Watching it now - there will be little commentary to offer. I have seen it before, and not that long ago, but I drink at times which has the effect of blurring my observations and memories. When it's not the drink, the drugs will often get me. What self-respecting film school graduate has not seen it? It is, I believe, the only film I have ever seen directed by Carol Reed. But Orson Welles is in it and the script was written by Graham Greene, so there is enough of interest for me to have interest. I have not seen all of the great noir films, but I have tried to see the examples that are considered the best among them. This is one.
I seem to remember reading that Welles contributed the speech on the Ferris wheel, that it was written by him during filming. Perhaps that is an apocryphal tale. I do not remember now. I want to say that I read it in a piece by Bogdanovich, but everything escapes me now. Perhaps he only wrote that it was doubtful. Thoughts, like the people who appear as little dots on the ground. What does it matter if they stop moving, forever.
He's only a scribbler with too much liquor in him.
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