The Third Man vs. Touch of Evil | Movie Death Match

For our Noirvember edition, Chris Klimek convenes a showdown between two noir classics featuring unforgettable Orson Welles villains: Carol Reed's The Third Man and Welles's own Touch of Evil.

One is a postwar mystery set amid the shattered streets and shadows of occupied Vienna, featuring Welles as the charmingly monstrous Harry Lime. The other is a feverish border-town nightmare with the filmmaker buried beneath prosthetics as corrupt police captain Hank Quinlan.

Arguing for The Third Man is Matt Gourley (Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, With Gourley and Rust, James Bonding), who contends that Reed's masterpiece transcends noir, combining unforgettable atmosphere, moral ambiguity, and one of cinema's greatest endings. Representing Touch of Evil is Anne Thompson (IndieWire, Screen Talk), who makes the case that Welles's final Hollywood film is a singular feat of visual storytelling and one of the boldest achievements ever produced within the studio system.

Which Welles villain casts the longer shadow, and which film deserves to survive? Choose your winner at moviedeathmatch.com.

(Times will not be precise with ads.)

Intro / Meet the Advocates (00:00:00-00:12:01)

Rd. 1 – The Movies in Their Time (00:12:02-00:24:14)

Rd. 2 – The Movies in Our Time (00:24:15-00:46:49)

Rd. 3 – The Movies for All Time (00:46:50-01:05:33)

The Verdict / Credits (01:05:34-01:13:04)

More From Anne:

-IndieWire

https://www.indiewire.com/author/anne-thompson/

-Sight & Sound: Who voted for Touch of Evil?

https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/829f71c1-8c9d-5294-b77d-93de81913c9d/touch-of-evil

-The $11 Billion Year: From Sundance to the Oscars…

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062218018

More From Matt:

-“Normal Like Me”

https://deathbed.ghost.io/normal-like-me/

-Superego

https://www.gosuperego.com/

Follow Chris:

-Instagram | Bluesky | X

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