The Third Man (1949)

Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime.

Director:

Carol Reed

Writers:

Graham Greene (by), Graham Greene (screen play),

Stars:

Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles

Top 250 #74 | Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Joseph Cotten	...	Holly Martins
Alida Valli	...	Anna Schmidt (as Valli)
Orson Welles	...	Harry Lime
Trevor Howard	...	Maj. Calloway
Bernard Lee	...	Sgt. Paine
Paul Hörbiger	...	Karl - Harry's Porter (as Paul Hoerbiger)
Ernst Deutsch	...	'Baron' Kurtz
Siegfried Breuer	...	Popescu
Erich Ponto	...	Dr. Winkel
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Crabbin
Hedwig Bleibtreu	...	Anna's Old Landlady

Storyline

An out of work pulp fiction novelist, Holly Martins, arrives in a post war Vienna divided into sectors by the victorious allies, and where a shortage of supplies has lead to a flourishing black market. He arrives at the invitation of an ex-school friend, Harry Lime, who has offered him a job, only to discover that Lime has recently died in a peculiar traffic accident. From talking to Lime's friends and associates Martins soon notices that some of the stories are inconsistent, and determines to discover what really happened to Harry Lime.

---

Plot Keywords:

death | black market | writer | police | czech | 

---

Taglines:

Carol Reed's Classic Thriller

---

Genres:

Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German Russian

Release Date:

31 August 1949 (UK)

Also Known As:

The 3rd Man

Filming Locations:

8 Schreyvogelgasse, Vienna, Austria

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£17,856 (UK) (16 July 1999)

Gross:

$596,349 (USA) (17 December 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Carol Reed's Production, London Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Carol Reed had three separate film units working most days of production: a daytime unit, a nighttime unit and a sewer unit. Reed insisted upon directing each unit, resulting in him working 20 hour days.

---

Goofs

Harry Lime's sewer scenes were shot in two locations (in UK studios and on location in Vienna's sewer). In the Vienna sewer location scenes you can see Harry's breath.In the sewer shots done in UK you cannot see his breath.

---

Quotes

Popescue: That's a nice girl, that. But she ought to go careful in Vienna. Everybody ought to go careful in a city like this.

---

Connections

Referenced in Scary Movie 2 (2001)

---

Soundtracks

"The Third Man Theme"
(1949) (uncredited)
Written by Anton Karas
Performed by Anton Karas on a zither

User Reviews

A movie ahead of its time

The Third Man is a movie that looks and feels not like a movie of the 40s, but like a neo-noir of the late 60s/early 70s. This wonderful example of classic noir is one of the all time greatest films. It combines amazing visuals, sounds, dialogue, and acting to tell a thrilling story and comment about the atmosphere after WWII.

Of all the movies durring the studio era (pre-1960ish), there are three movies with cinematography that always stick out in my mind: Gregg Toland's work in Citizen Kane, Russel Mety's work in Touch of Evil, and Robert Krasker's work in The Third Man (all starring Orson Welles funny enough). I just recently saw a restored 35mm version of The Third Man. The crisp black and white visuals of a bombed out Vienna are so breath-taking. Shadows are everywhere. The unique way Krasker tilts the camera in some shots adding to the disorientation of the plot. And who can forget the first close-up of Welles with the light from an apartment room above splashing onto his face; one of the great entrances in movie history (Lime gives his old friend a smile that only Welles could give).

The cinematography is backed by strong performances by Welles, Cotten, and italian actress Vali. The writing of Greene is wonderful; you can see the plot twisting around Cotten tightly. But what makes The Third Man so great is its historical commentary (well not really historical since it was commenting on its own time, but to us it is historical). On one level The Third Man is a story of betrayal and corruption in a post-war, occupied Vienna. On the other hand, its giving the audience a glimpse of the mood of Europe after the great war. The uncertainty that the Cold War was bringing is evident through out the film; Cotten is constantly trying to figure out who to trust. Vienna is on the frontier of the new communist bloc (we even see the communists infiltrating Vienna trying to bring Vali back to her native Czechoslavakia). The zither music score combined with the stark images of bombed out Vienna are reminiscent of the frontier towns of American Westerns. So The Third Man is not only a wonderful film noir, but a unique look at the brief time between WWII and the height of the Cold War.