The Third Man and The Fallen Idol

My five stars is for the short story, The Fallen Idol, which is a magnificent literary accomplishment. Greene tells the story of young Philip who is left in the temporary care of Baines, the butler, and Mrs Baines, the housemaid and cook. Philip loves Baines, and does not like Mrs. Baines, a feeling shared by Baines, who is having an affair with a young woman.
Philip is drawn into these complex adult matters, originally when he accidentally meets Baines and the girlfriend, and Baines introduces her as a niece. Later, she comes to the house when Mrs Baines is supposedly out of the house on an overnight trip. The story details Philip's loss of innocence as he gets drawn into the adult web of lies and deceit. He doesn't understand what is going on, but his intuition warns him of the underlying evil. He is putting together a puzzle where significant pieces are missing, and the fractured experience causes a trauma that haunts him all his life. Wonderfully written story. I have not seen the Carol Reed movie, which I understand had significant plot changes.
The Third Man is really intended as a film treatment, and it was well-written, but I recommend the Carol Reed thriller which is one of of the all time great films.

2.5 stars.

Maybe this wasn't the best choice of Graham Greene to start with, but I usually think that short stories are my best best when starting with an author. Unfortunately, my first outing with Greene fell somewhat flat for me.

The Third Man is a well-known film, and the story was actually written as a precursor to the script (the idea originally being planned as a film script). Greene felt he needed to write it in story form before writing a script, and that story formed the majority of this book. I have to say that I didn't really enjoy the story that much, as it felt a little sparse and rushed in the way a film idea would I imagine normally sound. Although I've heard great things about the film, and definitely want to check it out, I didn't enjoy the story as much because I found it surprisingly difficult to follow. There were a myriad of characters, who sometimes were referred to by numerous names, and I found it hard to remember each one and remember their significance. My initial confusion as to who was narrating the story also knocked my reading a little off kilter for the majority of the story. By the time I was three quarters through, I just wanted it to end.

The Fallen Idol was actually the saving grace of this book for me, a short story meant only to be that, and thus holding a lot more impact for me. It told the story of a young boy Philip who become involved in an older couple's dark problems and games, with a frightening introduction to the adult world. It was only around 30 pages, but I found myself intensely interested in what would happen, and it was definitely a page-turner in a way that The Third Man just wasn't.

I may well check out more Graham Greene in the future, but not for a little while, as this wasn't exactly an inspiring start for me.

It is not anything like the Greene works that I had read.

This is a novel of action with less reflection - reflection on the character or the situation. It is more like a murder mystery (whodunit mystery). In the Preface we are already warned by Greene that these two works (The Third Man / The Fallen Idol) were actually meant for Film Productions.

The Third Man is a good entertainment in that sense. The Fallen Idol would not have succeeded as a film. But Greene tells that they made many changes in the film version.

I have not seen both films. So I can not judge the novellas against the films or the films against the novellas.

May be, I expected something that I considered Greene in this novellas. And I am told that Greene also could write other works, not just in the line of my expectations. No complaints.

The 5-star rating is for The Fallen Idol, which was made into a very good film by Carol Reed (who also directed the film version of The Third Man). Even though the story was changed in the film version, it successfully delivers Greene's theme of a child's loss of innocence when confronted by an adult's deception.

The Third Man reads very much like a screenplay (unlike The Fallen Idol which was a story adapted to film, The Third Man was written specifically to be made into a film). The main character is forced into making a difficult moral decision after his long-time friend deceives him. The story is a bit confusing and I had to keep re-reading sections to remember who the characters were. I would give this novella only 2.5 stars.

Interesting as outlines of films- which I now definitely wish to watch- but a bit loose around the edges as novels. Enjoyable

Not a film script and never intended for publication, Greene wrote the novelette The Third Man about a man investigating his friend's untimely death in postwar Vienna in order to use it as the basis for a screenplay he had agreed to write. Those who have appreciated Carol Reed's film version, widely considered one of the finest films of all time, may enjoy reading the source material for the film and will notice some differences in the story, including the ending. For this edition, The Third Man is packaged with one of Greene's short stories "The Basement Room" which was filmed, also by Reed, as The Fallen Idol.

The first novella "The Third Man" originally meant to be seen rather than to be read was the 1949 British film while the second one "The Fallen Idol" first published as 'The Basement Room' in 1935, according to the author, was not intended to be the 1948 one (p. 101) and both directed by Carol Reed. I read them because its two-in-one copy was timely available; however, I found reading each a bit tough so, I think, we should read their synopses from Wikipedia, an introduction by Ian Thomson and the prefaces for some updated backgrounds. Reading Graham Greene essentially needs such information, therefore, we can find ourselves busy reading his works with arguable enjoyment and understanding.

