mcannady1 I first saw this unique film not long ago and was not surprised that it was superb. Given James Mason's wonderful and heart-wrenching performance and the young and naive Claire Bloom's great love for his character Ivo Kern, the film had a great recipe for success -- To all of these wonderful elements I have to mention the wonderful talents of Carol Reed's superb film-making. The viewer is willingly drawn into each and every scene of the film. The soul-stirring music inter-twined with the recreation of the principals watching opera at leisure is soon found to be more deceptive than it appears to be.The young and lovely Susanne (Bloom) who is very naive arrives in war-torn Berlin to visit her brother Martin (Toome) who is in the Military and his lovely wife Bettina (Neff). From the very start Susanne begins to have a concern that her sister-in-law's appearance of anguish and worry may be an indication of her having a dangerous affair. The beautiful Bettina appears to be sorrowing in secret and there is a boy of 11 or 12 who cycles back and forth from the airport to Martin and Bettina's home. In the background we hear soul-stirring music. Later the music is inter-twined with opera music, but the tension level increases as it is soon evident that war-torn Berlin is enshrouded with danger.Susanne meets Ivo Kern who is soon revealed to have been Bettina's husband originally. He had been incorrectly reported dead; hence Martin's marriage to Bettina. Susanne begins to suspect that Ivo was Bettina's source of worry. Ivo had been a black-market lawyer and was planning to reform in recent years. When Ivo invites Susanne to go skating, Bettina appears concerned. This could be rightfully so, for some dangerous former or newly acquired alliances could prove perilous to him and his family and friends.Susanne and Bettina along with her brother Martin are drawn into a plot which endangers Bettina and Ivo. Susanne's naiveté may be a an endangerment to the principals, which also worries the young boy on the bicycle. In his cycles back and forth, he gathers information for which Ivo pays him. However, The boy is soon worried about his good friend Ivo which is evident by his constant cycling back and forth.We soon find that Susanne makes an irretrievable error along the way.The plot thickens when Susanne is mistaken for Bettina and is kidnapped. In helping to rescue Susanne, Ivo finds himself falling in love with her. Susanne returns his affection, but worries about new and frightening developments.... She had formerly mistrusted her new friend, but was now fearful for his safety.As the story builds to a perilous denouement, every scene is important; every character's actions adds to the heart-stopping suspense. To avoid a Spoiler approaching, I will stop here.My assessment of the story is an even 10 for cast, content, etc. Under Carol Reed's skillful direction the story is unforgettable.

bkoganbing In the wake of the international acclaim for The Third Man, Carol Reed decided to try and repeat with another story about international intrigue with The Man Between. Though not as good as The Third Man, The Man Between can stand on its own merits quite nicely.Taking the place of occupied Vienna is occupied Berlin. The story itself is a more formal cold war espionage story whereas in The Third Man it was about the black market which knows no politics. The innocent who churns thing up is Claire Bloom who is also in Berlin to visit her brother Geoffrey Toone, a medical doctor on assignment in the Allied occupied west sector in the British Zone. Toone has a new wife that Bloom's never met in the person of Hildegarde Knef.And Knef's got a mysterious new friend in James Mason, someone who has known Knef from before the war. Of course we later find out just how well he knew her as the film progresses.Aspects of two of James Mason's previous successful roles come into play and blend quite nicely for him in The Man Between. He starts out as an international man of mystery (no Austin Powers cracks please) as he is in 5 Fingers a rather ruthless individual operating in the netherworld between the west and east. Later on he reveals a lot more of himself to Bloom and by the end of the film you're thinking he reminds you of his luckless Irish revolutionary in Odd Man Out. The transition is accomplished smoothly under Carol Reed's direction.The rest of the cast is mostly made up of German players who were active in the cinema during the Nazi days. What their politics were who of us could tell unless we'd made a serious study of the subject. I've often wondered myself what rated the blacklisting an Emil Jannings got as opposed to a lot of others who did appear in Nazi propaganda films. Look at the cast credits of both Ernst Schroeder who plays a western sympathizing agent and Aribert Wascher who's a gangster operating in the Eastern Zone for the Russians. Look at their credits, both appeared in propaganda films. Both also give good performances in The Man Between.Even the occupied Eastern Zone has been considerably built up since the reunification of Germany. The Man Between is a fine Cold War drama and it gives one a chance to look at the devastation of Berlin post World War II which hopefully will never happen again.

Neil Doyle The bleak war-torn settings of East and West Germany during the post-war years of WWII provide a suitable backdrop for a rather cold tale involving complex characters and moral ambiguities.The story's first half takes time to set up the murky relationships between CLAIRE BLOOM, HILDEGARD KNEF and JAMES MASON before settling down to some quieter moments and romantic overtones when the chemistry between the young girl (Bloom) and the dangerous criminal (Mason) becomes evident. It's their relationship in the second half of the story that heats up some of the cold war atmosphere of the tale.Suspense mounts as they hide out from the German authorities, but all the while one gets the feeling that all will not end well for the ill-fated pair who have fallen deeply in love.If you liked the somber atmosphere of films like ODD MAN OUT and THE THIRD MAN, you'll definitely enjoy the atmospheric effects achieved in the crisp B&W photography on display here. Outstanding photography in scene after scene, although the story itself never quite achieves the same degree of finesse as the previously mentioned Carol Reed films.Nevertheless, it's all extremely well acted. Mason has never been more effective as a complex man full of moral ambiguities and Bloom is given a wonderful chance to display her charm and sensitivity in a well-written role.Definitely worth watching.

secragt Sometimes a good movie blows you away from the get-go. This one took the light of the next day. Carol Reed cleverly disguises his picture with post war intrigue and ambiguous alliances / conspiracies in the first half, but this is ultimately at its heart the story of an impossible romance attempted at an impossible time. While it takes a good half of the movie to get to the real plot, once it cooks, it sizzles. The extended chase sequence in the last third of the movie probably tops the far more famous THE THIRD MAN, though it is a little less frantic and far more deliberately cat and mouse.All of the cast is excellent, including the fetching and intriguing blonde wife, the mysterious young bicyclist, and the rotund, scheming elder German kidnapper. Leads James Mason and Claire Bloom (never prettier or sexier) have amazing chemistry as the picture develops, and one really wishes they had gotten together an hour earlier, because this is the heart of the matter and the meat of the movie.Another major star of this movie is the location photography. The light and shadows draped on the characters flitting in and out of the jagged yet beautiful exo-skeletel ruins and debris of the once-glorious, cosmopolitan city of Berlin are hypnotic and amazing. The cinematography is remarkable; there is great POV work of the snow-covered kidnap vehicle stalking Bloom, but even better camera angles and lighting creativity in the bravura chase in the last 20 minutes (shockingly good given this film's relative anonymity.) This isn't THE THIRD MAN or ODD MAN OUT, but it contains most of the best elements of each movie, plus a better romance than either of those. Interesting that Claire Bloom is forced to watch helplessly as James Mason is shot down at the end of MAN BETWEEN. Only about eight years later she would share the same fate at a similar location on the Berlin border in the searing THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. A heartbreaking must for fans of postwar noir, Mason or Bloom.