizable guest stars from both sides of the Atlantic, character actors like Nehemiah Persoff, Werner Klemperer, Robert Shayne, Hugh Marlowe, Mai Zetterling, Steven Berkoff, Marius Goring, Patrick Troughton and even Oliver Reed, among others, as well as the always fun-to-watch Jonathan Harris, who appears as a semi-regular.

Now for the bad news . . . the opening title sequence of Harry Lime walking alone on a dark, deserted street along with Anton Karas' famous theme music (the only real major carryover from the film) is played only once at the beginning of each disc, but has been completely eliminated from the beginning of each of the episodes. Each episode begins with the episode title card. While the closing end credits are left intact on most of the episodes, a few don't even have these. Also, the Timeless Media Group logo (TMG) appears in the bottom right hand corner for long stretches in each episode . . . another viewing annoyance.

"The Third Man" is a very rare television series to see . . . to my knowledge, it hasn't been broadcast in decades and there hasn't been much in the way of video and DVD releases in the ensuing years. So this release is a very welcome addition, and one has to give credit to the Timeless Media Group for taking a chance on this largely forgotten series. The pros certainly outweigh the cons, but one also wishes that Timeless Media would have done a better job with the presentation and, for this, I'm subtracting a star.

The Third Man (1949) is one of the classics of film noir, an Oscar winning suspense thriller starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard and Bernard Lee. Welles played thief and selfish schemer, Harry Lime, who is killed in a well-remembered scene, in the sewers of Vienna. Orson Welles adapted the character Harry Lime for the radio, in the program The Lives of Harry Lime in 1951. These adventures occur before events in the film, and feature a somewhat less sinister version of the mysterious Mr. Lime.

The television version of The Third Man, should delight lovers of mystery and intrigue. The series ran from 1959 through 1965, with Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still) playing the infamous Harry Lime, an expert in art, who has business offices in London and New York. Jonathan Harris (Lost in Space) is Bradford Webster, the company treasurer and Lime's aide. A total of 77 half hour episodes were produced. This DVD collection contains a selection of ten episodes, on two DVD's, with approximately four hours of content.

Initially a joint production of National Telefilm Associates and the BBC, The Third Man is a very well-written and acted series, set in various domestic and international locations, where the plot usually unfolds in an unpredictable manner, often with an unexpected conclusion. It is all about intrigue. With a mysterious background, when he is not involved in the world of art, Harry Lime is sometimes hired to do unusual tasks. Michael Rennie brings confidence and class to the role, and is right at home hobnobbing with the upper crust of society. Being more athletic than Welles, this Harry Lime can move quickly and more than hold his own in a fight. The stories are often complicated, with subtle touches, where things are often not quite as they seem. A lot gets covered in just half an hour, and you may not catch everything the first time you view an episode. The women are exotic and beautiful, and the guest stars are among the best of the day. Based on this sampling, the quality of the series appears to be quite outstanding.

The episodes in this collection are:

Disc 1:

1. The Third Medallion (Episode 11: 3/20/1959)

2. A Pocketful of Sin (Episode 16: 4/20/1959)

3. As the Twig Is Bent (Episode 18: 4/30/1959)

4. Broken Strings (Episode 19: 5/6/1959)

5. One Kind Word (Episode 22: 9/7/1959)

Disc 2:

1. Barcelona Passage (Episode 26: 10/1/1959)

2. Toys of the Dead (Episode 30: 10/27/1959)

3. How to Buy a Country (Episode 17: 04/24/1959)

4. Diamond in the Rough (Episode 51: 05/11/1963)

5. A Question in Ice (Episode 60: 6/27/1964)

The emphasis is clearly on the early episodes, with eight of the ten episodes from 1959, with minimal coverage of the later years. Image and sound quality is good, with some grain, and a normal amount of dirt particles visible on the prints. Released by Timeless Media Group, who specializes in classic TV, the initials 'TMG' appear at all times at the lower right corner of the screen. When the disc first loads, the opening credit sequence appears and then transitions to a menu with a listing of the episodes on the disc. The episodes do not have chapter stops or subtitles, and the end credits appear to be intact. The set has no extras.

Despite the metamorphosis of the Harry Lime character, The Third Man is a high-quality series that deserves to be released in its entirety. Until that happens, this budget priced set is highly recommended to lovers of mystery, intrigue, and adventure.

I had never heard of the Third Man TV series before seeing this ten show DVD offered here. I had heard several old Orson Wells Harry Lime radio shows and hoped it fell into that type of interpretation. That was a good assumption because it was just as well made as Orson's own radio show. Michael Rennie is excellent as the reformed but still wise Harry Lime solving post WW2 intrigue. I am only half way through the ten episodes offer and enjoying the stories quite a lot. I wish the entire 77 episodes made over five years both in the USA and the UK could be offered on commercial DVD.

Michael Rennie and Jonathan Harris excel in this quiet slow paced tv drama, suitable for the family. The zither music of Anton Karas is joined by a cute rendition of the theme on timpani. Picture quality is not perfect- this is tv from 1959 folks. Very watchable.

As with the radio series the plots are full of twists. Here Mr Lime is presented as something of a reformed character, but there are flashbacks to his past. His death (in the film) seems to have not happened.

The five episodes on the dvd are:

20 Mar 1959 s1 ep11 The Third Medallion (where is the gold bullion?)

20 Apr 1959 s1 e16 A Pocketful of Sin (dancing lessons!)

30 Apr 1959 s1 ep 18 As the twig is bent

6 May 1959 s1 ep19 Broken Strings (stolen violin)

7 Sep 1969 s2 ep2 One Kind Word - London suicide attempt. Guests Mai Zetterling and Rupert Davies (Maigret).

Recommended for fans of Harry Lime - this is maybe an alternate take but still pretty good classic tv.

'The third man" is a classic movie of the highest order. This is loosely based on that movie. This dvd collects some of this pretty good show. I thought the plots were engaging and the production values were what you would expect from a early 60's tv show. It's black and white and has the excellent actors Michael Rennie and Jonathon Harris as its leads. The prints are very watchable but full of artifacts and lines in some areas so this is by no means from the master prints. But then it's a cheap set and is very cold war in feel. It's worth getting some vintage tv and such a low price because this show is a decent show that deserves not to be forgotten.

When I watch something on TV I expect to see logos all over the place. I do not expect it when I buy DVD's. These disks have the logo on ALL THE TIME, except for the closing credits. For me, Timeless Media Group now join Platinum as two companies from which I will never again purchase DVD's.

It's one thing for a first-run movie, but for a 50+ year old TV series, Give me a break!

First off, don't expect superb quality. The series went into the public domain and Timeless obviously used whatever prints they could find. The quality is not remastered or digitally restored. But it isn't bad for the price so unless you are a nit-picker, you won't be disappointed. Michael Rennie is no Orson Welles and for that matter, do not expect something like the Carol Reed movie. This was a cheap rip-off series from the motion picture. It ran more than a season so it did decent. But ten half-hour episodes for the price is not bad.

I am wondering why there is no mention in the product description that this is the TELEVISION version of The Third Man with Michael Rennie and NOT the movie with Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten as the wonderful review above this describes.

Unfortunately, Amazon hasn't put a system of checks and balances in place to keep this type of misleading practice from happening.

With no image available, I didn't pay enough attention to the fact that this is not the classic movie, but is a few episodes of an old TV show called The Third Man. I returned it without opening it, so that stars mean nothing other than being disappointed at the mistake.

The plots and productions values are not very good, but Michael Rennie is always worth watching.