The Third Man

This article is about film noir. For the Third Man Argument in philosophy, see Third Man Argument.

The Third Man
File:ThirdManUSPoster.jpg
Directed by	Carol Reed
Written by	Graham Greene
Produced by	Alexander Korda, David O. Selznick
Starring	Orson Welles Joseph Cotten Alida Valli Trevor Howard Wilfrid Hyde-White Bernard Lee
Edited by	Oswald Hafenrichter
Music by	Anton Karas
Distributed by	British Lion Films (UK)
Release dates	September 2 1949 2 January, 1950
Running time	104 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Third Man (1949) is a British film noir directed by Carol Reed. The screenplay was written by novelist Graham Greene. Greene wrote a novella of the same name in preparation for the screenplay, and this was published in 1950.

Plot

Synopsis

The story is set in the post-war Austrian city of Vienna, just after the Second World War, when it was divided between the Allied powers of Britain, France, the USA and the USSR. The central character is pulp western author, Holly Martins, who is searching for an old friend, Harry Lime, who has offered him the opportunity to work for him in Vienna.

Details

Upon arriving in Vienna, Holly Martins, an American pulp-novelist, heads to stay with a friend of his, Harry Lime, who offered him a job. When he arrives at Lime's apartment, Holly learns that Lime was killed by a truck while crossing the street the other day. Shocked, Holly heads to the cemetery to attend Harry's funeral, where he meets Major Calloway. After the services end, Calloway, a police officer, gives him a lift to the hotel, advising him to leave Vienna, as he can do nothing more than get himself in trouble.

After arriving at the hotel, Sgt. Paine, who had expressed great interest in Holly's novels, tells Crabbin (an official in the C.R.S of the G.H.O. who holds a weekly meeting to discuss various forms of arts and entertainment) of Holly's stay in Vienna. Crabbin then offers to pay for Holly's room and board for as long as he likes if he agrees to speak at their meeting. Holly then gets a phone call from a man, Baron Kurtz, claiming to be a friend of Harry Lime.

Holly meets Kurtz in a cafe in the city to discuss Harry's death. Kurtz shows Holly exactly what happened when Harry was killed. He says that he and another friend of Harry's, a Romanian named Mr. Popescu, picked him up and brought him over to the side of the street, where Harry asked them to take care of Holly and Anna, Harry's girlfriend. Kurtz tells Holly that Anna works at a local theatre, but advises against speaking to her about Harry (as it would only cause her pain) and against investigating Harry's death at all (since it could bring unwanted attention).

Holly then heads to Anna's theatre and arranges a meeting with Anna. During the course of their conversation, Holly learns that Harry was hit by his own driver and that his own doctor, Dr. Winkel, was walking by when it happened. Anna expresses her doubt that it was an accident at all. Holly then persuades Anna to take him to the porter who saw it happen.

The porter tells Holly that there is no way Harry could have been alive immediately after getting hit by the truck due to the way his head was bent and that it was three men that carried Lime across the street, not two, as Baron said. Holly tries to get the porter to give his evidence to the police, but the porter refuses, eventually getting very upset with Holly and asks him to leave.

Holly walks Anna back to her apartment, where the police are searching her room. When they find a forged passport, they leave, taking Anna with them.

Holly then goes to speak with Dr. Winkel and asks him if Harry could have stayed alive long enough after being hit by the truck to tell his friends to take care of Holly and Anna, but the doctor cannot give any helpful information, as he arrived late to the scene.

Holly and Anna then head to the Casanova Club, a spot frequented by Harry and his friends, where Holly meets Mr. Popescu. Holly asks who the third man to help carry the body was and Mr. Popescu claims he does not know what Holly is talking about. He also claims that there is no way Harry could have been involved in any racket. Holly then asks if he knows Joseph Harbin, to which Popescu answers he does not. Mr. Popescu is then seen arranging a meeting with Baron Kurtz, the porter, and an unknown party. The porter then arranges a meeting with Holly for that night.

When Anna and Holly arrive at the porter's apartment, they find that he has been murdered. The crowd around the building suspects Holly and chases him. Eventually, Holly gets away and is taken to talk about the modern novel at Crabbin's meeting.

Holly then proceeds to embarrass himself when he cannot answer the questions posed by the members of the audience. Frightened by two suspicious looking men, Holly flees up a staircase and into an apartment. He climbs out a window and is bitten by a parrot in the process. He then runs through several bombed out buildings and city streets, eventually hiding in a broken-down car. After the two men pass, he heads to Major Calloway's office.

