The Third Man

Roger Ebert mentions the 1949 film "The Third Man" in the introduction to his Great Movies list. I haven't seen it so I thought I'd check it out.

It builds on a great premise: Holly Martins, a writer of Western novels, arrives to meet his friend Harry Lime in post-WWII Vienna, only to discover Harry has been hit and killed in a traffic accident. But was it really an accident? Of course, Martins, played by Joseph Cotten, has to stay in Vienna to find out.

Martins meets Lime's girlfriend Anna Schmidt at Lime's funeral, and she turns out to have a few secrets. I could have sworn she was played by Vivien Leigh. Actually it's Italian actress Alida Valli, who shines in her performance as a world-weary actress.

Cotten earns our empathy in his role as the nice guy investigator in a foreign city. Looks-wise, he reminds me of a cross between Tony Curtis and Ray Liotta.

One of the most interesting aspects of this movie is the ambiguity -- whom can you trust in this post-war world? Friends, lovers, the police, seemingly uninvolved Austrians who were eyewitnesses to the accident/murder?

And Ebert makes much of the filming in Vienna: "(Director Carol) Reed defied convention by shooting entirely on location in Vienna, where mountains of rubble stood next to gaping bomb craters, and the ruins of empire supported a desperate black market economy." There's no explanation necessary for why characters in the film are so tired and distrusting.

The final chase scene is fantastic, a world of light and shadows that looks amazing in black and white.

The surprises (one scene in particular) and the visual details make "The Third Man" a movie you will remember.

Running update

I am mid-way through Week 5 of my 5K training regimen. This morning I ran for eight minutes in a row. Twice! And the thing is, it wasn't terribly tiring. I've never been on this kind of detailed program, where the amount you run and walk is prescribed down to the minute. Last week it was five minute blocks of straight running. This week it's blocks of eight. I can see myself being able to run that 5K, whereas at the beginning I absolutely could not see it.

My knees still hurt, though. Not as in major excruciating pain, but twinges at my kneecap when I sit down for long periods. I've tried the quadriceps exercises and hamstring stretches. I've tried to make sure I run with my feet straight in front of me. I think I will pick up some shoe supports and see if that helps. If the hurt becomes worse then I might have to stop. C'est la vie.

I haven't lost weight with the running, though I haven't gained any, a miracle with a week of bad eating this past week.

Honestly after five weeks I can't say that I love running. The actual act of running is not that fun. For me running is a lot of looking at the clock and seeing how many more minutes you have left. But I suppose the reward is the "runner's high" and sense of accomplishment you get afterwards. For that running is much more rewarding than walking.