THIRD MAN, THE DVD

OUTSTANDING!!!! I wish the entire series was available. I'd only read or vaguely heard about this show. But as a fan of Both, Michael Rennie and Jonathan Harris i had to indulge myself and get it. The picture quality is quite good considering the age of the film elements. And its pure entertainment! 100% satisfied with this set.

I love Michael Rennie and have since I first saw him play Klaatu in "The Day The Earth Stood Still" when I was a kid. That movie remains my favorite movie of all time to this day. I didn't remember this series when it was shown on American TV but my mom did. She remembered the theme music, anyway. She and I watched the first two episodes in this compilation and neither of us could really figure out what was going on in either of them. The plots were pretty convoluted. I enjoyed watching Rennie and for that, I gave this DVD 3 stars, but really, I haven't had any desire to watch the rest of the episodes. I've spent my time watching Yancy Derringer, another old show that I love and bought at the same time as this. Yancy has humor and simple plots that I can follow easily. If you're a Micheal Rennie fan, get this, it's not very expensive and you'll enjoy watching him, but don't expect much from the shows themselves.

I was curious to see how The Third Man series made for TV had travelled with time. I remember enjoying it as a teenager in the 1960s. The sad answer is not very well. The plots are pathetically thin and most of the acting wooden and the characters not very credible. As I watched this time around, I realised what had attracted me all those years ago. It was the romance of flying to what then looked like exotic and exciting settings in far away places; London, Rome, Paris, New York etc. These locations were fairly inaccessible to most people then; not true anymore. The allure has gone.

I enjoyed Welles version and Gram Greens book version .I herd about the tv series that they changed lead figure character Harry Lime from being evil to good because people had actually liked Harry Lime even though evil . The lead character also played in 1950 sci fi movie the day earth stood still which I also liked , The show has some interesting features but stories and acting lacks the depth of Welles and of book . but still for it's uniqueness some might find interesting

"The Third Man" was a late 1950s/early 1960s U.S./British co-production that was very loosely based on Carol Reed's classic 1949 film of the same name and starred Orson Welles as Harry Lime. In this television adaptation, Lime is an international businessman portrayed by Michael Rennie and, in many of the episodes, he is joined by his assistant Bradford Webster, portrayed by Jonathan Harris (yes, the same Jonathan Harris of "Lost in Space" fame). The tone and texture of this weekly series is much lighter than the film, but it can be enjoyed on its own merits. This 10-episode, 2-DVD set from the Timeless Media Group, while much anticipated by this viewer, could have been better. The good news is that the episodes included in this set are, visually, a major improvement over a 4-episode single disc of "The Third Man" from Critics Choice Video that was released a few years ago. The prints are fairly crisp and clean looking, certainly better than what I would have expected for a release in this price range. Some background audio "flutter" can be heard in some episodes, but it's really not too intrusive. And, fortunately, none of the episodes in this collection are duplicates of the Critics Choice release, a real plus for collectors of this series. There are plenty of recognizable guest stars from both sides of the Atlantic, character actors like Nehemiah Persoff, Werner Klemperer, Robert Shayne, Hugh Marlowe, Mai Zetterling, Steven Berkoff, Marius Goring, Patrick Troughton and even Oliver Reed, among others, as well as the always fun-to-watch Jonathan Harris, who appears as a semi-regular. Now for the bad news . . . the opening title sequence of Harry Lime walking alone on a dark, deserted street along with Anton Karas' famous theme music (the only real major carryover from the film) is played only once at the beginning of each disc, but has been completely eliminated from the beginning of each of the episodes. Each episode begins with the episode title card. While the closing end credits are left intact on most of the episodes, a few don't even have these. Also, the Timeless Media Group logo (TMG) appears in the bottom right hand corner for long stretches in each episode . . . another viewing annoyance. "The Third Man" is a very rare television series to see . . . to my knowledge, it hasn't been broadcast in decades and there hasn't been much in the way of video and DVD releases in the ensuing years. So this release is a very welcome addition, and one has to give credit to the Timeless Media Group for taking a chance on this largely forgotten series. The pros certainly outweigh the cons, but one also wishes that Timeless Media would have done a better job with the presentation and, for this, I'm subtracting a star.

