top of page
Charles Drazin

The Third Man: Yet More Theft Part 3



To anyone who has followed the saga of how John Walsh has ripped off my book In Search of the Third Man, the routine will be very familiar now. It has become a boring story. The only reason why I continue to tell it is that, although I am now giving the sixth detailed example of Walsh’s theft, the publishers, Titan Books, have still to acknowledge the enormity of the copyright infringement that has taken place. So until they do, I feel I have to continue to provide yet more examples in an effort to convince them of what ought to have been long ago obvious.


This sixth example is taken from p.116 of The Third Man: The Official Story of the Film. It paraphrases and condenses pp.85–6 of my book In Search of the Third Man, as usual closely following my structure and content, and using a quotation taken from my book without due credit to my original interview as the source of the quotation.


So first, Walsh’s copyright-infringing text:


Next, my original text, which Walsh has stolen from wholesale:


There is nothing of substance that Walsh hasn’t simply lifted straight from my book, using his own words but otherwise reproducing my content, describing the things I described in exactly the same order:


  • a description of the sets on Shepperton’s A and B stages;

  • photographer Len Lee’s role taking location photographs in Vienna;

  • the use of a sign writer to recreate graveyard inscriptions for the cemetery set;

  • Ferdinand Bellan’s painting of a 30-foot backing for the cemetery background;

  • a quotation from producer Norman Spencer describing how fast Bellan worked;

  • a description of Bellan painting a street backdrop for the café scene in only three days.


In my book, I describe the street backdrop as having stretched the entire width of Stage A. When Walsh, for once, adds a detail of his own, that the width of the stage was 120 feet, he simply takes the figure from the contemporary specifications for Shepperton’s Stage A, which are easily available on the Internet. Whether the Stage A of 75 years ago had exactly the same dimensions as today’s Stage A, I don’t suppose he bothered to check.


While repeating facts is not copyright infringement, paraphrasing words so closely – copying the original selection, arrangement and compilation of someone else’s research without their permission – most certainly is. Walsh’s infringement is so blatant that I hope that Titan will soon just accept the fact, so that we can begin discussions concerning an appropriate remedy. But if they don’t, then I’m afraid I shall have to continue this dull saga with yet another instalment.


1 Comment


Shinta Fukuda
Shinta Fukuda
6 days ago

Well done, writing again about that John Walsh character.


It starting to become quite funny to me, to realise that his entire book reads like the stiff, stilted, begged, stolen and borrowed prose that it all is. What a sad state the Western world is in, after the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and now... these legions of tiny goons.


Elon Musk, Noah Harare... blah, blah blah... and now, John Walsh.


Yippee!



𝘈𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦.


𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘩.


𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦.


– Pico de…


Like
bottom of page