The Third Man

I would not be in a rush to be sure. These years were the high-point of Film Noir and the aspects you attribute to Welles could have been learned from dozens of other great directors, some of whom, like Lang and Renoir, were making masterpieces before Welles' first important movies. Reed was the son of Beerbohm Tree, the English-speaking world's most esteemed theatrical impresario, and had an early apprenticeship under Basil Dean, who, while no great shakes as a director himself, fostered the careers of major directors David Lean and Basil Dearden in addition to that of Reed.

One influence would have been Hitchcock, and Reed had already made a very competent pastiche of a Hitchcock movie in Night Train to Munich (1940). Some of the quirky humour in The Third Man seems very Hitchcockean.

Michael Powell, as good a directors as any of them, greatly admired Reed, saying 'he could put together a movie like a Swiss watch'. This suggests that Reed, raised and educated within the elite, saw directing as assembling and leading a team of specialists, like a cricket captain, the template for his class, rather than an opportunity to trumpet his genius as it was for Welles.

Once The Third Man appeared to great acclaim both sides of the Pond, Reed was briefly feted as the world's leading director, though I assume 'world' really meant 'Anglophone world' (as it still does to many posters here). This absurd hype may have done him no favours, as his career was patchy thereafter and he never made anything remotely as good again.

The extent of Welles' interference in The Third Man has been much discussed, but as the guy was the Prince of Bullshitters, it is unlikely to be resolved at this distance of time. He was rumoured to have directed some scenes, especially those in the sewers, but it seems that all these reels were not used and were discreetly disposed of. Given Reed's background in theatrical aristocracy (see above), he would not have been at all overawed by Welles, as others were, and my guess is that he just humoured the old blusterer to get the film completed. In one radio interview Welles explicity denied having directed any of the finished picture, but then you can find another quote to counter any of his quotes, so who knows?

Welles certainly composed the Ferris Wheel speech and some of the other dialogue, with Graham Greene's blessing.

I would be interested in the views of others here, far more knowledgable about Welles than myself.

Good review, millar70. Thanks for coming back to us.

Incidentally, did you watch the English version, with voice-over by Carol Reed, or the US version with voice-over by Joseph Cotton and 11 minutes cut?