The Third Man

The 2015 4K restoration of The Third Man has now been released in UHD format. The film benefits hugely from both full 4K resolution and High Dynamic Range. Of the two, HDR is probably more important. Colour is encoded in a linear fashion. At low light levels minor differences in colour can be quite pronounced when compared to higher levels. 98% percent grey (almost black) is twice as bright as 99% grey, whereas the difference between 9% and 10% is relatively small. These differences can be annoyingly noticeable in the dark scenes of some black and white films.

Carol Reed and cinematographer Robert Krasker's exceptional use of light and shadow benefits greatly. The shadows are sharper and the wet cobblestones of Vienna's streets glisten in the night. Its a big step up from the 2015 release, which was 4K downscaled to HD. The sound quality is also good. Anton Karas's score is clear and vibrant. His quirky zither compositions keep The Third Man in the territory of comic thriller right up to the scene with the teddy bears, where the Boy's Own ripping yarn takes a sharp turn.

The disc comes with a large selection of special features. These have been carefully chosen so that they do not contain much overlapping content. It is often the case with the special features on Blu-rays that they end up being repetitious, covering the same ground over and over again. This is not the case here. Each of the special feature has its own voice and a clear purpose on the disc.

There is the usual selection of audio commentary and interviews with cast and crew. These are all of a historic nature - the film is 75 years, old after all. The sound on the two Guardian NFT Interviews with Joseph Cotten and Graham Greene is a bit ropey. In Joseph Cotten's he is suffering from laryngitis, which doesn't help.

Beyond the standard content there is: The Third Man – A Filmmaker’s Influence, where the likes of Martin Scorsese and Ben Wheatley talk about how the film has informed their film making; the 2004 BBC Arena documentary Shadowing The Third Man, assistant director Guy Hamilton and continuity assistant Angela Allen explore Vienna, and The Making Of the Third Man. The Third Man On The Radio, A Ticket to Tangiers is the fourth episode of The Adventures Of Harry Lime radio plays, which gives some interesting insights into how Orson Welles interpreted his character; and The Third Man Interactive Vienna Tour, which is a series of now and then vignettes at the locations used in the film.

The menus system on the Blu-ray is clean, clear and bug free. The special features are broken up into three sub menus which makes the content easily navigable (it surprises me how often something as simple as this is neglected).

The special features do a good job of putting The Third Man in both historical and artistic context. The content can mostly be accessed in other ways. All 52 episodes of The Adventures Of Harry Lime (The Lives Of Harry Lime) are available at The Internet Archive (Archive.org), for instance. It is nice to have it in one place, though. Ultimately it's the 4K restoration with HDR that makes the The Third Man: 75th Anniversary worth owning.