Reading Europe: The Third Man by Grahame Greene (Vienna)

I didn't finish the only other book by Grahame Green I attempted to read. I think it was The Power & the Glory, but it was a while ago so I'm not certain. I just remember I didn't like it much at the time and didn't bother finishing it.
When I saw an audiobook of The Third Man in the library, a title I hadn't heard of before, I thought I maybe...possibly, I could give the author another shot. Then I saw that it was narrated by Martin Jarvis, one of my all time favourite Dicken's narrators, so I grabbed it.

The Third Man is a thriller set in Vienna just after WW2 when the city was divided into four allied zones which were administered by Britain, USA, Russia & France. A fifth zone in the inner city was administered by all four powers.
Rollo (Holley) Martins flys into Vienna with the intention of visiting Harry Lime, a friend from his school days, but he arrives just in time to see his burial. As Martins sets about his own investigations into his friend's death, he becomes suspicious and believes that Lime has been murdered.
A confrontation with British officials reveals some aspects of Harry's life that Martins had been unaware of, but he refuses to believe the information at first. Gradually, he begins to see that the boyhood friend he had always admired so much had clay feet. But surely Harry would never have been involved in anything like the police have suggested? A larrikin, perhaps, but not a murderer. This is not the Harry he knew...

The Third Man is a novella on which Grahame Greene based a movie script, so the story was originally never meant to be read (see the author's explanation here). Martin Jarvis does an excellent job as narrator (no surprise there), and creates just the right mood in the telling.

If you Google 'The Third Man,' it's the movie that always comes up on the search.
This made me curious about the movie, so I did a search and found it could be viewed on STAN. For those of you who have no idea what this is (and I didn't until my son told me), it's similar to Netflix. I don't watch many movies but when I do I like them to be EPICS (like six hours of Pride & Prejudice, for example) but all the reviews I read were positive so I decided to watch it anyhow.

The Third Man was filmed in 1949 and the atmosphere of the decay and uncertainty that pervaded Vienna after the close of WW2 was wonderfully captured - old bombed buildings, the underground sewer system, an old-fashioned Ferris wheel, the fear and general cynicism among the populace. Then there was the background zither music throughout (also on the audio) that painted the city in sound. The movie is a great history lesson in itself and spawned the Third Man Museum.
For some history & a look at life in post-war Vienna see here
For some great photos of the actual locations mentioned in The Third Man see here (scroll down the page).

The soundtrack played by one man on one instrument - the zither:

12 Movies for Mothers and Daughters (make that 14)

The first 4 movies are G rated and I considered them to be fine for my girls when they were about 5 or 6 years of age.

Mary Poppins 

 I remembered the songs from this movie from when I was a little girl. Based on the book by P.L.Travers, an Australian author. You can find out about her here.

The Sound of Music 

Another musical I remember from my childhood. A good children's book to tie in with the movie is 'The Trapp Family Book' by Hans Wilhelm.

Little Lord Fauntelroy 

A sweet story based on the book by Francis Hodgson Burnett, this is a very enjoyable movie which was done in 1995.

 Anne of Green Gables 

There are three DVDs in this series but only the first one is rated G so I save the other two which have more adult concepts for later (Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel PG - about age 10 and Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story - about age 12 - 14).

For about age 8 and up:

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

Based on the true story of Gladys Alward, a missionary to China, who ends up with a hundred homeless children in her care when the Japanese invade China leading them to safety in a gruelling trek through the mountains. 

For about age 10 and up:

Little Women

I forgot about this one until it was mentioned below - thanks Vintage Reader! There is also an old version of Little Women which stars a very young Elizabeth Taylor which I wasn't particularly enamoured with but my good friend Kathy loves it so for her sake I mention it here.

Miss Potter 

The story of Beatrix Potter very beautifully done with little snippets of Peter Rabbit and other characters from her books. The girls and I loved the clothes Beatrix wore in this movie.

Ever After 

A retelling of the fairy tale Cinderella. This movie was a lot of fun. A bit of romance done in an appropriate way and an interesting heroine with plenty of character and the nasty girls get their just desserts at the end.

Pride and Prejudice 

We've probably watched every version and the BBC production definitely wins, maybe because it is satisfyingly long.

A few years ago 6 of our children came down with chicken pox one after the other and I had about 6 weeks where I barely left the house. One of the girls was really sick with it and came into our room late one night crying because she couldn't sleep and was so miserable. My husband suggested I put on P & P and watch it with her. So that's what we did and it helped distract her for 6 hours......I was totally stuffed by the end of it.

Around age 12 and up:

Cranford

Set in a market town in England in 1842 and adapted from the novels of Elizabeth Gaskell, this movie is all about the idiosyncrasies of its inhabitants and really is charming. There are some medical emergencies in the movie in which might be a bit much for the squeamish and require a preview but overall it is lovely and has some very poignant moments.

Return to Cranford

Follows on from Cranford and includes the arrival of the railroad to the town, some nicely done romance and gentle humour.

About age 14 and up:

North and South

Pride and Prejudice is a great movie but the characters are often restrained and reserved. North and South has a similar theme to P & P in many ways but there is much more feeling and emotion between the characters which enables you to understand and appreciate the struggles and disparity of the two main characters. The musical soundtrack adds a wonderful ethereal quality which enhances the story.

 Jane Eyre

We've watched about 3 versions of Jane Eyre but this one is tops. It is nice and long, stays true to the story and captures the dialogue contained in the book very well. Timothy Dalton portrays an authentic Mr. Rochester and Zelah Clarke was just the right sort of person to play Jane Eyre.