Major Calloway advises Holly to leave Vienna and, when Holly refuses, tells Holly about Harry Lime's racket. Calloway says that Harry Lime stole penicillin from military hospitals, diluted it to make it go further, and sold it back to the hospitals. Holly then asks "Are you too busy chasing a few tubes of penicillin to investigate a murder?" to which Calloway responds by describing the effects on the patients who were given the diluted penicillin, including men with gangrenous legs and a group of children with meningitis, some of whom died and some of whom broke down and had to be placed in the mental ward. After Calloway shows Holly the rest of the evidence against Harry, Holly, saddened by this new information, promises to leave Vienna. As Holly leaves, a Russian officer comes in, asking for Anna's passport so that they may arrest her.

Holly then heads back to Anna's apartment with a bunch of flowers. He tells her is going to leave Vienna and tries to play with Anna's cat and Anna responds by saying it only ever liked Harry. Anna asks what made Holly decide to leave. He tries to steer the conversation in another direction, prompting Anna to ask "He told you, didn't he?". Meanwhile, a mysterious man arrives outside the apartment and hides in a doorway. Anna's cat then runs outside and begins playing with the man's shoelaces. Inside, Holly muses that Harry must have wanted him to help in his racket. He confesses that he loves Anna, to which Anna says she does not feel the same way about Holly, as she still loves Harry. Holly then leaves her apartment.

When he hears Anna's cat mew, he looks over and can barely make out the man in the doorway. He begins shouting for the man to come out of the doorway so he can see him better, mocking him. A moment later, a woman across the street opens her window to yell at Holly, spilling light on to the man in the doorway. Holly sees that is none other than Harry Lime, alive and well. A car races past and Harry takes off down an alleyway. Holly chases him, but Harry disappears around a corner. Holly then gets Major Calloway, who finds a hidden staircase in a statue. Paine, Holly, and Calloway head down and find that it leads to the sewer system. Looking around the tunnels, Calloway remarks "We should've dug deeper than a grave."

The police then dig up Harry's grave, only to find that Joseph Harbin has been buried in his place. The next day, Holly goes to Baron Kurtz and asks to speak with Harry. Baron pretends not to know what Holly is talking about, so Holly tells him that if Harry wants to talk, he'll be over at the carnival across the street. Minutes later, Harry shows up and the two climb into the Ferris wheel to have a private conversation. Holly asks Harry how he could possibly commit such a heinous act as adulterating penicillin and Harry responds by comparing the people on the ground to dots and asks "If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?". Back on the ground, Harry tells Holly that if he wished to participate in Harry's racket, he could meet him one more time, but not to bring the police.

Holly goes to the arranged meeting place, but plans to turn Harry over the police. When Harry shows up, the police chase him down to the sewers, where he is eventually is cornered and opens fire on Sgt. Paine, killing him. Harry is then shot by Major Calloway, but manages to drag himself up a staircase and up to a grating. Holly then takes Sgt. Paine's gun and shoots Harry again, killing him. Holly then attends Harry's second funeral. The film ends with Holly trying to continue things with Anna, but she simply walks past him, angry that he betrayed Harry.

File:Thirdman1-9950.jpg

Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles

Alternate version

The original British release begins, an unnamed narrator (actually the voice of director Carol Reed) is heard describing post-war Vienna from the point of view of a racketeer. The version shown in American theatres replaced this with narration by Holly Martins. This change was made by David O. Selznick, who did not think American audiences would relate to the seedy tone of the original. In addition, eleven minutes were cut. Today, Reed's original version now appears on American DVDs and in showings on Turner Classic Movies. (both the Criterion Collection and Studio Canal releases include a comparison of the two opening monologues.)

Adaptation of the source material

Before writing the screenplay, Greene worked out the atmosphere, characterization and mood of the story by writing a novella. This was written purely to be used as a source text for the screenplay and was never intended to be read by the general public, although it was later published (alongside The Fallen Idol).

The narrator in the novella is Col. Calloway, a British policeman, which gives the book a slightly different emphasis from that of the screenplay. A small portion of his narration is retained in a modified form at the very beginning of the movie, the part in which a voice-over declaims: "I never knew the old Vienna..."

Other differences include the nationality of both Martins and Lime; they are English in the book. Martins' first name is Rollo rather than Holly. Popescu's character is an American called Cooler. The character of Crabbin was originally meant to be two characters, to be played by Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, who were an established comedy duo in films.

