THE MAN BETWEEN [1953 / 2017] [Digitally Restored] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] Terror! Vice! Violence! He Stopped At Nothing! A Forerunner to the Down-At-Heel Spy Stories of John Le Carre!
A later collaboration between James Mason and Carol Reed, ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ is often considered a companion piece to ‘THE THIRD MAN’ thanks to its atmospheric portrayal of a city struggling to survive in a grim post-war reality of poverty and mistrust. The action is here transposed to a divided Berlin, and to the beginning of the Cold War. Unlike the devilish Harry Lime, James Mason’s world-weary dealer Ivo Kerr is ultimately still a decent man, compelled by his love for a naïve schoolteacher Susanne Mallison [Claire Bloom] to make one last misguided trip through the Brandenburg Gate, with potentially tragic consequences.
FILM FACT No.1: 1953 National Board of Review, USA: Win: Best Actor for James Mason.
FILM FACT No.2: The film was filmed on location in Berlin and at the Shepperton Studios in England.
Cast: James Mason, Claire Bloom, Hildegard Neff, Geoffrey Toone, Aribert Wäscher, Ernst Schröder, Dieter Krause, Hilde Sessak, Karl John, Ljuba Welitsch, Eberhard Fechner (uncredited), Reinhard Kolldehoff (uncredited), Frederick Schiller (uncredited) and Reinhard Kolldehoff (uncredited)
Director: Carol Reed
Producers: Carol Reed, and Hugh Perceval
Screenplay: Eric Linklater (screenplay) (uncredited), Harry Kurnitz (screenplay) and Walter Ebert (story)
Composer: John Addison
Cinematography: Desmond Dickinson, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Audio Mono
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English and English SDH
Running Time: 101 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: British Lion Films / STUDIOCANAL
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Carol Reed's 1949 Cold War thriller ‘The Third Man’ topped practically every list of the UK's greatest cinema works. Not so revered, or even remembered, is ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ [1953] which saw Carol Reed make a return to similar terrain four years later. Set in a divided post-war Berlin, and is the story of Susanne Mallison [Claire Bloom], a young and somewhat naïve British woman who visits the divided German capital to see her brother, Martin Mallison [Geoffrey Toone], a British Army doctor married to local woman Bettina Mallison [Hildegard Knef].
Germany, and in particular Berlin, was a strange and confusing place to be during the post-World War II Allied occupation would be an understatement. Split into four sectors, administered by Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the USA, conflicts of interest were rife. As the tension built, Berlin became a microcosm of the Cold War which was to follow. Carol Reed plays on these disagreements and covert activities in his film ‘THE MAN BETWEEN.’
From the opening scenes, Carol Reed establishes a tension: strangers ominously eye their movements through the airport and a young boy on a bicycle, an otherwise unobtrusive figure of innocence playing in the streets, tails their taxi and makes lazy figure of eights outside their home, a lone building jutting out of the rubble and ruins of their sector of the city. Bettina Mallison is nervous and agitated and a night on the town does nothing to ease her disposition; so Bettina Mallison slips out for a surreptitious meeting that only jangles her nerves more. Susanne Mallison finally sees the mystery man on a day trip to East Berlin. As they settle in for tea at a café, the figure and guided by the boy on a bicycle, keeping up his dogged surveillance, steps into the room and over to their table like an old friend. James Mason is the smoothly shady and romantically sinister Ivo Kern, an acquaintance and surely much more of Bettina Mallison. Susanne Mallison is instantly fascinated and an odd kind of courtship begins between the impressionable but headstrong young woman and the older man with an ulterior motive, one that inevitably draws her into the political intrigue of citizens fleeing the East for the West and the espionage by agents no better than mercenary thugs attempting to staunch the flow. "He's not the government and neither am I," the weary sceptic Ivo Kern confesses to Bettina Mallison after being snatched from the streets of West Berlin by an East German agent. "He's just a gangster trying to get what he can."
With Susanne Mallison’s visit to post-war Berlin to visit her brother Martin Mallison [Geoffrey Toone], who is working for the British military. For the naïve Susanne Mallison, it’s an opportunity to meet her new sister-in-law Bettina Mallison [Hildegard Knef] and to have a bit of an adventure and falls for the suave and charismatic Ivo Kern [James Mason], a friend of Bettina Mallison’s who offer to show her the city. However, Ivo is evasive and seems preoccupied. Then there’s the mysterious Halendar [Aribert Wäscher] who seems to stalk there every move.
