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 (screenplay),

Stars:

Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli

Top 250 #73 | 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 | Military | Dark Secret | 

---

Taglines:

You've never met anyone like him! (from reissue print ad)

---

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:

London Film Productions, British Lion Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Once he finally arrived in Vienna, Orson Welles refused to film various scenes in the sewers. Due to his protests, various sets replicating the Vienna sewers had to be constructed by Alexander Korda on sound-stages back in England.

---

Goofs

The policemen who come to arrest Anna change between shots. In dialogue scenes the British policeman is played by Geoffrey Keen. In shots of the Jeep driving to the apartment, and in long shots, a different actor is used.

---

Quotes

Calloway: We should have dug deeper than a grave.

---

Connections

Referenced in Police Academy 6: City Under Siege - Unholy Alliance: A Retrospective (2004)
metioned

---

Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

A glorious thriller

Carol Reed's The Third Man is set in post-war Vienna- a hypnotic city, which is in consideration of the mountains of rubble and general sorrow of the are- and stars Joseph Cotten as Holly, a writer of hokey B-Western novels who's come to visit an old chum named Harry Lime. He finds out Lime is dead, but that there is more to his old friend than he knew since before the war, along with Lime's girl Anna (a sympathetic character?). Then when the revelation is shown of Lime's face on a darkened street, the film reaches an elegance rarely seen today in pictures.

Orson Welles, who plays Harry Lime, has in fact a role much like a cameo, having a speech with Cotten on a Ferris Wheel. Even before his "cuckoo clock" finale, we get the sense this is one of these classic scenes of all time, leading up to an unforgettable chase in a sewer. Along with precise, Oscar Winning cinematography, and an ever-entrancing musical score, The Third Man is one of the essentials for movie buffs. A++