The Third Man vs. Touch of Evil | Movie Death Match
For our Noirvember edition, Chris Klimek convenes a showdown between two noir classics featuring unforgettable Orson Welles villains: Carol Reed's The Third Man and Welles's own Touch of Evil.
One is a postwar mystery set amid the shattered streets and shadows of occupied Vienna, featuring Welles as the charmingly monstrous Harry Lime. The other is a feverish border-town nightmare with the filmmaker buried beneath prosthetics as corrupt police captain Hank Quinlan.
Arguing for The Third Man is Matt Gourley (Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, With Gourley and Rust, James Bonding), who contends that Reed's masterpiece transcends noir, combining unforgettable atmosphere, moral ambiguity, and one of cinema's greatest endings. Representing Touch of Evil is Anne Thompson (IndieWire, Screen Talk), who makes the case that Welles's final Hollywood film is a singular feat of visual storytelling and one of the boldest achievements ever produced within the studio system.
Choose your winner at moviedeathmatch.com.
(Times will not be precise with ads.)
Intro / Meet the Advocates (00:00:00-00:12:01)
Rd. 1 – The Movies in Their Time (00:12:02-00:24:14)
Rd. 2 – The Movies in Our Time (00:24:15-00:46:49)
Rd. 3 – The Movies for All Time (00:46:50-01:05:33)
The Verdict / Credits (01:05:34-01:13:04)
LINKS:
-IndieWire
https://www.indiewire.com/author/anne-thompson/
-Sight & Sound: Who voted for Touch of Evil?
https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/829f71c1-8c9d-5294-b77d-93de81913c9d/touch-of-evil
-The $11 Billion Year: From Sundance to the Oscars…
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062218018
More From Matt:
-“Normal Like Me”
https://deathbed.ghost.io/normal-like-me/
-Superego
https://www.gosuperego.com/
Follow Chris:
-Instagram | Bluesky | X
Movie Death Match is a new Filmspotting podcast that determines which one of a pair of linked movies — each championed by a passionate and highly credentialed advocate — shall be preserved in perpetuity, and which one shall be lost to history. Through opening statements, formal debate rounds, and closing arguments, a single cinematic judge renders an irreversible verdict. One movie survives. One is erased. Listeners may disagree — but there are no appeals.