On the surface, ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ shares an aesthetic scenario with the more celebrated ‘The Third Man’ film. Carol Reed employs liberal Dutch tilts and exploits the unique look of the rubble strewn streets of Berlin to great effect. Much of the film is shot on location in the city, with the rest recreated in the Shepperton Studios, England. Such is the quality of the film's production design that saves for some all too obvious rear projection in the climax, it's largely impossible to see where Berlin ends and Shepperton Studios begins. Desmond Dickinson's monochrome photography can't compare with Milton Krasner's ‘The Third Man’ compositions, but Desmond Dickinson makes effective use of the extreme light and shade of the wintry German landscape.
Carol Reed's film cannot be faulted on any visual level, but its script is where it is sadly found lacking. Structurally, it takes too long to get to the pivotal kidnapping. Though we spend a lot of time in the company of Susanne and Ivo as they get to know one another, there's a lack of chemistry between the two, making their later displays of affection difficult to swallow beyond both characters being inhabited by attractive stars.
Shooting on location in Berlin, Carol Reed makes evocative use of the city. The despair of the defeated nation is felt in every bombed-out cityscape and chilly street scene, and the bustle of West Berlin's downtown is shown in sharp contrast to the shuffling citizens and empty public spaces of East Berlin. Carol Reed was unable to shoot in the Eastern sectors but found effective stand-ins on the western side close to the border, which he dressed up with banners of Stalin and actors in East German uniforms. An escape from East German agents and the border cops takes Susanne and Ivo into a construction site at night, where the skeleton frame lit by stark spotlights creates a shadowy web of light and shadow through which they duck and scurry. Carol Reed also gave the film distinctive character by working memorable Berlin landmarks into ‘THE MAN BETWEEN.’ A night on the town takes them to the Resi Restaurant, where a system of telephones at every table invites patrons to call one another across the room. It becomes an effective way for black market operators and agents to make connections.
Unfortunately, Carol Reed is hampered by an uneven script, so most of the film consists of bland scripted conversations. The only memorable speech comes from Ivo late on as he confesses to his wartime role in destroying a village outside Prague, along with "everything in it." It's a chilling monologue, surprisingly frank for a time when films were reticent to address the true horrors of World War II in such explicit fashion. Upon returning to Britain for the studio scenes, Harry Kurnitz made himself unavailable and Reed turned to Graham Greene and a young British playwright named Janet Green for advice. They were forthright in their criticism of Harry Kurnitz 's script, by saying, "The whole business of spying by means of one bicycle ridden by a boy seems to be too childish and fantastic," wrote Graham Greene in a note to Carol Reed and Carol Reed finally hired a script doctor to rewrite what he could salvage in the end.
Carol Reed puts the rubble-strewn streets and bombed-out apartments to very good use as ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ is pervaded by an air of danger and mystery. Beautifully lit and shot, Berlin becomes a city of shadows and dark passages. James Mason is at his charismatic best, layering on the charm whilst harbouring dark secrets and a chequered past. ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ film is a superior espionage thriller where danger lurks around every corner. Claire Bloom was a pretty and talented young stage actress relatively new to the screen and her breakthrough role came in in Charlie Chaplin's ‘Limelight’ film when Carol Reed cast her as the impressionable romantic lead, and Hildegarde Neff was a veteran of the stage and screen with a career that straddled Germany and Hollywood. The rest of the film was cast locally on location where possible.
‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ is a film of two uneven halves, both literally and figuratively. The early stages of the film, set (and filmed) in West Berlin, are admittedly rather pedestrian, and the location photography in these scenes is frequently flat and routine. However, the second part of the film, beginning with Susanne Mallison's abduction, is much more effective, and it is here that the film suddenly leaps into high gear as the locale switches to East Berlin. The long escape sequence at the end, although clearly patterned after the film ‘Odd Man Out,’ is shot with Carol Reed's customary flair and panache. Equally good are the suspenseful sequences where Susanne is kidnapped and then held prisoner. James Mason gives a fine performance as a disillusioned idealist, embodying in the film Carol Reed's recurring interest in romance as an elusive and frequently destructive force. ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ musical score reflects this: instead of the dry wit of a zither like in the film ‘The Third Man,’ it has instead in this film a haunting, mournful saxophone motif that suits both the wintry atmosphere of Berlin and the film’s romantic heart.
