The Third Man (1949)

Joseph Cotten chases Orson Welles’s agent of corruption through the ruins of divided post-war Vienna in this evocative classic thriller.

Director Carol Reed outdid himself with this noirish thriller set against a Europe physically and morally devastated by war. Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) – an American writer of cowboy stories – comes to Vienna to visit his old pal Harry Lime, only to be told he has died. Encountering a British military policeman (Trevor Howard) and Lime’s girlfriend (Alida Valli), Martins is forced to reassess both his friend and his own world view.

The Third Man is a consummate production, from Graham Greene’s witty, disturbing screenplay to Robert Krasker’s evocatively skewed photography and Anton Karas’ unforgettable zither score. But, despite his minimal screen time, Orson Welles’ amoral Harry Lime steals the show – thanks partly to the famous ‘cuckoo clock’ speech penned by Welles himself.

“A film of shrewdly chosen detail, with even the smallest bit-part perfectly cast. Welles doesn’t even appear until more than an hour in and is on screen for barely 15 minutes, but his spirit dominates the action. It’s aptly set (and shot) in the shattered city of Vienna, its professional charm worn perilously thin, its once grand buildings now shabby and tottering. Anton Karas’s solo zither score vividly captures the wheedling, brittle mood of the defeated city.” Philip Kemp

1949 United Kingdom
Directed by
Carol Reed
Produced by
Carol Reed
Written by
Graham Greene
Featuring
Carol Reed, Joseph Cotten, Joseph Cotten
Running time
104 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for The Third Man

Critics

Nicolas Barbano
Denmark
John Baxter
Australia
Philip Berk
USA
Josephine Botting
UK
Xan Brooks
UK
Llewella Chapman
UK
Nora Fiore
USA
Carolyn Funk
USA
Andrei Gorzo
Romania
James Harrison
UK
Sean Hogan
UK
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
UK
Philip Kemp
UK
Victoria Luxford
UK
Brian McFarlane
Australia
Robert Mitchell
UK
David Morrison
UK
Bogdan Movileanu
Romania
Nasreen Munni Kabir
UK
Ian Nathan
UK
Michael Newton
Netherlands
Ben Nicholson
UK
Derek O'Connor
Ireland
Andrew Osmond
UK
Miguel Pendás
USA
James Rocarols
UK
Leigh Singer
UK
Neil Smith
UK
Jacob Stolworthy
UK
Matthew Sweet
UK
Richard Taylor
UK
Andreas Thein
Germany
Alexandru Tirdea
Romania
Kenneth Turan
USA
J. M. Tyree
USA
Andrea Virginás
Hungary/Romania
Anthony Wall
UK
Elizabeth Weitzman
USA
Tom White
USA
Adrian Wootton
UK

Directors

Henry Blake
UK
Andreas Fontana
Switzerland
Michel Hazanavicius
France
Axel Kuschevatzky
USA/Argentina
Goran Stolevski
Australia

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