Review: THE THIRD MAN, Menier Chocolate Factory

When Holly Martins arrives in Vienna to start a new job after the Second World War, he learns that his childhood friend Harry Lime died a few days prior. A broke novelist who was promised a cut in his business, he finds Harry’s sudden death suspicious and starts to investigate.

Considered one of the best British films, it was only a matter of time before Carol Reed and Graham Greene’s 1949 film The Third Man misguidedly received the musical treatment. With words by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by George Fenton, this premiere is a subpar noir directed by Trevor Nunn. While the cast is often impressive, the background against which the plot unravels ends up being far more interesting than the story itself.

The Austrian capital is ravaged by poverty and famine. Echoes of the current refugee discourse, national division, xenophobia, and the debris of the conflict permeate Holly’s search for the third man who carried his friend away from the scene of the accident. The details of the narrative are a Mousetrap situation. While it may have been shocking and gripping back when it premiered, it’s now become a quaint trope that didn't need to be exhumed. This musical iteration is all filler and no killer. Largely uncharismatic characters played by generally over-talented performers sing average, unmemorable tunes with a traditional score and immemorial direction.

Honouring the cinematic choices of the original material, the production has a greyscale set with very few occasional splashes of colour. Paul Farnsworth transforms the Menier auditorium. Rubble lines the sides and the transitions have the actors sporadically go into the audience - it’s surprising it’s not being sold as an immersive show like many others these days - to chase each other. There’s a lot of that, and walking, and shambolic running around. It’s almost as if Nunn’s staging craves a revolving stage. He strives for expressionism here but is stuck in an outdated routine. 

Sam Underwood is the “cheerfully ignorant and penniless” American Western fiction writer Holly. He gives a performance that seems to be fixed in distress mode. Constantly tortured and puppy dog-eyed, he ambles between a febrile look and an attempt at a love-struck amateur gumshoe. In fairness, his intermittent overacting is probably not Underwood’s fault but the material’s. He’s surrounded by an incredibly gifted company, who sometimes overpower him vocally.

A few highlights come in the guise of Edward Baker-Duly as Major Calloway, Simon Bailey as Crabbit, an allegedly huge fan of Holly’s work, and Gary Milner soars above everybody else with a velvety voice as Harry’s sleazy and suspicious friend, “Baron” Kurtz. The hack author finds a love interest in the distraught Anna, Harry’s girlfriend and cabaret singer. Natalie Dunne is a breezy presence as the Czech immigrant with a fake passport. Just like many of the actors involved, her accent falters here and there, becoming suddenly quite posh during a fight with Holly, whom she keeps calling Harry out of grief.

The choral numbers and ensemble scenes that see Underwood fending off beggars and black market sellers set the sociopolitical scene with precision, somewhat à la “At The End Of The Day” in Les Misérables (which was also originally directed by Nunn). This aspect is, however, explored on a surface level only, even though it’s the core of all the issues presented. Harry’s penicillin ring is a by-product of the historical context, as are all the paupers Holly shoos away on the street. Ultimately, the piece fails its framework.

It sadly lacks the charm of a good noir and the kick of a great musical. It feels outdated and astonishingly boring (especially in the first act), with Hampton and Black weaving conspicuous suspicion but not building any suspense or tension whatsoever. And a story of the likes desperately needs those to work. The songs are a bit repetitive and they aren’t as eloquent or articulate as they could be. The second act is better than the first (a rarity!), but audiences won’t leave whistling the movie’s theme tune nor any of the original music.

Perhaps not everything needs to be a musical.

The Third Man runs at the Menier Chocolate Factory until 9 September.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

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