The Third Man – 1949 | 104mins | Thriller | B&W

Plot Synopsis

The Third Man was directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene, The Third Man is a classic film noir, enhanced even more so by the quirky zither music of Anton Karas and fine cinematography of Vienna’s bombed out buildings and underground sewers.

Set in post-war Austria, a country politically divided into different sectors controlled by the U.S., England, France and Russia. Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), an American author, arrives in Vienna where he has been promised work by his old school friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Upon his arrival, Martins discovers that Lime has been killed in a suspicious car accident, and that his funeral is taking place immediately. At the graveside, Martins meets outwardly affable Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and actress Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), who is weeping copiously. When Calloway tells Martins that the late Harry Lime was nothing more or less than a thief and a murderer, the loyal Martins is at first outraged.

Gradually, he not only discovers that Calloway was right, but also that the man lying in the coffin in the film’s early scenes was not Harry Lime at all – and that Lime is still very much alive (he was the mysterious “third man” at the scene of the fatal accident). Calloway hopes to use either Anna or Martins to flush out Lime. Unswerving in her loyalty, Anna refuses. Martins does likewise, until Calloway shows the novelist the tragic results of Lime’s black-market in diluted penicillin. Arranging a rendezvous with Lime at the huge Ferris wheel in the centre of Vienna, Martins listens in barely concealed disgust as Lime casually dismisses his heinous crimes. Feeling particularly brazen, Lime offers not to kill Martins if the latter will go into business with him. Thus the stage is set for the famous climactic confrontation in the sewers of Vienna – and the even more famous final shot of The Third Man, in which Martins pays emotionally for doing the right thing.

The film is currently available in both an American and British release version; the American version with an introduction by Joseph Cotten, the British version is narrated by Carol Reed. Nominated for several Academy Awards, The Third Man won a “Best Cinematography” prize for Robert Krasker.