The Third Man

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The Third Man

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The Third Man

Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee

Set in bombed-out, post-war Vienna, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns arrives as a penniless guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to find him dead. Martins develops the ultimate conspir...( read more  read more... )acy theory after learning of a 'third man' present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from investigating British officer Major Calloway and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.

Id: 8339979

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The Third Man Recent Reviews
  • garyX
    September 9, 2009
    garyX
    A down on his luck pulp novelist arrives in post war Vienna on the promise of a job from an old friend, only to find he has been killed in a car accident. Convinced of a conspiracy, he investigates. Graham Greene's adaptation of his own novel has a hell of a lot to commend it; an...( read more) intriguing mystery set in beautiful locations, with some gorgeous cinematography and full of wonderfully framed shots by director Carol Reed. Cotten makes an interesting departure from the usual Noir protagonist, both a fish out of water AND out of his depth. Trevor Howard is also great as the officious British investigator and Alida Valli is a beautiful, vulnerable yet complex love interest. It has only one flaw for me, but it's a near fatal one. The soundtrack is so intrusive and inappropriate it almost wrecks the film completely. It is far too loud, totally antagonistic towards the atmosphere the director and cinematographer had worked so hard to achieve and virtually constant. It's like trying to watch The Maltese Falcon sat next to the band in a Greek restaurant and it seriously grated on my nerves. It's a real shame because pretty much everything else about this film is excellent.
  • her69eyes
    March 24, 2009
    her69eyes
    "The Third Man" is often considered to be the best of the film noir genre, and essential viewing for anybody that likes that style of filmmaking. I disagree. I've never been a fan of film noir, but I was floored after my first viewing of "The Third Man". This is a movie unlike an...( read more)ything you've ever seen - with a perfect combination of a great cast, a breathtaking city, an innovative and unusual soundtrack, and some of the most remarkable cinematography ever envisioned on full display. For people who have reservations about seeing another film with the cliched femme fatales and convoluted mysteries, shot in shadows and clouds of smoke, I can assure you that you will not get what you expect. Whether or not you completely embrace the film as much as some others, you'll have no troubles in admitting that it is, in fact, a perfectly designed movie.

    Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) has just arrived in Vienna at the request of an old friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Martins is a pulp-novelist who sees the world in only black and white - a naivety that is certainly challenged throughout the film. When he arrives in Vienna, he learns that Lime is dead. At Lime's funeral, he meets Major Calloway (Trevor Howard), a police officer, who tells Martins to give up and go home. But Martins is invested in the mysteries of the supposed "accident" of Lime's death, and he's also entranced by Lime's beautiful love interest, Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli). Through a series of interrogations with people involved with Lime, Martins deciphers that Lime was struck by a car and then carried away by three men. Two of them are accounted for, and Lime is focused on figuring out who the third was.

    It turns out, afterall, that Lime is alive and well. He's only gone into hiding, getting around the city using the sewers and lurking in the shadows. This isn't the same Lime that Martins thought he knew, however. Martins has substantial evidence that Lime has been in the business of watering down penicillin and selling it to deathly-ill patients. Lime's body count, mostly children, is significant. When Martins confronts him about it, Lime gives a famous speech - "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."

    The cinematography in the sewer chase, the unusual but perfectly fitting soundtrack, the larger-than-life performance by Welles, the city of Vienna... "The Third Man" is a film that transports you into it's world in a way most films can never dream of. It's a perfect movie that deserves it's universal praise. Check out the Criterion Collection release on DVD or blu-ray.
  • rubystevens
    March 11, 2009
    rubystevens
    make sure to get the british version!
  • sanjurosamurai
    February 7, 2009
    sanjurosamurai
    a flawlessly conceived, expertly crafted film that ranks as possibly the greatest film noir that i have ever seen. the cinematography is especially notable, and every member of the cast was perfectly chosen. the script is also one of the greatest in film history, and every scen...( read more)e was shot purposefully and effectively. the entire chase sequence at the end of the film is marvelous. easily one of the greatest films ever made.
  • ohagankieran
    January 30, 2009
    ohagankieran
    Carol Reed's cult 40's thriller continues to unnerve audiences over 50 years later. It is a masterclass in atmosphere and style but also manages to haunt on many levels.