Once in a while, we might have heard/read on a saying warning us not to judge a book by its cover. I think this could apply to these two titles, in other words, do not judge them by its lengths or be not complacent when you find these two novellas anywhere since their dimensions are something in disguise. As we can see from my brief survey: "The Third Man" a 17-chapter novella in its own right has 92 pages whereas "The Fallen Idol" a mini 5-chapter one has merely 28 pages. Which one seems easier to read?

In contrast, I've found reading "The Third Man" more enjoyable, more in-depth and more gripping in terms of its plot, characters and climax than "The Fallen Idol". A few of the reasons would be in terms of the different scenarios in that the first deals with a sort of illicit trade and betrayal amid the World War II aftermath in Vienna while the second explores human relationships between adults and youngsters, as we can see more details narrated in the first to the extent of powerful figurative narrative in which we could read and enjoy to follow the narration while the second written with relatively less powerful one. For instance, as focused on the physical setting description, the passages in questions are as follows:

Even this cemetery was zoned between the Powers: the Russian zone was marked by huge tasteless statues of armed men, the French by rows of anonymous wooden crosses and a torn tired tricolour flag. Then Martins remembered that Lime was a Catholic and was unlikely to be buried in the British zone for which they had been vainly searching. So back they drove through the heart of a forest where the graves lay like wolves under the trees, winking white eyes under the gloom of the evergreens. ... (p. 12)

As compared to this extract:

Through the drawing-room doorway on the first floor he saw the draped chairs; even the china clock on the mantel was covered like a canary's cage; ... On the nursery table he found his supper laid out: a glass of milk and a piece of bread and butter, a sweet biscuit, and a little old Queen's pudding without the meringue. He had no appetite; he strained his ears for Mrs Baines's coming, for the sound of voice, but the basement held its secrets; the green baize door shut off that world. ... (p. 112)

Alliteratively speaking, the first boldly keeps us alert with 'a torn tired tricolour flag,' 'winking white eyes' whereas the second with 'drawing-room doorway,' 'the first floor,' 'a canary's cage' and 'bread and butter'. I mean the repetition of consonants at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other; therefore, I've found the first narrating 'a torn tired tricolour flag' (without commas!) more pleasing, more figurative and more appreciative to read than 'drawing-room doorway' and the others. Incidentally, such a tricolour flag denoting a French one reminds me of our Thai ones called ธงไตรรงค์ symbolizing our country since 1917 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of... as for the two-syllable Thai word ไตรรงค์, ไตร literally equals tri and รงค์ means colour. Then the word 'tired' modifying 'flag', as if it were a person, suggests the flag's flabbiness due to its excessive duty, that is, it is so exhausted that it won't flow proudly and honourably in the wind any longer. Finally, the word 'torn' again modifying 'flag' obviously evidences its tough, ungrateful mission till it is torn due to the wind and its durability limit or due to its undue neglect and lax administration. Therefore, its overall meaning infers seemingly contemptuous dignity regarding its pride and honour.

Before writing the screenplay for The Third Man, Graham Greene worked out the atmosphere, characterization and mood of the story by writing a novella. He wrote it as a source text for the screenplay and never intended it to be read by the general public. But, of course, it was published. Penguin Classics published it in paperback with the short story The Fallen Idol.

The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed. It stars Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. The film and the book take place in post-World-War-II Vienna. They center on Holly Martins, an American who is given a job in Vienna by his friend Harry Lime, but when Holly arrives in Vienna he gets the news that Lime is dead. Martins then meets with Lime's acquaintances in an attempt to investigate what he considers a suspicious death. Lots of intrigue and a good chase through the sewers of Vienna.

I had forgotten that after the war, Vienna was sectioned off into four sections. As in Berlin, Vienna in September 1945 was divided into sectors by the four powers: the US, the UK, France and the Soviet Union and supervised by an Allied Commission. All of this ended in 1955 when the Soviet Union relinquished its zone to Austria.

The short story, The Fallen Idol, is about how Philip, a seven-year-old, gets involved in a crime of passion. Young Philip witnesses the killing of the butler’s wife by the butler after his parents leave on vacation.

Surprisingly, The Fallen Idol was Greene's favorite among the films he wrote. He preferred it even to The Third Man. There isn’t much to the short story and I can’t imagine it being much of a film.