IT IS REALLY A GREAT TV SERIES THAT I THINK YOU WILL LIKE. MANY OF THE EPISODES OF THIS SERIES WERE FILMED IN ENGLAND, AND OTHER LOCATIONS AS WELL. THIS SELECTION OF TEN EPISODES IS A GOOD SAMPLING OF THE VERY MANY SHOWS THAT WERE MADE. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT MORE OFTHESE SHOWS WILL BECOME AVAILABLE IN THE FUTURE. I CERTAINLY WOULD LIKE TO SEE ALL OF THEM. THIS 10 EPISODE GROUP IS CERTAINLY WORTH IT'S PRICE. A.B.

I am a fan of Michael Rennie which is why I bought this series from the 1950's - since I like film noir as well - I was happy to order this product - I am not disappointed - This television series fits Mr. Rennie - his style and the type of leading man he usually played. This stories seem to revolve around alot of unfinished business from WWII - people who do things just for money or to possible glorify the persons who were part of the ending of the war - He keeps our feet on the ground and is not persuaded by any of this - and in the style of the Resistance - uses his resources for good and not evil. You may become a fan of this star if you order this two disc set - I hope they release more of these half hour - made for television - black and white episodes in the near future.

I remembered from childhood this series being on the BBC. I also have seen the original cinema film of the Third Man many times. Like PC George Dixon after The Blue Lamp, Harry Lime is resurrected from his demise at the end of the original movie to move on to further adventures with the difference that his character is given a make-over and he`s no longer a heartless black marketeer who causes the deaths of children by selling diluted penicillin. In the series he`s a successful dealer in art. The series is unusual for its time in that it is a co-production between NTA in the USA and the BBC. Some episodes were filmed in the States and some at Shepperton Studios in England. The DVD box states that the series was "shot on location in Europe" which is a bit rich - most of the scenes are studio sets and the nearest they get to exotic content are the stock shots establishing in which country the story is supposed to be set. That said the ten episodes here are surprisingly entertaining. You can spot the Shepperton episodes by the British actors featured including (in 2 episodes) a very young Oliver Reed, Steven Berkoff and Rupert Davies. I thought I might find these old tv shows disappointing but I`m pleased to say that it`s one of the better buys I`ve made in recent times. Print quality is a bit variable but perfectly watchable. Delivery from Digital Waves("All Your Music") was quick and for the price it`s a bargain.

The smugness of the original character of Harry Lime, from the film The Third Man, remains. But Michael Rennie's characterization of Harry Lime loses the callous indifference. I guess that was appropriate for a television series at that time. I wish the complete television series becomes available on DVD. Good health, "dots". DRS

Michael Rennie was tall, suave, well-spoken, and with those angular features he was an imposing figure. Remember him as the spaceman Klaatu in 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' ( 1951 ), or as Peter in 'The Robe' ( 1953 ) or the hunter in search of dinosaurs in 'The Lost World' ( 1960 )? For some reason, however, he does not seem right as Harry Lime, international business tycoon and private detective. This series has nothing to do with the 1949 film with the same title starring Orson Welles, although the character's name is the same and so is the theme music composed by Anton Karas. The series looks good -- a little like an ITC series such as 'The Saint', but it lacks sparkle. It was an Anglo-American co-production in association with the BBC and ran for 77 episodes between 1959 and 1965. Jonathan Harris plays Harry Lime's assistant, but there isn't a great deal of chemistry between the two actors. Michael Rennie is generally laid back and Jonathan Harris has just a little of the character of Dr. Smith whom he would later play in the cult TV series 'Lost In Space'. The direction also seems rather lacklustre. Still, Rennie and Harris are watchable, and there are some good guest stars such as Dawn Addams and Hugh Marlowe. There are 10 episodes on this 2-dvd set each lasting around 30 minutes. The episodes have been remastered and have been released by Timeless Media Group.

I know it's been 7 years, but with many dvd's and life happening, I just took the wrapper of this minute, and found only 2 disc's instead of 4 disc's. Disgraceful!

Interesting series that I remember seeing in reruns in the late 70s or early 80s. I've always liked Michael Rennie as an actor (most famous for the lead role in The Day the Earth Stood Still). The quality of these few episodes varies from excellent to just okay, but I still wish the entire series was available.