The Third Man Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Carol Reed's Classic Thriller
You've never met anyone like him! (from reissue print ad)
He'll have you in a dither with his zither! (from reissue print)
Hunted by men...Sought by WOMEN!
HUNTED...By a thousand men! Haunted...By a lovely girl!
An American pulp writer arrives in post-WWII Vienna only to find that the friend who waited for him is killed under mysterious circumstances. The ensuing mystery entangles him in his friend's involvement in the black market, with the multinational police, and with his Czech girlfriend.
| Joseph Cotten | Holly Martins |
| Alida Valli | Anna Schmidt |
| Orson Welles | Harry Lime |
| Trevor Howard | Major Calloway |
| Bernard Lee | Sergeant Paine |
| Paul Hörbiger | Harry's Porter |
| Ernst Deutsch | 'Baron' Kurtz |
| Siegfried Breuer | Popescu |
| Erich Ponto | Dr. Winkel |
| Wilfrid Hyde-White | Crabbin |
| Hedwig Bleibtreu | Anna's Old Landlady |
| Harold Ayer | Soldier |
| Harry Belcher | |
| Leo Bieber | Barman |
| Paul Birch | Military Policeman |
| Carol Reed |
8.50 out of 10 (39129 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Amazing Crime Thriller
posted on 31 Aug 2009The Third Man delivers a huge amount of guessing, Is Harry real or not until the end with the chase through the underground sewers. The film is about a man going to Vienna to see his friend and then finding out that his friend is actually dead. any way back to the film their in the sewers which reminded me a bit of THEM! (1954) But any way, Harry is being pursued by the police so he goes into the sewers followed by Bernad Lee, the famous M from James Bond, and Harry's friend.Harry shoots Bernad Lee and eventually, I think his friend kills him by shooting him.10/10
Orson Welles's 3rd great movie
posted on 19 Aug 2009"The Third Man" functions as a sort of half film noir, half look at post-WWII Vienna. The plot centers on Holly Martin (Joseph Cotten) learning of his friend's (Orson Welles) death in Vienna, meeting various and sundry strange people, and getting a big surprise at the end. Probably the movie's strongest aspect is the zither music. You can feel it moving the film along, almost as much as the mysterious setting does. But when they set up the trick at the end, it's especially neat how they set it up! Even if you know what's going to happen, you still have to admire what they did.Anyway, it's one of Orson Welles's many great movies, along with "Citizen Kane" and "The Lady from Shanghai" (I have as yet never seen "Touch of Evil"). Definitely check it out. Also starring Alida Valli.
Some Idiosyncratic Comments On THE THIRD MAN
posted on 17 Jul 2009I am not sure if anyone mentioned the ending, which has me bursting out in tears and heartbreak, and reaching for a cigarette, in deep resignation and yearning, every time I see it.And, how about the absurd comedy that always, in reality, accompanies the darkest, direst situations in life? It's in there! (Like Prego Pasta Sauce!) I experience a visceral need to see this film at least once every 3 months. In fact , I might stop typing now and.....And, who can honestly tell me that they don't feel like the down and out ex-repatriated American , like Holly Martins, almost all the time nowadays! And the death of Sgt Payne still stings horribly. It's Callo-WAY , not Calla-Han, Holly, so get it right!!
