Carol Reed's films, 'The Third man' and 'The Fallen Idol's - which preceded it - have long been favourites of mine so I finally got round to reading Graham Greene's short story versions. The author's short introductions to each are fascinating, particularly regarding the small differences between story and film and hint at a truly collaborative relationship between author and director with regard to the completed movies. He also reveals that Harry Lime's famous line in 'The Third man' was actually suggested by Orson Welles himself. The wintery setting of the film always seemed unusual to me - a divided Vienna rather than Berlin - but it turns out that this was at the request of movie producer Joseph L Mankiewicz.
As for the stories themselves, 'The Third Man' moves along at a cracking pace with Greene navigating the reader through what is actually a fairly complex investigation into a black market criminal conspiracy. 'The Fallen Idol'- or 'The Basement Room' - as it was originally called - is less frantic but very moving as young Paul finds the foibles of the adults in his life bewildering and confusing.
I think the films, rather than the short stories - are the versions that I will continue to return to but that says more about the quality of the movies rather than a comment on Greene's writing which is, needless to say, excellent!

The Third Man and The Fallen Idol

هذه النصوص كتبت للشاشة في الأصل وخاصة فيلم (The Third Man) والذي يلعب دور البطولة فيه (أورسون ويلز)، تدور أحداث الرواية في مدينة فيينا المحتلة والمقسمة بين الحلفاء والتي يصلها روائي مغمور يدعى (رولو مارتنز) بدعوة من صديقه (هاري لايم)، يكتشف مارتنز أن لايم قتل في حادث سيارة قبل وصوله بأيام قليلة، يبدأ عندها في تحقيقات يحاول فيها كشف ملابسات مقتل صديقه، ويضع نظرية الرجل الثالث الغامض والذي يرغب في كشف هويته، أجمل ما في الرواية هو مشهد المطاردة في أنفاق المجاري تحت فيينا.

I saw both the respective movies first. The Third Man was originally a movie before a novella, and The Fallen Idol a short story before a movie. I recommend, however, The Third Man novella and The Fallen Idol the movie. Those are the better of the pairs.
Fallen Idol is a darling tale about a boy who gets wrapped up in a murder his beloved Baines is wrapped up in, and The Third Man is one of Greene's pseudo-spy novels where ordinary men take up the role of detective--I love it! Both extremely entertaining. I would have been happy with giving this review five stars, but The Fallen Idol the short story didn't reach that level of greatness. Plus, knowing Graham's greater stuff, this doesn't quite compare to Brighten Rock or Power and the Glory or etc. etc.

Short reads, one's a movie--highly recommended for Greene fans who've run out of the great Catholic novels to read.

The Third Man – Graham Greene – Feb 2025
Exquisite and timeless short 'thriller' set in post war Vienna. Greene captures the eerie atmosphere of a defeated and humiliated one time imperial power, whose famous and beautiful city and population have been devastated and divided up between the allied conquerors. Of course such a situation, is ripe for racketeers and black-marketeers to flourish amongst the ruins and in the shadows, step forward Harry Lime and his cronies. Greene brings the spiv characters to life, narrated skilfully by Major Calloway, you can hear the voice of Trevor Howard from the famous film of the book echo clearly through the pages, and visualise a young Orson Welles in the guise of Lime. And then of course the whistle and the haunting music.....with the big wheel as a backdrop.
8/10 The book is excellent, the film, for once maybe even better...Best to do both!!

The Fallen Idol – Graham Greene - Feb 2025
Another excellent short story of a young innocent and naïve little boy coming to terms with ‘real life’ and as we all do, coming to understand there are no hero’s, just ordinary fallible humans, who fail, lie, and let us down…and then we do the same….because no-one can be perfect!
7.5 / 10 a book about the coming to terms with the realities about ‘grown ups’

Bu iki kısa öyküden birincisi film için yazılmış ama ikinci öykü de filme çekilmiş. Birinci öykü “ The Third Man” klasik bir aksiyon öyküsü, araba kazasında ölen arkadaşının suçsuzluğunu kanıtlamaya çalışan anlatıcı karmaşık bir olaylar zincirinin içinde bulur kendisini. Yıllardır tanıdığını düşündüğü arkadaşı belki de bambaşka biridir. Öykü İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası Viyana’da geçiyor. Bu vesileyle cehaletimden biraz arındım. Savaş sonrası İttifak Ülkeleri Viyana’yı dörde bölüp bölgelere ayırmış, bu öykü de hem İngiliz bölgesi hem de Rus bölgesi arasında mekik dokuyor. “ İngiliz bölgesinde güvendesin”, “Rus bölgesinde seni hapse atarlar” gibi ifadelerden sonra bu ne anlama geliyor diye araştırınca öğrenmiş oldum.

