The Man Between (1953)

Ivo Kern: [Already starting to rub one of Susanne's feet] Are your feet cold?
Susanne Mallison: Yes, and my hands are cold. Your heart is the coldest of all.
Ivo Kern: I can warm your feet for you. It's a pity you can't do anything about my heart.
Susanne Mallison: I could try.
Ivo Kern: Why should you bother?

Director:  Carol Reed
Producer:  Carol Reed
Main Cast:  James Mason, Claire Bloom, Hildegard Knef, Dieter Krause
Runtime:  100 minutes

Continuing the success of Night Train to Munich (1940), Odd Man Out (1947), Fallen Idol (1948) and the brilliant The Third Man (1949), Carol Reed made The Man Between in 1953 however sadly it got mostly dismissed in light of The Third Man which remains today as one of the top British films in the Noir catalogue.  The Man Between, I believe, stands its own when given the chance and a new recent restoration makes it shine even better than ever.

Where The Third Man was set amongst the rubble of Vienna, The Man Between has been wonderfully filmed in and around Berlin where the effects of WW2 stand out like a sore foot whether that be the bombed out buildings, new construction and the division between East and West Berlin.  

Susanne (Claire Bloom) flies into West Berlin and is met by her brother’s wife Bettina (Hildegard Knef) and soon after Susanne notices something odd between her brother Martin (Geoffrey Toone) and his wife.  Bettina takes Susanne into East Berlin and they happen to be met by Ivo (James Mason) and again Susanne suspects something between the two that goes much deeper than what is revealed.  Susanne falls for Ivo who has suspicious links to the East (Russian sector) and that gets them both into trouble leading up to a splendid cat and mouse chase through East Berlin in a hope to get to safety in the West sector.

Throughout the film we see a damaged Berlin in the dry, wet and snow and the overall cinematography is really wonderful in its own way just as the well-known shadowy images of The Third Man in Vienna and Belfast in Odd Man Out yet this takes a greater role in revealing the lives and surrounds of the people in post War Berlin and we begin to get a much greater sense of damaged lives though not to the extent of Germany Year Zero filmed 5 years earlier.  

There is a good sense of suspense and mystery, though perhaps not as well-crafted as The Third Man, yet still stands tall as one of the greater lesser known classics that are well worth discovering especially for the great acting and sobering surrounds.  
James Mason, Clair Bloom and Hildegard Knef all give fantastic performances and in fact all the supporting actors (the majority of whom are German) also give convincing portrayals of their characters and just add to the charm of the film.  

As is often the case, Australia misses out on these great classics and we are forced to look elsewhere for a good DVD/Bluray of them.  In this case the Bluray was imported from the UK and it was only released in January 2017.  

Showing off a new 2K restoration of the film, Studiocanal gives us a wonderful transfer of the film under the “Vintage Classics” label (known for releasing other classics such as The Ladykillers, Went the Day Well? and The Third Man).  The clean, crisp image is in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio and is simply excellent with great balance between the highlights and shadows.  The sound is also well restored in its original mono in a PCM (uncompressed) format and sounds great.  We also get the following extras:

• Interview with Clair Bloom
• Carol Reed: A Gentle Eye Documentary
• BFI Audio Interview with James Mason (1967)

Overall this is a film that any fan of The Third Man would enjoy and therefore should not be missed.  The filming location also builds upon the story and would be of great interest to those seeking to get a view of post war Berlin.  Frankly, for me it was fantastic film almost on par with The Third Man and therefore comes Very Highly Recommended.

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