The Third Man

Early in 1999, the British Film Institute asked 1,000 key people involved in the film industry which British feature films of the 20th century they thought had made the most lasting impression.

And the winner was...The Third Man.

For those of you not familiar with the 1949 classic, The Third Man, which was directed by Carol Reed and scripted by Graham Greene, tells a tale of mystery and corruption in post-war Vienna.

The story begins when pulp writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives in Vienna at the invitation of his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) only to discover that Lime has already been killed, knocked down in front of his house. Everybody, from British policeman Calloway (Trevor Howard) to Harry's Czech girlfriend (Alida Valli) is keen for Holly to catch the first plane out of the city and head back home. But he doesn't. Instead, he undertakes a quest through the seedy post-war city on a hunt for the unknown "third man" at the scene of Harry's accident.

American producer David O. Selznick originally wanted the film to be shot in a studio, for it to have an upbeat score and for Noel Coward to take on the role of Harry Lime. Reed, however, fought hard against these proposals.

The director shot the film entirely on location in Vienna. The post-war landscape, complete with rubble and bomb craters, was vividly captured by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Robert Krasker. The film has an interesting visual style, many of the shots at an angle, perhaps suggesting a world which is slightly off keel.

Excellent performances are to be found throughout. Especially memorable is Orson Welles, who, despite his minimal on screen time, manages to leave a lasting impression as cynical individualist Harry Lime. Easily one of cinema's most memorable moments is his first appearance in the film, when he is revealed in a doorway, caught in the light from an upstairs window. Writing his own dialogue, Welles also created one of the cinema's most memorable rationalisations of villainy in the famous fairground scene:

"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."

Also worth mentioning is the music. The film's famous theme was performed on a zither. It was played by Anton Karas, who Reed had heard playing in a Vienna beerhouse one night. The jaunty tune fits perfectly with the tone of the film.

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