Greatest Movie Scenes #39 - THE THIRD MAN
I very nearly posted the ending of the movie, which I think technically from a directing standpoint is an absolute marvel... but this scene is so strongly acted and written, I had to put this in. Maybe another week in the future I will post the ending.
The Third Man, but unfortunately with little success. Oh yes, they have hundreds of copies of Night at the Museum on the shelves but when it comes to mid 20th century classics... not much love I'm afraid. In the end I had to settle for the William Castle movie House on Haunted Hill with Vincent Price. Tons of fun, but The Third Man it's clearly not. I love this scene, it's my favourite on-screen moment of the whole career's of both Orson Welles and the great Joseph Cotten. Welles delivers one of my favourite lines in the history of cinema...
Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax - the only way you can save money nowadays.It's so simple, but so deeply sinister. And it does make you wonder. I very nearly posted the ending of the movie, which I think technically from a directing standpoint is an absolute marvel... but this scene is so strongly acted and written, I had to put this in. Maybe another week in the future I will post the ending. Oh and legend has it, the cuckoo clock speech that Welles delivered at the very end was something he added into the script on the day of shooting. An absolute genius.