İkinci öykü “ The Fallen Idol”, ebeveynleri tatile çıkınca evin kahyası ve karısına emanet edilen Philip’in idolleştirdiği kahya Baines’in düşündüğü gibi biri olmadığını ve yavaş yavaş nasıl da gözünden düştüğünü anlatıyor. Bu öykü belki biraz daha korku unsuru eklenerek uzatılabilirdi.

Her iki öykü de Carol Reed tarafından 1948 ve 1949 yıllarında filme çekilmiş ve Greene’in önsözünden anladığım kadarıyla da yazar adaptasyonları beğenmiş.

And with that, I'm calling it a year for the 2013 Goodreads Reading Challenge.

It's a pity that I knew how both stories would end before I read them because I ventured to go through the all-revealing introduction by Ian Thomson. That being said, I could still feel the suspense as we wander through the streets of post-war Vienna with Rollo Martins, trying to solve the mystery behind the murder of his friend Harry Lime. Or be shocked at the manipulation of the innocence of seven-year-old Philip by the butler & his wife, as they make him privy to the games adults play & their dirty secrets.

4 out of 5 stars for my first experience with Graham Greene's works.

This is a slim little book, but the two stories in it pack quite a wallop. One, is, of course, the more famous, the basis for The Third Man movie. The other was also made into a movie, but is not as well known.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

I am beginning to be a fan of Graham Greene...

The Third Man novella occupies a peculiar position in Graham Greene's oeuvre, which makes it a difficult book to appraise. It was written by Greene as preparation for the 1949 film The Third Man and never intended to be published, yet this was done when the film became such a resounding success. This success was deserved, for the film is a triumph: atmospheric, accomplished and surprisingly modern. It is rightly considered one of the greatest films ever made, and consequently any attempt to compare the preparatory novella to its more evolved counterpart would be as unfair as it would to compare early homo erectus to modern homo sapiens. As Greene himself says in his illuminating preface, there is no debate; the film is the better story because "it is in this case the finished state of the story" (pg. 10).

But the novella is no mere storyboard; it does stand up as a decent thriller in its own right for those who haven't seen the film. Some plot points are a bit more fleshed out, and Greene's authorial voice is as precise as ever. But for fans of the film it lacks newness: despite some cosmetic changes, it follows the same course as the film, and contains the same dialogue (with the notable exception of the famous "cuckoo clock" line, which was written by Orson Welles, who played Harry Lime). What the novella cannot capture is the fine acting and peerless cinematography of the film – the epitome of atmospheric film noir. (I'm not entirely sold on the merits of the famous zither score.) Also in the novella's debit column is that it gives us a happy ending; the film's achingly brilliant and bittersweet long shot was far superior. That ending made you realise you'd been watching something special even as the first of the credits popped up on screen. For all its unassuming merit, the novella can never match that.

It's also worth briefly discussing the other story included in this edition, the much shorter 'The Fallen Idol', also known as 'The Basement Room'. This is an interesting story of a young boy who witnesses a crime, and delves into themes surrounding the moral confusion and the loss of innocence of this poor lad. It is more stylistic than The Third Man, as unlike its companion it was intended for literary publication, and this literary shift can be rather jarring after the more functional novella. But it was fascinating in its own way, and serves as a reminder of Graham Greene's literary talents, even if the preceding story was more accomplished on the screen than on the page.

The Fallen Idol is a terrifying and devastating novella from Graham Greene. A young boy Philip Lane is left in the care of Mr and Mrs Baines, a caretaker couple, when his parents are away. While Philip longs to spend time with the talkative Mr.Baines, listening to his stories about Africans, the domineering and suspicious Mrs Baines thwarts them continuously. The characters of Mr and Mrs Baines are built and developed entirely through Philip Lane’s childhood awareness. Mrs Baines is a diabolical character and the fact that we see and hear her through young Philip’s sensitive eyes and ears probably makes her seem more sinister than she actually is. Mr.Baines, who seems to be living a life of silent desperation is a pathetic character. But one that evokes sympathy. We are not told how he ended up in the clutches of Mrs.Baines. Mr.Baines often talks about his glorious past with many African servants but the details are sketchy at best. Like another reviewer said, poor Mr.Baines! The flash-forward shows a man who is destroyed by a premature introduction to the adult world.

The Third Man and the The Fallen Idol are two short stories which were written by Graham Greene as screenplays rather than stories. The Third Man is an interesting thriller which touches on a number of issues including religion, sin and the some of the darker qualities of human nature. It is a quick read but made me want to read more Graham Greene.

3.5/5