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Best Blu-ray Discs of 2008 9

by Jason Rowan on January 6, 2009 at 12:01 AM



'The Third Man'

The gist: Carol Reed's classic film throws you back into the ruined, "bombed about" streets of Venice in the aftermath of World War II. Holly Martins, a writer of American Western paperback novels, comes to the Austrian capital in search of work, stumbles onto the death of a friend, tries to gather clues from uncooperative witnesses, uncovers a murder, and ultimately gets tangled in a nasty betrayal. Joseph Cotten plays Martins, and 'The Third Man' is populated with an international cast of deliciously weird butlers, majors, doctors and more to create a fascinating snapshot of a European city in shambles.

Why it's on our list: Although Criterion wasn't able to strike a new print for this edition, this is a digital re-master, and on Blu-ray it is stunning -- the swirling fog and ominous shadows of Vienna look fantastic. Even without the Blu-ray gorgeousness, this edition is a treasure trove for devotees of both the film and writer Graham Greene, with extensive background information on both. Included here is the fascinating alternate U.K. opening of the film, which features a more morally ambiguous voiceover not by Cotten, as in the U.S. version, but by a raffish man with a British accent -- director Carol Reed. Two audio commentary tracks, including one by Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, a reading of Graham's original treatment, and two great documentaries on the film. An unexpected charmer is a recording of a 1950 radio program in which Orson Welles performs the neat trick of resurrecting Harry Lime in an original radio play that he wrote and voiced himself.

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