Study Guide to The Lives of Harry Lime by Robert Kroll
By RAY KELLY
A new book looks the other lives of the nefarious Harry Lime – first depicted by Orson Welles in Carol Reed’s 1949 film noir classic The Third Man.
At the urging of British radio producer Harry Alan Towers, Welles resurrected Lime for a prequel radio series, which aired on BBC between August 1951 and July 1962 as The Adventures of Harry Lime. It was rechristened The Lives of Harry Lime for broadcast in the U.S.
Michigan professor Robert Kroll, who is engaged in a lengthy study of Welles’ advertising commercials, recently published Study Guide to The Lives of Harry Lime. The book allowed Kroll to explore self-publishing, and shed light on this often overlooked chapter in Welles career.
The 84-page book is available in softcover from CreateSpace and Amazon for $9.99. It is also available as a Kindle eBook for $4.99.
Each of the 52 episodes are summarized and reviewed. Kroll provides broadcast dates and, when possible, writing credits and interesting bits of information or a notable quote. He also takes a look at the movies The Third Man and Mr. Arkadin (also known as Confidential Report).
Kroll was kind enough to field a few questions about his research into the British radio series.
What drew you to The Lives of Harry Limes?
Honestly, it was Harry Lime that jump-started my interest in Welles in the first place. Back in 2002, I borrowed a copy of The Third Man from my friend Kyle and watched it with my dad. My dad told me about how excited everyone was when the movie came out, comparing it to my excitement for the Christopher Nolan remake of Insomnia that had just come out. I have been hooked on Welles since then.
But I never sat down and listened to the full Lives of Harry Lime radio series. I heard the episodes that came with the Third Man and Mr. Arkadin Criterion Collection DVDs, but there were 48 other episodes that I didn’t know a thing about. I’m a frequent reader of comic books and graphic novels, so the show fits nicely within my interests. Of all the characters that Welles played, Harry Lime is the one that lends itself best to further, more elaborate adventures (with some apologies to anyone that continues to think that Citizen Kane should be made into a TV series). So it was a real treat to dive into the entire Harry Lime series and hear some truly great radio dramas.
Granted, there were many episodes that were weaker than others, while some were just downright awful. Despite that, there were many episodes that I believe are some of Welles’ finest radio dramas. Keeping episodes to half an hour created many gripping and suspenseful episodes like It’s in the Bag or Art is Long and Lime is Fleeting. There is no time for meandering.
Familiarizing myself with the Harry Lime canon also preps me for the new acquisitions coming to the University of Michigan archives. I am most excited about the Welles-written Third Man TV scripts in the collection. I felt the best way to prepare myself for looking at those scripts would be listening to the entire Lives of Harry Lime series. Who knows what differences or similarities there may be between the proposed TV series and the eventual radio series?
How do the radio shows fit into the Welles canon?
Because of Welles’ fame in radio, The Lives of Harry Lime could work as testing grounds for larger stories Welles was working on. Obviously, there were episodes that Welles borrowed from in order to make Mr. Arkadin, so the show fits within the continuum of Welles’ works. But then there is an episode like Dead Candidate. It was paced well enough to be a satisfying radio episode. But the story would have worked if it was actually made into a feature film as proposed to Alexander Korda.
Welles could also work on stories that had interest to him, but likely couldn’t have been made into feature films. The episode Two is Company is a riff on the plot of Romeo and Juliet. While it is doubtful that Two is Company could be made into a feature film, the plot is Shakespearean enough to fit in with Welles’ other Shakespeare adaptations like Chimes at Midnight and the Voodoo Macbeth.
Welles’ voice was always his best instrument, and episodes of The Lives of Harry Lime exhibit some of Welles’ most versatile vocal performances. An episode that immediately comes to mind is Harry Lime Joins the Circus. When Harry speaks with Louisa, a young trapeze artist who lost her family to the Nazis, Welles uses a warm, soothing voice. It isn’t the slippery tongue that often defines Harry Lime’s actions. Later in the episode, as Harry chases Hans Hessel, the Nazi responsible for Louisa’s lost family, Welles’ voice is a full-throated roar. He can hardly contain his contempt for Hessel. Performances like these show that Welles inhibited the necessary emotions as opposed to just “acting” angry or calming.
In conducting your research, what surprised you most?
To build off of the last question, I was surprised how often there would be episodes about art thievery or forgery. While those are easy concepts to work with in a series like The Lives of Harry Lime, they take on extra weight because of Welles’ involvement. Welles was a painter his entire life, so it makes sense that these topics would find their way into the series. But episodes like Art is Long and Lime is Fleeting show early versions of sentiments that would be further explored in F for Fake.
There is also a lot of Welles the man in the series. For example, in Two is Company, which was written by Welles, part of Harry’s scheme is to get one of the characters drunk and hungover by constantly drinking negronis. I’m not really a cocktail guy, so I looked up what it is. I found out that Welles became a fan of the negroni while making Black Magic in Italy in 1947. That was one of the more personal touches to the series that I enjoyed. Welles gave as much to the series as much as he borrowed from it.
On a related note, I myself have also begun to enjoy negronis. While I did not indulge in them as heavily as Harry and Schmidt, I fully understand how Harry was able to pull off what he did in Two is Company.
What can you tell us about your next book.
I am continuing work on my book about Welles’ television and radio commercials. The work may feel slow, but it continues at a good pace. I’ve joked with friends that it may be finished within a decade or so, but I’m not sure if it is a joke anymore! Many of the people I have interviewed for the book have rarely, if ever, spoken about working with Welles. Since his time as a commercial spokesman is arguably the most misunderstood period in Welles’ life, I’m taking my time to make sure that the story is told as respectfully and totally as it can be. I’ve spoken with people still working in advertising whose careers were jump-started because they did a commercial with Welles. There are many great untold stories (such as what really happened with those drunk Paul Masson outtakes) that I want to make sure I’m getting it all right.
Additionally, I am gathering research about Welles’ rival Ernest Hemingway for a short book. A lot of the archives I visit also have materials about Hemingway, so I’ve been looking at materials about the year or two after young Hemingway returned from his injury in the Italian front in World War I. I’m not working on it as fervently as I am the bigger Welles book, but I don’t feel like I can ignore the subject when I’m usually able to have access to those materials.
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