Sunday Morning Op Shop Find: Orson Welles


Ain't it a stunner?  The Lives Of Harry Lime, complete with non-fiction stories by none other than Harry Lime himself, Orson Welles.  I tell a slight fib though, this book wasn't an Op Shop find, this one was a few bucks at a book fair here in Adelaide last week.  It was worth heading out in the cold and rain, just for this one.  And there were other books to be found, including an extensive study of the Bounty mutiny dated 1884.  Can't complain.

I was fascinated by the film The Third Man from the time I first saw it on TV.  It just bewitched me, and the speech Harry Lime gives on top of the ferris wheel about morality is still utterly chilling.  If you've seen the film, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.  If not...
Holly Martins: Have you ever seen any of your victims?
Harry Lime: You know, I never feel comfortable on these sort of things. Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax - the only way you can save money nowadays.
You don't get powerful dialogue like that in films these days.


Comments

Britt Reid said…
THey're adaptations of scripts from The Lives of Harry Lime radio series where Welles reprised the role from the movie, though the series is a prequel to the movie.
I have no idea why they didn't use "The Third Man" as the series' title!
https://archive.org/details/TheLivesOfHarryLime
Daniel Best said…
Well spotted Nephew of The Lone Ranger!

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