The Third Man in today's Vienna
posted on 05 Jul 2009While this film has not inspired the tourism that Sound of Music does in Salzberg, the Vienna Tourism Office can point you to 3 interesting activities should you get to the city: Twice weekly screenings of the film.A museum with lots of old posters, records, and a computer loaded with more than 300 versions of the theme song including a Beatles version! They say they have the original zither for the theme music and will display it soon.(At this writing the museum is only open on Saturday.)Finally, there is a walking tour that will show you many of the locations used.The people at the museum and on the walking tour (they are run independently) will fill your head with enough details about the film to satisfy the most dedicated IMDb reader
Very good film, with some brilliant scenes
posted on 17 Jun 2009[This comment contains a major SPOILER.]I've not heard much about "The Third Man". Of course, it is mentioned as one of the best films ever but I have not heard as much about it as about "Casablanca" or "Citizen Kane" or "Vertigo", to mention a few. I didn't know what it was about either and was surprised by the fact that it was set in Vienna.I really liked it, even if I don't think it's a masterpiece. It's incredibly well-acted and the story is fascinating to say the least. And there are some pretty brilliant scenes in the film. Like when we in the audience find out that Lime is not dead. In the scene before, Anna has told Martins that her cat is only friendly with Harry and then, in the next scene, we see the feet of someone and then how Anna's cat plays with the shoe laces. Brilliant! Of course, a minute later we see Lime's face and Orson Welles smiles a special smile.So, a really good film. Highly recommended. (8/10)
The best entrance ever
posted on 17 Jun 2009I recently saw this on the fantastic Criterion Collection DVD and like countless other was greatly impressed. I'm not sure I can add anything new but I must say that the the feeling of post war Vienna was captured so perfectly and that the cinematography of said setting was a star of the film as much as Cotten or Welles. What I like a lot is that there is no neat or even very poetic ending. Events transpire in a naturalistic fashion full of all the frustrations, disappointments, and unfulfilled expectations that make up life for so many people as they often fruitlessly struggle for some sort of contentment. My only quibble is that the soundtrack is somewhat overrated but that is only my individual opinion. Still a true classic, the film, and our first look at Lime, 9/10.
One of the best Films...of all time.
posted on 27 May 2009It took me a number of years to see it. Always knew the music, but never took the time to watch it..for some reason or another. Few years ago saw it on a Classic Cable movie channel. I have not stopped watching it since. About a year ago, I BOUGHT THE DVD SPECIAL EDITION..I always find a reason to see it again. And I keep finding more things in it..to make it more rewarding each time. syl.
Too cool for words.
posted on 09 May 2009A Noir for the ages, featuring an icy-cold yet pulverizing woman, tons of atmospheric shadow, a desperate subterranean climax, some wonderfully cynical leads, and to top everything off, the most enjoyably unique score in the whole film history. In eight years, the newly formed genre reached its peak with this mystery concerning an American visitor to Vienna, in search of a criminally linked friend. "The Third Man" was one of the last English speaking pictures that were of any major significance abroad for some 20 years. European Cinema, revitalized after the war, would always be intellectually superior, breaking new artistic ground until America's awful Production Code was finally lifted in 1967. In this pivotal, adventurously photographed movie, traces of the future New Wave movement in France are clearly visible, and thus, the original source of our man Quentin, the great pulp filmmaker of the 90's and an admitted follower of Goddard and Melville, can be found here as well.
Typical Welles classic
posted on 12 Apr 2009Based on C4 airing Jan 2002Great theme tune known to millions, desolate shell shocked Vienna, tilted camera angles, long shadows, all very atmospheric. Surprisingly the movie seems both fresh and dated at the same time, back in 1949 this must have been a revelation.Though Welles gets little screen time he steals the show, oh what might have been.7/10 well worth watching.
THE THIRD MAN: A Film for the Ages
posted on 25 Mar 2009I am a devotee of post-World War II black-and-white realism, whether it be the films of Vittorio De Sica or American movies like ON THE WATERFRONT and 12 ANGRY MEN. THE THIRD MAN, Carol Reed's classic from 1949, can be considered one of the first "Method movies"; certainly Orson Welles' acting in the great Ferris Wheel scene is more naturalistic than your typical 1940's acting, and the slanting camera angles and evocative shadows lend this film an artistic, poetic quality lacking in many potboilers of the era. Graham Greene's script for THE THIRD MAN too has literary quality and depth; in classic film noir fashion, it presents a cynical, pessimistic view of life in which humanity is caught in a web of deceit, upright moral actions do not yield a story-book ending, and a woman would rather be true to a dead lover and his corrupt values than wake up to a better love that awaits her. The powerful, expressive images—a fleeing shadow down an alleyway, a long tree-lined road past a cemetery, a puff of silver smoke from a train, the dying Harry Lime's hands grasping at life through a sewer grate, as well as that magnificent underground network itself—will haunt you, and you will feel enriched by this superb film.
