Carol Reed

Very few people may know that the director of The Third Man was not Orson Welles . The fame of the American actor shines so bright that many people assume that he is also the director of that memorable film, in which he starred alongside Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli . But who was really behind the cameras was an English filmmaker named Carol Reed, who was 43 years old at the time and who, although he had already had a 15-year career as a filmmaker, was not yet known by the general public. Of course, with the black story of Harry Lime, his film career took a big step forward.

Carol Reed was born in London on December 30, 1906. He was the illegitimate son of Herbert Beerbohm Tree, actor, businessman and founder of the Royal School of Dramatic Arts, who lived a relationship parallel to his marriage with his maid Mary Pinney Redd, mother from Carol. Due to the good position of his father, Carol received a careful education at King’s School in Canterbury. After his school studies, he was sent to Massachusetts for a while to work on a farm, but he soon returned to England and decided to dedicate himself to the theater, a profession in which he made his debut in 1924. Three years later Carol Reed joined the theater company. Edgar Wallace and became Wallace’s personal assistant when he was appointed director of the British Lion Film Corporation. It was there that young Carol Reed was introduced to the ins and outs of film making and directing. On Wallace’s death, Reed became an assistant director at the famed Ealing Studios.

Carol Reed’s directorial debut took place in 1935 with the comedy It Happened in Paris , although Reed himself was not listed in the credits, co-director Robert Wyler , brother of the famous William Wyler , was not . A year later, he directed, this time alone, what can truly be considered his first film: the adventure story Midshipman Easy , for which he received the congratulations of Graham Greene himself, who said of Reed that he had “more talent than the vast majority of veteran conductors from England”. The following year she stood out with the crime drama Talk to the Devil and in 1938 she would film one of her best films from her early days, Love Rules ., where he made a realistic portrait of the working world. In that film he worked with the actress Margaret Lockwood , with whom in later years he would shoot several successful films, such as Tell me who you’re with (1937), the comedy A Give Must Live and especially those he filmed in 1940, such as the adventurous Night Train to Munich , the comedy She Stars Look Dawn or the crime thriller Your name in the newspapers .

In the following decade, the name of Carol Reed would end up being known throughout the world. In 1942 she directed the biographical drama The Victor of Napoleon , already with actors of the stature of Robert Donat or John Mills . In 1944 it was the great David Niven who was placed under her command in the war film Forward , set in World War II. Carol Reed’s cinema grew in quality and density during those years, and was much better received by the public. Examples of this are Long is the night (1947), an excellent film noir show with James Mason at the helm, or the also criminal The Fallen Idol .(1948), adaptation of a short story by Graham Greene . But Carol Reed’s worldwide fame and the film for which he would always be remembered did not come until a year later, with The Third Man . Again a collaboration with Greene resulted in one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of cinema. The Third Man is one of those films that surpasses its printed original in such a way that it becomes vulgar. On the screen everything worked, everything fascinated, from the gloomy setting of post-war Vienna to the ambiguous and mysterious interpretation of the elusive Orson Wells as the criminal Harry Lime or the relations between Josep Cotten and Alida Valli, Lime’s girlfriend, going through the awesome music by Anton Karasor the photographic chiaroscuro of Robert Krasker . The plot was tight, intriguing beyond belief, and there are scenes that will remain in the retina of fans forever, such as the Ferris wheel and the final fixed shot. The third man was nominated for 3 Oscars, although he only won Best Cinematography. It did, however, win the Bafta for best film and the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

Starting in the 1950s, Carol Reed’s filmography included titles with the greatest impact. The director was already known and could count on bigger productions. Thus, after adapting Joseph Conrad in Banished from the Islands , with Trevor Howard , he directed Trapeze in 1956 , an adventure film set in the world of the circus and with the unforgettable Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida in the main roles. Three years later she shot the war drama The Key with William Holden and Sophia Loren , and the following year she again used a story by her compatriot Graham Greene of hers to succeed with the spy filmOur man in Havana , with the great Alec Guinness.

Subsequently, although the decade of the sixties was not very fruitful for Carol Reed in terms of the number, she did film two that remain to be remembered. In addition to the highly esteemed criminal drama The Price of a Death (1963), the historical Torment and Ecstasy was very successful , about the relations between the sculptor Michelangelo and Pope Julius II, based on the voluminous novel by Irwing Stone. However, the most important project of hers in that decade was undoubtedly the musical Oliver!(1968), a wonderful adaptation of the Dickens classic “Oliver Twist.” Some songs like “Who Will Buy?” are unforgettable. or “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two”. The Hollywood academy, this time, recognized the enormous merit of Reed and awarded the film with 5 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. It was the zenith of Reed’s artistic career and the beginning of its decline. His last movie was Follow Me! (1972) and four years later he died of a heart attack at his home in Chelsea, at the age of 69. He was survived by his second wife, Penelope Dudley-Ward, with whom he had a son.