THE MAN BETWEEN MUSIC TRACK LIST
THE MAN BETWEEN THEME (uncredited) (Music by John Addison) (Arranged for piano by Bernie Fenton)
Salome (Written by Richard Strauss) [Performed by Ljuba Welitsch]
Wer soll das bezahlen? (uncredited) (Lyrics by Kurt Feltz () (Music by Jupp Schmitz)
* * * * *
Blu-ray Image Quality – STUDIOCANAL has once again presented us with a stunning 1080p black-and-white image via this 2K restoration Blu-ray disc that gets a very impressive transfer, that looks marvellous supporting solid contrast with plenty of lush grain texture and some depth in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Again the black-and-white image is very clean and especially showcasing impressive shadow detail and artistic cinematography angle shots that uses some nice tilted camera angles that really accentuate the drama and tension. Sometimes there are a few flaws with the image, and there is some softness is consistent and appears inherent in the source. This Blu-ray disc probably looks very similar to the theatrical version of the film ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ in the cinema at the time. But overall I was very pleased with the video presentation, so well done STUDIOCANAL for your ever increasing sterling work and it looks absolutely amazing. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – This STUDIOCANAL Blu-ray has only one audio soundtrack and that is 2.0 LPCM Audio Mono, that is typical for this type of film, but is still a pleasant audio experience. The suspenseful inducing music film score by John Addison adds great ambience to this very suspenseful film, and also subtly augments the film's budding mysteries and tension all round. The only down side to the audio experience is that in the scenes where the actors are talking I had to crank the sound up a few notches, as they spoke very quietly.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: New Interview with Claire Bloom [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [10:26] Here we get a really nice new rare interview with the actress Claire Bloom, who played Susanne Maillison in the film ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ and talks extensively about her naïve character in the film. Claire also talks about her family, especially her Aunt in the 1930s, as well as her Mother who all were actors in the theatre scene, and Claire B;oom’s first performance as an actress was in a school play, and then went onto a career in the theatre, especially in the West End. From then on her career started to take off and eventually came into contact with Charlie Chaplin and asked Claire Bloom to meet him in New York for a film test in one of his films and eventually got accepted to appear in the film ‘Limelight’ in 1952. Claire then moves onto her part in the film ‘THE MAN BETWEEN,’ and at the same time was put under contract with Alexander Korda, but felt this person didn’t really like Claire as an actress and found him to be very English and especially very distant and with the film ‘THE MAN BETWEEN,’ and Alexander Korda made her do constant day and night shooting because of being a young actress and by the end of shooting of the film was totally exhausted and totally resented the experience, but again being so young, inexperienced and was very naïve at the time, but despite the negative experience, feels Alexander Korda was the best around at the time. Claire Bloom also had a really wonderful time acting with James Mason, who was very kind to her and helped her a lot through the rigour of the filming. Claire Bloom also comments on why the director Carol Reed wanted to make the film ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ so soon after filming ‘The Third Man,’ and also felt the plot was very complicated and also very confusing at the time of filming. Claire Bloom talks about the seedy part of Berlin that the film was set in the period after the Second World War and especially the scene in the nightclub with the phone business and was very naïve at the time of filming what was actually going on and finding out later it was all about hooking up with people, especially for sexual encounters. Claire Bloom talks about the leading actress Hildegard Neff, who thought she was so beautiful and also again reflecting on working with the brilliant James Mason and felt a great deal of affinity towards this actor and especially as a person and also had a great friendship with him while making the film. So all in all, this was quite a nice little feature, but what a shame it was far too short.
Special Feature: Carol Reed: A Gentle Eye [2016] [1080p] [1.37:1] [44:01] This very informative documentary and at the start of this documentary we are informed that originally Carol Reed wanted to be an inspiring actor. But with becoming a director he became in command of his craft, as well as sensibility and a total grasp of humanity. People working with him felt he came across larger than life. As to the film ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ and he wondered what he could do to make the film interesting and people felt he was ahead of his time. We also get at the start an input from John Boorman [Director] when filmed at Shepperton Studios in 2005, and talks about the different photos of Carol Reed scattered about the walls. We also get a great deal of personal input from people who knew Carol Reed personal and also who worked with him on his many films. They talk about how he started out with his earliest films as director were "quota quickies," meaning that it introduced a requirement for British cinemas to show a quota of British films, for a duration of 10 years and his experience making ‘Midshipman Easy’ [1935] his first solo directorial project he was harsh on himself. Carol Reed's next half-dozen pictures were an assortment of second-features, mostly compromised by the jaunty parochialism that beset so many British films of the period. The use of location shooting and its uncommon at this time in British cinema was ‘Bank Holiday’ [1938] a touch of documentary realism, but