Ph. Robert Krasker (AA). The film has a distinctive melancholy all its own. Zither music (Anton Karas) gives it a whole unique dimension. It's one of the most atmospheric and dazzling British films ever made.
Fine cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli (The Paradine Case, The Spider's Stratagem, Suspiria), Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee ("Be careful sir" after he's slugged Holly), Paul Hörbiger (porter), Ernst Deutsch (Baron Kurtz, Isle of the Dead), Siegfried Breuer (the deliciously oily Popescu).
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| Joseph Cotten, Bernard Lee, Trevor Howard |
Incredible opening - editing, by Oswald Halfenrichter, who had an international career in Germany, France, England and Italy; though we can be sure Carol Reed was supervising very, very closely (the following from Encountering Directors by Charles Thomas Samuels (1972)
CHARLES THOMAS SAMUELS: How much supervision do you give your editor?
CAROL REED: I edit as I go along—during the lunch break. I never take lunch in the studio; I don't like to sit down or see anyone else sitting down. I feel more lively when I stand. I go into the cutting room at one every day to see the previous day's rushes. Then each Saturday I work with the editor (if we're not shooting) so that the final cut only takes two days after shooting's done.
CHARLES THOMAS SAMUELS: Your editing is very brisk.
CAROL REED: David Lean told me I cut too much.
CHARLES THOMAS SAMUELS: He cuts too little.
CAROL REED: [...] a director must work with his editor. Directing is conveying to actors what you had in mind while working with the author. After that, the editor must understand not only what you did on the floor, but what the author had in mind—a man the editor's never even met.
No other film is on such a tilt.
Utterly brilliant, time and time again.
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| Real falling leaves? Never been able to find out. |
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