Phillips, Lou Ann

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MANUSCRIPTS S9My "Third Man Theme"Lou Ann PhillipsSEVER~L M~NTHS ~~o I sa;-v.thehighly praise~ anc~greatly. discussedmotion picture, fhe 1 hird Man." My first impression of theover-all production was very favorable, because the movie heldmy interest. For that reason, in a sense, the movie is a success, sincethe primary purpose of a motion picture of this type is to entertain.However, after thinking for awhile about "The Third Man," I havedecided that the plot of the picture is shallow and meaningless. 'Whenanalyzed, the movie is actually nothing but unusual photography, localcolor, and weird background music.The audience's attention is held by the psychological manner inwhich the scenes are presented, instead of by the plot. For example,a. conversation takes place on a Ferris wheel in a carnival. Nothingsignificant is said in regard to the story, but the audience is interested111 the conversation because of the atmosphere in which it takes place.The movie contains too much local color, such as the use of a greatdeal of foreign language spoken by the characters. This dialogue onlymystifies the audience and apparently complicates the plot, since theaverage "movie-goer" can not understand what is being said.But perhaps the most unusual feature of "The Third Man" is themuch publicized background music that is played on a zither. Thisinstrument was practically unheard of in America until it becamerecognized as the popular musical background of this particular mo-tion picture. The music intensifies insignificant conversations bygrowing louder and louder until the climax of the speech is reached,which, without the music, would undoubtedly be unnoticed by theaudience. If the speech itself contained sufficient force, it wouldnot need this emphasis.I have used "The Third Man" as an example of the weakness ofmany an American movinz picture. The public is too often fooled bymere technical skill used i~ the handling of scenes and by extraordin-ary photography and music. Because the average person is satisfiedwith what he sees on the surface, he does not stop to realize that themotion picture relays no message and has no underlying meaning ingeneral. Much of the material and many of the sequences in movies,as is the case in "The Third Man," are used to fill in and take time,making the picture long enough to be accepted as a full length pro-duction. But does the length of a moving picture determine itsvalue? Or does value depend, at least in part, on an inner meaningthat can inform the public mind with moral or intellectual truth?

My  Third Man Theme

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My Third Man Theme

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