Politics and Artistic Integrity

[batman]

Originally Posted by Mark O Forgive my ignorance here, but are we talking about a scene from a Movie?........which one?

The Third Man - Harry Lime's speech to Holly Martens in the ferris wheel scene.

"Then, he smugly delivers his famous, perverse monologue about Switzerland and cuckoo clocks [penned by Welles himself]. With murderous fluency, he contemplates the greater productivity of a warring, strife-ridden culture and civilization that is plagued by warfare and violence, versus a peaceful one. The corruptible Lime cynically justifies his black market criminal activities by recognizing that despite appearances, good and evil (black and white, peace and war, up and down, etc.) are complementary concepts. [Indeed, black marketing becomes a real necessity in an economy that faces severe shortages.] The monstrous Lime, with a charming and beguiling smile, equates the corrupt political intrigues of the Borgias to the artistic triumphs of Michelangelo and da Vinci:

In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly."

[Marky B]

One of my favourite scenes from the film is Bernard Lee trying to chase away the old man selling balloons.
Ta Ta
Marky B

[CaptainWaggett]

On the subject of the Third Man, does any one know exactly why Radford/Wayne morphed into Wilfred Hyde-White? I know there's an early script where his part is two people but were they actually offered the parts? It's years since I've seen it so I can't remember whether H-W is actually in Vienna or not (if he was, that would provide the explanation as Wayne was in a play for most of 1945-46). Maybe Reed felt their presence would turn it into too much of a comedy.

Perhaps I should watch it again...