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All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Ex-lawyer and Nazi sympathizer James Mason is aiding the Germans in kidnapping certain individuals from West Berlin and bringing them across the Eastern border; Claire Bloom, a lovely British miss who was under the assumption Mason had romantic feelings for her, is kidnapped by mistake. Sketchy melodrama, directed somewhat weakly by Carol Reed, was filmed mostly in England with a few actual Berlin locales scattered about. Visually, the picture is drab, with a potentially suspenseful finale mucked up by poor cinematography and editing. Reed feasts on Mount Rushmore close-ups of Mason, with only the star's molars and his precise diction (enunciated to reach the high balconies) making an impression. Bloom is very good, as is Hildegarde Neff (later Kneff) as a world-weary Frau, and the kidnapper's actual target. ** from ****

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.

Following the release of his masterpiece 'The Third Man (1949),' a refreshingly-offbeat amalgam of British noir and Ealing-style whimsy, director Carol Reed was heralded as one of the era's most promising filmmakers. Critical admirers anxiously awaited his follow-up effort, which was four years coming. Today, the consensus appears to regard 'The Man Between (1953)' as little but a pale imitation of 'The Third Man.' Certainly, the two films share similar scenarios, both involving a foreigner's espionage-tinged visit to a war-torn city (Vienna and Berlin, respectively) that has been divided by opposing powers. However, despite lacking Graham Greene's wry sense of humour, and particularly the boyish charisma of Orson Welles, Reed's follow-up picture is nonetheless an excellent drama, blending romance and tragedy with the director's usual flair for generating atmosphere and international intrigue. The fine chemistry between stars James Mason and Claire Bloom finds a life of its own amid the rubble-strewn ruins of a city still at war with itself.Young British woman Susanne Mallison (Claire Bloom, whom Chaplin had discovered the previous year for 'Limelight (1952)') arrives in Berlin to visit her brother (Geoffrey Toone), who has married German-born Bettina (Hildegard Knef). Through her sister-in-law, Susanne is introduced to the enigmatic Ivo Kern (James Mason), a professional kidnapper with ambiguous allegiances towards both the Eastern and Western powers. Screenwriter Harry Kurnitz had a talent for illustrating characters with hidden motives and concealed secrets (see 'Witness for the Prosecution (1957),' 'The Web (1947)' or either of his 'Thin Man' features), and his screenplay spends its first half ominously exploring the intentions of Bettina, whose association with Ivo implicitly suggests a family betrayal. Interestingly, the character is effectively abandoned in the film's second half, but to the film's advantage, as Susanne and Ivo are relentlessly hunted in the Eastern Bloc following a botched kidnapping. Here, Reed narrows his dramatic focus, but the doomed romance between Bloom's young idealist and Mason's war-weary criminal remains appropriately understated, inspiring empathy without stooping to melodrama.Despite the absence of Robert Krasker, 'The Man Between' is a beautifully shot film, with director-of-photography Desmond Dickinson capturing, not only the atmosphere, but the foreboding personality of the crumbling German capital. John Addison's musical score is haunting and graceful, certainly a far cry from Anton Karas' zither, but nonetheless effective in its own right. One thing I've noticed about every Carol Reed film I've seen (and the tally currently sits at seven) is that all the performances are perfect – not only the main and supporting stars, but everybody down to the briefest of speaking roles. James Mason sports a convincing German accent, and Claire Bloom is simply adorable in her naive innocence, with a smile that will melt your heart. A particularly important character is young Horst (Dieter Krause), whose love Ivo instinctively rejects, for such a criminal can never allow himself to form attachments to those he must inevitably abandon. Ultimately, and tragically, it is Horst's devotion that results in Ivo's death, the final proof that love and death are never far apart.

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.