Buy the DVD:

The Third Man

This dark tale of corruption and criminality, written by Graham Greene, is set in the Post war Vienna, a city divided in four zones, each one controlled by a different occupied power, blasted by bombings and ruled by the black market.

The story begins when Holly Martins, a young, naive and bankrupted American writer arrives in Vienna, where an old friend of his, Harry Lime, had promised him a job.

As soon as he gets in his chum’s house, he surprisingly finds that Lime is recently deceased and being buried at that same moment. Without money or acquaintances, Martins soon falls in the hands of people with dubious character.

Suspicious about the conditions of his friend's death, Martins ignores the advice of a British officer who tries to persuade him to leave the city, guaranteeing that Lime was an evil man, and decides to unveil the mystery, finding a third suspicious man, who was with Lime when he was dying.

The director, Carol Reed, stood up against David O. Selznick to shoot the entire movie on location, opposing Salznick’s wish to shoot in studios. The result is remarkable, huge bomb craters among piles of debris, showing in first hand the aftermath of the second World War.

An outstanding photography, shot in expressionist style, creates a bitter and suffocating noir atmosphere, earning a deserved Academy Award for “Best Black and White Photography.” Almost the entire movie is shot using tilted framing, an obvious reference to the imbalance of life seen on screen.

Orson Welles is always a show by himself. He only steps into the movie about two thirds through, but what an entry. He manages to steal all the scenes in which he shows his crooked personality, the exact opposite of his naive and honest friend. In a corrupt environment, in which all characters are criminals, Welles is the worst.

Welles also makes one unforgettable speech when he tries to justify his actions to Martins. Written by Welles himself, it goes, “You know what the fellow said: 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.” A disgusting truth coming from a disgusting character and for this reason, strangely attractive.

Written by: Edward Olivier

Reviewers Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0

Rate It