In Their Shadows - THE THIRD MAN (1949)

Take heart dear old men and women, as Dolly Back takes a Noirvember sabbatical in post-war Vienna in Carol Reed's timeless The Third Man (1949)! As Joseph Cotton's Holly Martins watches water diluted by penicillin, fact by fiction, light with shadow, the city's underworld threatens to erupt as if it were a powder keg once again. Flanked by Alida Valli's resolute Anna Schmidt and Orson Welles' wicked Harry Lime, this acting triumvirate produce one of the most integral noir films ever made, delightfully providing genre thrills in its strong aesthetic convictions, be they zither scores or massive shadows, or throwing them askew in a film that loves to challenge its viewer's perception. Doubling as both crash course and our salute to Reed's seminal work, dear listener, we hope you enjoy this blast from the past!

Paul Schrader's Notes on Film Noir