    Down-on-his-luck pulp writer Holly Martins (Cotten) arrives broke in Allied-occupied Vienna at...( read more) the invitation of his dear old pal Harry Lime (Welles), only to find Harry has been killed in an accident. When brisk British policeman Major Calloway (Howard) informs him that Harry was a notorious racketeer, the indignant Holly decides to clear his friend's name. As soon as he starts questioning Harry's weasly associates and hopeless refugee lover Anna (Valli), he's struck by some baffling inconsistencies in their stories. So he undertakes a quest through the seedy post-war city seeking the unknown "third man" at the scene of Harry's accident.




    Holly is a character of naive persistence, unprepared for Greene's bleak trail of false identities, foul deeds and poisoned penicillin, so you fear with him as he's chasing and being chased through cobbled streets, bomb rubble and, most stunningly, the city's cavernous sewers. Welles appears just three times (and speaks only in the classic fairground scene) but his presence dominates - Reed acknowledged the charismatic Welles influenced the film's saturnine tone.



    For his part, Reed's talent for catching detail and character subtleties found its richest expression, abetted by Robert Krasker's brilliant photography, and immortalised in the appearance of Harry in a doorway, fleetingly caught in the light from an upstairs window
  • DutchCrow
    December 30, 2009
    DutchCrow
    Absolutely fabulous movie. The music is great. It sorts out the effect that you always feel very threatened, while most of the time there is nothing wrong. It's a 1949 movie, but you get the feeling that you're watching a more modern movie. No cliches, no acting by the book. A tr...( read more)ue classic.
  • Jnesc
    December 28, 2009
    Jnesc
    great ...crafted film ...u won't be sorry...
  • ythelastman89
    November 18, 2009
    ythelastman89
    The story and look of it was amazing. The disorienting angles and marionette-like music were great touches. My main complaint, only complaint really, was that Joseph Cotton played the most uninteresting lead imaginable. He came off as a moron and not even a likable moron. Alida V...( read more)alli definitely made up for this, but it still made the movie somewhat hard to enjoy. Orson Wells was good too, but it seemed like he was almost used just in a matter-of-fact way. Nonetheless, it's a great movie.
  • Phonex
    November 9, 2009
    Phonex
    subject is moving to Vienna rather than Berlin, but good film about cold war term.
  • alexroy69
    October 29, 2009
    alexroy69
    J'avais, à mon premier visionnement, rédigé une critique plutôt négative de ce film que tous s'entendent à encenser. Le personnage d'Harry Lime ne me paraissait pas digne de tant de mystère. Je trouvais également que l'intrigue traînait péniblement et que le motif musical de guit...( read more)are acoustique répété tout au long du film détruisait complètement l'ambiance. Qui plus est, je ne disposais pas de sous-titres et l'accent allemand et britannique de certains acteurs rendait parfois les dialogues difficiles à déchiffrer.

    Un nouveau visionnement était donc primordial. J'ignore si mes goûts ont changé, si j'étais dans un mood plus réceptif ou si je viens tout simplement de "saisir" le film, mais cette fois-ci j'ai beaucoup apprécié. Je dois concéder à Carol Reed un indéniable flair de réalisation. Plusieurs scènes sont extrêmement bien tournées, le plan le plus marquant étant selon moi celui des doigts de Lime qui se tordent de désespoir au travers de la bouche d'égout.

    "The Third Man" est tout en contrastes entre l'ombre et la lumière. Entre ce qui est montré et ce qui est caché. Entre ce qui est dit et ce qui est tu. L'énigmatique Harry Lime devient vite une excuse pour le protagoniste de ne pas retourner chez lui, de s'éterniser auprès d'une jeune femme en deuil de qui il s'éprendra. Le spectre du défunt Lime s'étend sur toute cette ville de ruines, elle-même remplie d'ombres pesantes qui semblent menacer d'engloutir les personnages. On aime!
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