THE MAN BETWEEN
UK, 1953, 93 minutes, Black and White.
James Mason, Claire Bloom, Hildegarde Neff.
Directed by Carol Reed.
The Man Between is a Carol Reed thriller from the period of The Third Man and An Outcast of the Islands, but is not as good as either of these films. It is an interesting exercise to look back now at drama on the Berlin situation as seen by the eyes of the early 50's. (Some comparisons could be made with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, 1965, or Torn Curtain, 1966.)
Reed evokes the atmosphere of Berlin (as he did for post-war ruined Vienna in The Third Man) and the problems of the man with several allegiances. Again, the continentals are the complex characters, the British, rather straightforward, bewildered by intrigue.
Acting and directing are excellent; the film is worth looking at as part of Reed's work and as part of the development of British cinema.
1. Although this film takes place in the 50's, is its theme still relevant today? Why?
2. How dated does this film seem? Why? Is it only a matter of film styles and old planes, clothes and post-war Berlin?
3. How does the film stand up as a thriller? How was atmosphere achieved right from the start: Berlin, the plane, Susan as the English outsider in a strange world. Bettina's suspicious way of acting, the boy on the bicycle. the use of mirrors at the night club and Susan's awareness of Bettina'a subterfuges, cars being chased through the city, visitors at night?
4. How was emotional tension suggested in the early part of the film, in facial and body movements, suspicions, changes of attitude?
5. The drabness of the Eastern sector of Berlin, the Berlin of Stalinist times?
6. What kind of man was Igor? Why was he 'a man between'? How much was his fault, how much the circumstances of war?
7. Why did he and Susan relate so well? How was he using her? Why did she 'play up' to him? How did Susan regard Bettina?
8. How did Susan find herself involved in the plots? Why was her decision to phone Igor a momentous thing for her?
9. Comment on the kidnapping scene and its emotional overtones at this stage of the story.
10. How was the tenseness of the chase in East Berlin achieved by the director ? the opera. the dark, the car and bike, the angle shots of the ruins, the train and station, the smashing of the machine, the roof, the searching of the flats (and Susan's disguise). the final escape and shooting of Igor?
11. How did Igor reveal himself as a man at the end? Was there anything left for him but to die?
12. Is the symbol of the dead man lying between two sectors still a symbol of tension in today's world? How?