Probably the best film ever.
posted on 07 Mar 2009It has the most wonderful photography, the most haunting music, tremendous atmosphere, riveting personalities, historical interest - just simply, everything. No more need be said except that if you haven't yet seen it, then fall in love with it as soon as possible; you are missing pure magic.
"I don't want another murder in this case, and you were born to be murdered..."
posted on 20 Feb 2009Had I gone into the film cold, I would have thought it came from Hitchcock, employing elements from that director's bag of cinematic tricks. You've got the spiral staircase motif initially seen way back in 1929's "Blackmail" and later given more profound treatment in 1958's "Vertigo". There's also the amusement park background that provided suspense in the latter part of "Strangers On A Train". But the thing that really appealed to me was the insertion of a key Hitchcockian element suggested by the movie's title. The 'third man' upon reflection seems to be one of the all time great maguffins of cinema history. In all actuality, there never really was a 'third man', unless one considers Harry Lime to be that character. For that though, he would have had to be at his own 'death' as the unknown individual who helped two other men remove a hit and run victim from the middle of a road.Which upon reflection, makes the core premise of the story very confusing. Not that Harry Lime wouldn't have wanted to fake his own death, but why didn't anyone who attended his funeral realize that it wasn't Harry in the coffin? The real victim wasn't in a very good position to hide his identity, so how did the appearance of Harry Lime's burial come to be accepted as fact? And why was that body so easily identifiable upon exhumation as the medical orderly Joseph Harbin who worked for Harry in the illicit penicillin trade? If you really think about these issues, most of the story seems to unravel regarding the main plot.Yet the story works on an entirely different level once you get beyond that particular point. Harry Lime winds up alive halfway through the picture, and spends the rest of his time trying to stay a step ahead of his friend Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), who's intent on solving the mystery behind Harry's 'death'. What makes the film so intriguing is the deft camera work and the battered post-war setting of Vienna, Austria. The picture simply wouldn't work in color, it's the stark black and white cinematography that contributes to the harrowing cat and mouse game between Harry, Martins and the authorities.You really have to study Orson Welles' performance in the picture to see just what a great actor he was. He doesn't have a lot of screen time here, but everything he does is memorable, right from that first haunting appearance under the street lamp. His conversation with Martins on the ferris wheel is perfectly nuanced and laced with palpable threat; it's just a perfect scene. You have to go well beyond the subtlety of his outward demeanor to realize what a true low life his character actually is.
Film-Noir of a Different Kind
posted on 11 Feb 2009Much like the entrance of Laura in the film LAURA, Harry Lime's entrance into the dark world of post-war Vienna is one of the most unforgettable of all times and effectively erased any memory that Joseph Cotten, the main hero (and alter-ego of Graham Greene) was even in THE THIRD MAN. Photographed under an opening window in a deserted Vienna street, Lime comes into focus as a fleeting face with a smug expression and suddenly we remember Orson Welles was included in the credits. It's a very powerful moment -- one which has us, the viewer, shift our consciousness into wanting to see more of him, wanting to get to know him even if he is a shady, corrupted character. It's the One Moment in the film when it seems that time (in a country that makes clocks, something that Lime makes a joking reference to later on) stops dead in its tracks.THE THIRD MAN is the one film-noir that doesn't have a treacherous femme fatale and the usual suspects but shady people and a growing sense of doom and despair. That in essence is the very nature of film-noir, where it began before demanding the appearance of a sexy blonde with evil intentions. A political theme and espionage reigns throughout without it ever being as much as hinted at, and betrayal is at every corner, something that Hitchcock would have loved had he directed this film. There is a distant echo of CASABLANCA reflected in the threesome at the center of this story with Anna being the reserved woman in the middle but this is not a lush romance. If anything, there is a strong anti-romantic sentiment here, not only because Anna has been irrevocably separated from Lime but she also will not be the one whom Cotten's Martins gets at the end. And in that sense, that pessimism is what film-noir is about.
