Graham Greene

Interviewed by Quentin Falk, 3 September 1984, National Film Theatre

These are some examples of Carol Reed-related resources available in the bfi National Library's Audio Collection. These interview clips are excerpts from tapes held in the library. These tapes are available for listening, in the Reading Room. Please ask for them by name of the speaker.

Graham Greene begins his interview at the NFT with the declaration that Carol Reed was the only director he ever enjoyed working with, going on to discuss the films he made with Reed and others.

In the interview it becomes clear that Greene is generally not fond of the film adaptations of his work, with The Fallen Idol (1948), and to some extent Brighton Rock (1947) being exceptions.

Greene: "In a way I was more fond of The Fallen Idol , because it was more I felt a writer's film, and The Third Man more a director's film."

He discusses the merits of the short story as a form suitable for film adaptation:

Greene: "In the cinema, the short story makes a better film than the novel [...] because there are too many compromises in cutting a novel. For instance, The Fallen Idol was a long short story, The Third Man was a long short story...and they are much truer to the original than you get with a novel."

Greene also discusses the development of the story for The Third Man, and how he went to Vienna to research it. He also touches upon the controversy over who should claim credit for the writing of the screenplay:

Quentin Falk: Could Mr Greene clear up some of the truths and half-truths about The Third Man - who wrote what and how it came about?

Graham Greene: The screenplay was entirely mine, except for the passage about the cuckoo clocks, which was written by Orson Welles. Orson Welles I believe has claimed that he wrote a lot of the script but in actual fact that was the only passage which he wrote.