Perhaps the fundamental difference is the end of the novella, in which it is implied that Anna and Rollo (Holly) are about to begin a new life together, in stark contrast to the unmistakable snub by Anna that marks the end of the movie. Anna does walk away from Lime's grave in the book, but the text continues: "I watched him striding off on his overgrown legs after the girl. He caught her up and they walked side by side. I don't think he said a word to her: it was like the end of a story. He was a very bad shot and a very bad judge of character, but he had a way with Westerns (a trick of tension) and with girls (I wouldn't know what)." In some prints of the film, the last few seconds have been deleted to try to conceal the snub and manufacture the happy ending of the book. During the shooting of the movie, the final scene was the subject of a dispute between Greene, who wanted the happy ending of the novella, and Selznick and Reed, who stubbornly refused to end the film on what they felt was an artificially happy note. This is one of the few areas where Reed and Selznick did not clash during the production.

Style

The atmospheric use of black and white expressionist cinematography (by Robert Krasker), with harsh lighting and distorted camera angles, is a key feature of The Third Man. Combined with the unique musical theme, seedy locations, and acclaimed performances from the cast, the style evokes the atmosphere of an exhausted, cynical post-war Vienna at the start of the Cold War. The film's unusual camera angles, however, weren't always appreciated. C.A. Lejeune in the Observer described Reed's "habit of printing his scenes askew, with floors sloping at a diagonal and close-ups deliriously tilted" as "most distracting". Reputedly American director William Wyler, a close friend of Reed's, sent him a spirit level, with a note saying, "Carol, next time you make a picture, just put it on top of the camera, will you?".

Score

The distinctive musical score was composed and played on the zither by Anton Karas. A single, "The Third Man Theme", released in 1950 (Decca in UK, London Records in USA) became a best-seller, and later an LP was released. Before the production came to Vienna, Karas was an unknown wine bar performer. Reed and Howard fell in love with Karas' zither after hearing him play inside a café. Karas agreed to record some of his own compositions on a reel-to-reel tape machine that Reed set up in the bedroom of his hotel; one of these was later to become the Harry Lime Theme and become a popular hit. The exposure made Karas an international star after the movie was released. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, "Has there ever been a film where the music more perfectly suited the action than in Carol Reed's 'The Third Man'?"

Cast

• Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins
• Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt (credited simply as "Valli")
• Orson Welles as Harry Lime
• Trevor Howard as Major Calloway
• Wilfrid Hyde-White as Crabbin
• Bernard Lee as Sgt. Paine
• Erich Ponto as Dr. Winkel
• Ernst Deutsch as 'Baron' Kurtz
• Siegfried Breuer as Popescu
• Paul Hoerbiger as the porter
• Annie Rosar as the porter's wife
• Hedwig Bleibtreu as Anna's landlady
• Alexis Chesnakov as Brodsky
• Herbert Halbik as Hansl
• Paul Hardtmuth as the hall porter at Sacher's

Awards

The film won the 1949 Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, a British Academy Award for Best Film, and an Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography in 1950.

The film was also voted the best British film of all time by the British Film Institute, while in 2004 the magazine Total Film named it the third greatest British film. The film also placed 57th on the American Film Institute's list of top American films, "100 Years... 100 Movies" in 1998, an accolade which is controversial because the film's only American connection was its executive co-producer, David O. Selznick; the other two, Sir Alexander Korda and Carol Reed, were British. In 2005, viewers of BBC Television's Newsnight Review voted the film their fourth most favourite of all time; it was the only film in the top five made prior to 1970.

Adaptations and spin-offs

• A radio drama series called The Lives of Harry Lime and centring on the adventures of Harry Lime (voiced by Welles) prior to his "death in Vienna" ran for a number of seasons. Welles also wrote a number of episodes, including "Ticket to Tangiers," which is included on the Criterion Collection and Studio Canal releases of the film.
• A television series later used the film's title, theme music and the name "Harry Lime", played by Michael Rennie. However, the Lime character was a wealthy art-dealer who behaved like Robin Hood and had an associate called Bradford Webster played by Jonathan Harris. The series was produced by the BBC and ran for 77 episodes between 1959 and 1965 and was syndicated in the United States (see The Third Man TV series).

The Cuckoo Clock Speech

In a famous scene, looking down upon the people beneath from his vantage point on top of the Riesenrad, the large Ferris wheel in the Prater amusement park, Lime compares them to dots. Back on the ground, he makes the now famous remark:

"In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed — they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Greene has conceded that this remark was not his own invention, but rather Welles' contribution to the script. Welles himself admitted that he was inspired to his speech by a much smaller and older quote that implied the same. (The impact of Lime's statement is in some ways enhanced by the fact that the cuckoo clock is in fact a German invention, and the Swiss do not even have that to their credit. This fact, however, is not very well known.)