the portrayal of its working-class characters now looks stilted and patronising, but most of all most of them were very ground-breaking at the time. But Carol Reed’s first major film, ‘The Stars Look Down’ [1939] was hailed as a masterpiece and was adapted from a novel by the popular middlebrow author A.J. Cronin, the film charts the rise of an ambitious, idealistic young man Michael Redgrave, a miner's son, to a seat in Parliament, diluting its political message and urging public ownership of the mines with a novelettish romantic subplot, but was banned by the Government at the time as being far too radical. But out of all the films mentioned that created a massive problem was where he was contracted to direct a remake of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ [1962] but then Marlon Brando was cast as Fletcher Christian, and problems with the mock Bounty and the weather at the locations caused delays. Marlon Brando had insisted on creative control, and the two men argued incessantly, so Carol Reed left the production at a relatively early stage of production and was replaced by Lewis Milestone. But a great deal of praise for his last film which Carol Reed also served as producer for the brilliant film ‘Oliver!’ [1968], made at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, was financially backed by Columbia, and won the Academy Award for Best Director. But what also came out of making that film was the fact he loved working with children and especially Mark Lester, as he got them to act very natural by his dedicated guidance. But overall with this very special documentary, is that everyone praised Carol Reed as a Director and also loved his personality, who was also a really wonderful man and one they were all very proud to know. Contributions include: Ben Harrison [Family Friend], Andrew Birkin [Family Friend], Bryan Forbes [Actor], Guy Hamilton [Assistant Director], Oswald Morris [Cinematographer], Angela Allen [Script Supervisor], Tony Rayns [Writer/Film Historian], Charles Drazin [Writer/Film Historian], Ron Moody [Actor], Stephen Frears [Film Director], Peter Evans [Film Historian], Anne Coates [Film Editor] and Chris Challis [Cinematographer].
Special Feature: BFI Audio Interview with James Mason [Audio only] [1967] [1080p] [1.78:1] [41:59] While the audio interview is being heard, we get several black-and-white images from the film ‘THE MAN BETWEEN.’ James mason talks about acting in general and how an actor can be two people, the one that is not working, but when it comes to acting, you are like a child who acts out a fantasy. James Mason talks about making the film with director Alfred Hitchcock of ‘North by Northwest’ [1959] and especially the method actor Martin Landau who played the character Leonard and how Alfred Hitchcock put him down with sarcastic remarks. James Mason talks about the Directors he has worked with and found Carol Reed to be one of best he has ever worked with, but the most humiliating director he has ever worked with was Stanley Kubrick, who was a non-stop perfectionist, but was asked if he ever thought of directing film and declared very much that he would of liked to of pursued in his career, but definitely not directing himself in a film. James Mason gets onto the subject of the countless interviews he has done over a very long period, where some of the longer ones were never published, but the overall impression is that a lot of the questions were regular asked of the actor, so the more consistent questions he was asked, especially how many films he has done, decided to research this subject and found at the time of this BFI interview, he had done 71 films and also talk about the questions of the female actors he has worked with and the star ratings and the top star rating went to the fantastic Judy Garland and definitely classed her as one of the best actress he has ever worked with, and James also thought that Judy garland was such a sensational creature, she was wild and original, and also mysterious, appealing and all of these things to the tenth degree and definitely a great phenomenon in the world at the time in the world of entertainment and in fact Judy Garland was the champ of my leading ladies. But at this point in the audio interview the recording stops suddenly without warning, which I found very strange, as I am absolutely certain there was more of this interview that definitely went on for much longer, but despite this, the audio interview was totally fascinating and I wish I had been at that interview, as James Mason came over as a really nice person to hear his views and was totally fascinating what he talked about his acting career. Definitely a five star rating and definitely not one to be missed.
Finally, ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ was inevitably compared to ‘The Third Man’ and sadly it suffered in the comparison, due in large part to the convoluted plotting and pedestrian dialogue. Carol Reed himself was sanguine about the production. "It wasn't a particularly good story, but I liked the atmosphere of Berlin after the war, and I wanted to work again with James Mason." Nevertheless, Carol Reed creates a vivid backdrop for THE MAN BETWEEN’ and a rich atmosphere of cold war intrigue with his location shooting and stark visual style. It makes for a unique snapshot of Berlin rebuilding from the devastation of World War II, a look at the city before the blockade and The Berlin Wall (the defining symbol of the Iron Curtain at the time) where the population is caught between the political gamesmanship between East and West. While Carol Reed, James Mason and Claire Bloom are far from their best here, but did a valiant effort in the circumstances, but of course any film boasting such a trio is well worth a look, and is presented in a beautiful 1080p black-and-white transfer from the BFI [British Film Institute], and this overdue Blu-ray of ‘THE MAN BETWEEN’ should satisfy any fans of a Carol Reed film and is definitely a must view Cold War thriller. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
