Wonderful character development!

Truly Dreadful Film

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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.

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 ****

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.

Carol Reed;s chestnut that is even more bleak than " The Third man" Mason as Evo Kern is involved with two Women, Neff and Claire Bloom..but he is fateful in his desire for Bloom.All the elements are here with high contrast photography. the little boy( Reed Trademark) and a fine moody cast with a trenchant music score that you will not forget. ( perfect for 1955 ) I think this film gains in stature as the years go by and another testament to a really superb actor who was not appreciated enough..In " Lolita" 1962 Mason shows a vibrant character against type, He is suave mostly, in most of his films..authoritarian , deliberate , calculating and most of all unflappable. In " Lolita" is is totally helpless and seemingly pathetic ...films like " The Man Between" established this personna Mr James Mason C Pope