EDITED: THE THIRD MAN: SEWER SCENE

How does the sewer scene from 'The Third Man' use framing, composition techniques, mise en scene and cinematography to create meanings, metaphors and effects?

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2

Figure 1 shows Harry at the staircase before he's shot by Holly. This shot is seemingly claustrophobic as all that can be directly seen is the characters face and his immediate surroundings which can also be seen in figure 3 and 4. The narrowness of this shot highlights the narrow mindedness of Vienna at the time. Similarly this shot links to a scene at the start of the film where a German man is talking about the supposed death of Harry Lime. He points upwards when he talks about Harry going to 'hell.' This shot almost reiterates what the man said. If the character was to escape by climbing this staircase, before getting shot, he would surely be playing into the hands of the police and would be arrested. Similarly the idea of him going to hell could be linked with the fact that he is soon to be shot by his friend whilst climbing the staircase in the direction of 'hell.'

The geometric shapes in this shot help to create the feeling of nothingness. The stair case is made up of shapes that are seemingly abrupt and sharply angled. This links well with the idea of German expressionism. With Sharp lines and angular shapes the shot seems to create a feeling of anxiety and being isolated which links to the way many people would have been feeling in Vienna and the time of the film. 
Figure 2 shows Harry being chased by police through the sewers. This shot shows a great sense of distortion. If you look at the way quadrants are used in this shot, there is something going on in each of the 4 parts. In the top left, you can see police officers chasing Harry and in the top right you can see Holly looking confused and almost worried, again, chasing Harry through the sewers. The bottom left section shows Harry’s shadow running towards an opening in the tunnel which could be his escape. The further we get into the scene, the more we see this isn’t the case. The size of Harry’s shadow is also distorting as it is much larger than the men who’re seen to be chasing him. This in a way creates an emphasised hierarchy with the idea that Harry may still see himself as above the levels of the police. 
 Quadrants are used very effectively in the shot here in the sense that if you were to dived the shot into 4 segments there is something goinh on in every part. The top2 segments show men chasing Harry, and the bottom 2 shots show escape routes. These work effectively as they contrast completely with eachtother and create a shot that shows a conflict in the sense that the men may be chasing Harry but he is one step ahead of them in the sense that he has already got planned escape routes.
 

FIGURE 3

Similarly the use of chiaroscuro lighting to create the strong shadow of Harry is almost used in a way to show that his shadow is behind him in the darkness and he is running into the light which can be seen in the last quadrant. The strong lighting can be seen to show a strong beam of light on to the water opposite the tunnel Harry is running towards. This can later been seen as an idea of false hope and this is before we see Harry coming close to escaping before he is shot. 

FIGURE 4

Figure 3 reiterates the idea of false hope and entrapment. The light is shown in a way that links again with the idea of going into the ‘light’ but this scene would end in a completely opposing way if he were to follow that. The light is created by the police men who’re chasing him which creates a sense of false hope and entrapment. It is almost as if he is playing into the hands of the police and letting himself be caught. This is a very claustrophobic shot that shows his dark figure to be the main point of focus that is really only the main thing that can be seen in the shot. This helps the person watching to see how trivial this point in the chase is, does he give in or run?
The water that is washing up underneath Harry almost shows everything he’s done being ‘washed away.’ Similarly it could connote the idea of a sort of flowing-ness and secretive element of Harry’s life. It gives the idea that Harry just goes where the water takes him so long as it keeps him from danger in the way that he stays in the sewers and follows the tunnels keeping his presence to himself.   
 
Figure 4 shows a very bleak image, which fits with the idea of the bleakness of the area of Vienna at the time of the film. This again is, at the same time as being bleak, a very claustrophobic shot. Harry can be seen at the end of the tunnel which is the opposite shot to figure 3. This shot shows the situation from the police and Holly’s view. It shows the light focusing straight on Harry, almost like a spotlight bringing the viewers attention to solely focus on him. This is an intense moment in the run up to figure 1.
This shot shows Harry in an almost vulnerable light. I feel in a way that the viewer is almost made to sympathise with Harry as he is being quite literally pushed into a corner by his own crimes. The strong chiaroscuro lighting emphasises this idea of the contrast between the bad that he has done and the light being the good, the good being him giving himself up to the police. The darkness links with this in that there is more dark than light in this shot which foreshadows the direction he will choose.