Common misconceptions

• Many people erroneously believe that Welles directed the film himself, as the film's expressionistic photography is very reminiscent of his style. In interviews with Peter Bogdanovich, Welles states that outside of acting, his only contribution was the 'cuckoo clock' speech (This is Orson Welles, p. 220).
• The tall and wide sewer shown in the film is in fact the tunnel of the Wien River, although many shots were also filmed in a London studio. After one day's shooting Welles declined to film in the sewers and sets were built at Shepperton to finish the film. There is a great deal of footage using doubles for Welles shot in the actual sewers.
• The "third man" is commonly considered to be an elaborate MacGuffin, but this is not really the case if you stay true to the definition of a MacGuffin as a plot device, the exact nature of which is entirely irrelevant to the story. It is hardly of no relevance to the story that the third man carrying Harry Lime's corpse is Harry Lime himself, just the fact that there was a third man.

Copyright status

This film lapsed into public domain in the United States when the copyright was not renewed after the death of producer David Selznick. In 1997, the movie was restored to copyright in accordance to the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, and the Criterion Collection released a digitally restored DVD of the original British print of the movie.

Cultural references

• A reference to The Third Man is made in episode 339, "Fluency," of the 15th season of the television series Law & Order. Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) is cross-examining a racketeer who is partly to blame for a string of influenza-related deaths due to the racketeer's fake flu vaccine. McCoy wins a conviction when he reminds the defendant of the Ferris wheel scene in The Third Man. McCoy paraphrases Harry Lime's question to his friend, Holly Martins: "Look down there. Would you really feel any pity if one of those...dots stopped moving, forever? If I offered you 20,000 pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you...calculate how many dots you could afford to spend; free of income tax, old man, free of income tax?"
• The film was parodied in the Pinky and the Brain episode "The Third Mouse," including a reversal of the famous quote: "In Italy under the Borgias they had 30 years of murder, bloodshed, warfare and produced indigestible pasta, boring operas, and the Fiat. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The Swiss bank account, the best cheese in the world, and Heidi."
• The British version of Saturday Live featured a parody of the film, with Robbie Coltrane as Harry Lime and Miranda Richardson as Anna. Instead of the music being non-diegetic, Anton Karas is shown playing the zither at dramatic points, at one stage being told to shut up by Anna.
• A self-announced Orson Welles admirer, and being a fan of the number 3, Jack White of the White Stripes adopted the nickname "The Third Man." This is evident in the song "Ball and Biscuit" from the album, Elephant. "It's quite possible that I'm your third man, girl." Also, his record company is called "Third Man Records" and his former upholstery shop was named "Third Man Upholstery."
• The Berlin Noir trilogy of novels by Philip Kerr features numerous references to The Third Man, including one to a "Drittemann" (Third Man) film studio.
• In the final episode of Series Two of Spooks an assassin is seen watching The Third Man before his murder. Later in the same episode, a scene takes place in the service tunnels of a London Underground station that is similar to the final scenes in the Viennese sewer system.
• In cult Japanese book Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, the character of Shinji Mimura takes on the moniker 'the third man'. The Third Man is also the name of a hacking program used in the movie adaptation.
• The PC game Grim Fandango contains a chase scene through a sewer reminiscent of the famous sequence from The Third Man, and the character of the antagonist 'Hector LeMans', voiced by Jim Ward, is a homage to the character of Harry Lime.
• In the Home Alone movies, one of the two thieves is named Harry Lime, though the character is nowhere near as intelligent as the original Lime.
• The anime Jin-Roh is set in an exaggerated alternative history approximation of the co-policing situation and culminates with a copy of the iconic sewer chase sequence.
• The plot of Rob Grant's novel Incompetence is loosely based on that of The Third Man, set in a dystopian future Europe. The main character, an undercover agent inspired by Holly Martins, gives his name variously as Harry Tequila, Harry Salt and Harry Pepper, and the characters Captain Zuccho and Klingferm are loosely based on Major Callaway and Harry Lime respectively.
• Scenes from The Third Man ostensibly playing on television appeared in two movies: Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth and Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas.
• The film and Orson Welles' character Harry Lime are referenced several times in Peter Jackson's 1994 film Heavenly Creatures.
• The famous zither music is used for the bar scene in the 2002 film Triple X.
• Martin Scorsese's 2006 film The Departed contains various visual allusions to the film, most noticeably in a chase sequence between Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio, in which the famous shot of Welles' exaggerated shadow moving across a wall is copied almost exactly.

See also

• A similar film to The Third Man is Reed's Odd Man Out (1947), a suspense film set in night-time Belfast.

External links

• The Third Man at Google Video
• The Third Man at IMDb
• Detailed essay describing the locations within the film
• BFI feature on Graham Greene's true-life models for the characters of Harry Lime and Holly Martins
• Charles Drazen's In Search of the Third Man at Amazon.com
• Rated 100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes
• Review by Roger Ebert
• Making The Third Man