GamerTab That was an excellent one.

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

writers_reign Tepid Cold War melodrama with Carol Reed making a half-hearted attempt to replicate The Third Man. The biggest problem is that none of the principals appear to be committed to the project so that the overall impression is that all the main personnel - writer, director, actors - owed the Production company a picture and were just discharging their obligation. Every time something of interest pops up - Mason and Neff arguing as Bloom walks in on them - it is immediately diffused so that little or no mystery/tension is left and we are looking at a damp squib. Usually the name of Harry Kurnitz on the credits is a guarantee of a decent script but not, alas, on this occasion. Disappointing all round.

LeonLouisRicci It's East and West (post war) Berlin (pre-wall). Stalin's huge Mug is Everywhere, a Big-Brother forever Looking over Your shoulder. It's not only the Cold War but it is Depressingly Cold Weather that also lends a Chill to the Atmosphere. Carol Reed's Icy Story of a Man Straddling the Line between His Occupation and His Scruples. He is a former Lawyer, a somewhat Reluctant former Nazi that is currently skating about Kidnapping for the Evil Communists.James Mason is Fine and Claire Bloom is Radiantly Confident and is Learning fast about the Complex Situation concerning the Politics of the Day and the coldness of the Bad Ruskies. Hildegard Neff is another Complex Character, the Wife of a British Officer and is remarkably Attractive.Speaking of attractive, except for Mason, all of the Commies are portrayed by Unattractive Actors, with Excess Weight, Mustaches, and Robotic Tendencies. This Stereotypical and frankly, Sophomoric Display is not worthy of Serious Consideration except in Pulp Fiction and is the Film's Weakest Element.The Strength comes from the fine Acting and the tilted Shots of Bombed Out Berlin draped with Hammer and Sickle and a Propagandized Atmosphere. The Movie is Long, sometimes Boring, and is Cumbersome with Clichés.Overall, Overrated but Worth a Watch for the Cold War Atmosphere and some Good Acting, but the Black Hat-White Hat Characters are far Less Intriguing than the Sets and Story They Move Through.

ackstasis Following the release of his masterpiece 'The Third Man (1949),' a refreshingly-offbeat amalgam of British noir and Ealing-style whimsy, director Carol Reed was heralded as one of the era's most promising filmmakers. Critical admirers anxiously awaited his follow-up effort, which was four years coming. Today, the consensus appears to regard 'The Man Between (1953)' as little but a pale imitation of 'The Third Man.' Certainly, the two films share similar scenarios, both involving a foreigner's espionage-tinged visit to a war-torn city (Vienna and Berlin, respectively) that has been divided by opposing powers. However, despite lacking Graham Greene's wry sense of humour, and particularly the boyish charisma of Orson Welles, Reed's follow-up picture is nonetheless an excellent drama, blending romance and tragedy with the director's usual flair for generating atmosphere and international intrigue. The fine chemistry between stars James Mason and Claire Bloom finds a life of its own amid the rubble-strewn ruins of a city still at war with itself.Young British woman Susanne Mallison (Claire Bloom, whom Chaplin had discovered the previous year for 'Limelight (1952)') arrives in Berlin to visit her brother (Geoffrey Toone), who has married German-born Bettina (Hildegard Knef). Through her sister-in-law, Susanne is introduced to the enigmatic Ivo Kern (James Mason), a professional kidnapper with ambiguous allegiances towards both the Eastern and Western powers. Screenwriter Harry Kurnitz had a talent for illustrating characters with hidden motives and concealed secrets (see 'Witness for the Prosecution (1957),' 'The Web (1947)' or either of his 'Thin Man' features), and his screenplay spends its first half ominously exploring the intentions of Bettina, whose association with Ivo implicitly suggests a family betrayal. Interestingly, the character is effectively abandoned in the film's second half, but to the film's advantage, as Susanne and Ivo are relentlessly hunted in the Eastern Bloc following a botched kidnapping. Here, Reed narrows his dramatic focus, but the doomed romance between Bloom's young idealist and Mason's war-weary criminal remains appropriately understated, inspiring empathy without stooping to melodrama.Despite the absence of Robert Krasker, 'The Man Between' is a beautifully shot film, with director-of-photography Desmond Dickinson capturing, not only the atmosphere, but the foreboding personality of the crumbling German capital. John Addison's musical score is haunting and graceful, certainly a far cry from Anton Karas' zither, but nonetheless effective in its own right. One thing I've noticed about every Carol Reed film I've seen (and the tally currently sits at seven) is that all the performances are perfect – not only the main and supporting stars, but everybody down to the briefest of speaking roles. James Mason sports a convincing German accent, and Claire Bloom is simply adorable in her naive innocence, with a smile that will melt your heart. A particularly important character is young Horst (Dieter Krause), whose love Ivo instinctively rejects, for such a criminal can never allow himself to form attachments to those he must inevitably abandon. Ultimately, and tragically, it is Horst's devotion that results in Ivo's death, the final proof that love and death are never far apart.

st-shot Carol Reed keeps the post-war intrigue alive for the most part with his Odd Man Out lead James Mason in this trifle uneven and occasionally slow suspense film that strongly resembles the director's magnificent Third Man.Londoner Sussane Mallison (Claire Bloom) visits her serviceman brother and his wife in war torn Berlin. It isn't long before she suspects Bettina (Hildergard Neff) her sister in law of some type of deception. When she meets the mysterious Ivo Kern she is drawn into the action further, conflicted by the fact he is an extortionist and she is romantically drawn to him.Reed does a good job of keeping the audience in the dark for a good deal of the film with Mason and Neff both convincingly ambiguous and Bloom as innocent and confused as Holly Martins. The devastated Berlin backdrop with the ubiquitous visage of Stalin in the Eastern sector provide grim atmospherics with cinematographer Dietrich Dikisson ably filling in for Reed regular DP Robert Krasker.The editing which is a touch sloppy occasionally bogs the story down and the music score at times can be torturous to listen to but Mason's tragic turn as the cornered Kern never allows the film to fall into bathos for too long. He is the German version of the angry young man that would permeate film throughout the fifties and into the sixties and as The Man Between he is an eloquent spokesman in conveying the devastating disappointment of a generation betrayed by its government.