Slightly disappointing
posted on 03 Jan 2009I can't deny that Carol Reed was an extraordinary director, so I was expecting The Third Man to be perfect, but it wasn't. Maybe I'm jaded, but This film didn't punch him. The story was disappointing, it seemed just too simple.
Visually, the film is perfect, the ruins of Vienna are unforgettable. The photography is mindblowing. The acting is quality, you can always rely on Trevor Howard. Cotton is perfect as is the master, Orson Welles!!!The music is rather annoying, but surreal at the same time, it doesn't quite fit the images - Very deliberate in my opinion.The story didn't hit me, I don't understand why!!! Still, everything else is terrific, especially the finale.
Entertaining yarn highlighting amorality and evil
posted on 13 Dec 2008Many superlatives have already been said, and deservedly so, about this excellent film. A suspenseful mystery, well-acted by all major characters. Welles especially, as the mysterious Harry Lime, personifies evil even more effectively (if that's possible) than characters such as Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs) or Andy Robinson (Dirty Harry). Who can forget Lime's words spoken from the top of Vienna's ferris wheel about being paid for stopping those "dots below" (people) from moving or his Italy & Renaissance v Switzerland & cuckoo clock comparison. Simply, a "must see" film.
The greatest cinematography ever-highlighted by memorable performances
posted on 04 Dec 2008One of the greatest films ever made! Everything is perfect: the story, the setting, the direction, the acting, and the cinematography! It even has one of the greatest quotes ever written (it was supposedly written by Orson Welles himself): "Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly." With a quote like that how can it be bad?
fantastic screenplay whose easy pace keeps you on the edge of your seat
posted on 01 Dec 2008I rented this movie thinking it was a sleeper Orson Welles flick. Instead, what I got was a first class screenplay with lots of suspense and film noir.
In fact, bombed out Austria is about the best film noir you can imagine.
Orson Welles character doesn't appear until the end and then you see just how 'undone' his mind really is. At the end, though, I found myself rooting for him, despite his jaded view of mankind.
one of the few movies...
posted on 28 Nov 2008...that are actually better in German than in English. If you see it in German you will note the (sometimes subtle, sometimes big) differences in language, the different dialects (US, British, Austrian-English) and it is easier to tune into the setting of post-war Vienna, which has been split into four zones of occupancy. One of the best movies ever
all-time great
posted on 25 Nov 2008"The Third Man" is a classic film and one of my favorites. It has a great story development with great unforgettable characters (Holly, Anna, Harry). I've never heard music in a movie that fits so good in the story (not even great Hermann acheivements in "North By Northwest" and "Psycho"). It contains great scenes that engrave themselves in one's mind. Nobody should miss this movie. It really is immortal.
What can I say?
posted on 31 Aug 2009This movie is so good that I barely feel qualified to comment on it. I first saw it as a 7 year old in the early 50s and, although unable at the time to appreciate its full qualities, I remained strangely moved by it and have been haunted by it ever since. This is the only perfect movie ever made. I guess most of the great things about photography and charisma and zither theme and story have been said by people far more articulate than I. However, there are two points I would like to make. Firstly, the camera angles seem to be designed to preclude the viewer from ever being comfortable in involvement with what is not meant to be a comfortable story. Secondly, the ending is just perfect, but the scene just prior to the ending is even more so. Watch as Lime is trapped in the sewer and Calloway tells Martins to shoot him. Harry turns to Holly and gives an almost imperceptible nod, and Holly pulls the trigger. Now that has some impact!