James Mason is "The Man Between" in this 1953 Carol Reed film, shot on location in post-war Berlin. The film also stars Claire Bloom and Hildegarde Neff. Bloom plays Susanne, a young American woman who comes to Berlin to visit her brother Martin. Martin is stationed there and married to Bettina (Neff). Bettina is clearly unhappy about something, and Susanne soon realizes that her discomfiture has to do with a mysterious man, Iwo (Mason), described as an old friend. When Iwo offers to show her the sights, Susanne accepts, and, believing him to be having an affair with her sister-in-law, advises him to leave her alone. Iwo says he is trying to leave the area, and a friend of Martin's can help by getting him the required documents and introductions. When Susanne asks her brother to help Iwo by contacting the man, Bettina loses her temper, and the truth about Iwo and his true relationship to Bettina emerges.
This is an odd, moody, dark film with some haunting images of the destroyed Berlin, and some beautiful shots, particularly the very last one in the film which stays in one's memory. The serenely beautiful Claire Bloom and the enigmatic Mason are magic together and make this a poignant love story, and very typical Reed - the innocent who has her eyes opened, the man tainted by sin going to meet his fate. The whole last half of the film focuses on only the two of them, and we sense their isolation, an odd couple in a changing world.
The German supporting cast is excellent, particularly Neff, whose career in Hollywood was brief. She wrote a wonderful best-selling autobiography, The Gift Horse, in 1970, which leaves no doubt of her feelings about the place. She went on to star in Silk Stockings on Broadway and eventually returned to Germany.
Quite a beautiful film, not up to "The Third Man," but still has the touch of the master.
This is an odd, moody, dark film with some haunting images of the destroyed Berlin, and some beautiful shots, particularly the very last one in the film which stays in one's memory. The serenely beautiful Claire Bloom and the enigmatic Mason are magic together and make this a poignant love story, and very typical Reed - the innocent who has her eyes opened, the man tainted by sin going to meet his fate. The whole last half of the film focuses on only the two of them, and we sense their isolation, an odd couple in a changing world.
The German supporting cast is excellent, particularly Neff, whose career in Hollywood was brief. She wrote a wonderful best-selling autobiography, The Gift Horse, in 1970, which leaves no doubt of her feelings about the place. She went on to star in Silk Stockings on Broadway and eventually returned to Germany.
Quite a beautiful film, not up to "The Third Man," but still has the touch of the master.