The Third Man
Le Troisième homme
Carol Reed
Canadian crime writer Holly Martins is invited by his friend Harry Lime to go to Vienna, which has been divided up by the occupying forces. He has barely arrived when he learns that his friend has died in a mysterious car crash. Martins decides to stay in Vienna to investigate the mystery...
With : Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee, Paul Hörbiger, Ernst Deutsch, Siegfried Breuer, Erich Ponto
Screenplay : Graham Greene
Image : Robert Krasker
Sound : John Cox
Editing : Oswald Hafenrichter
Decors : Vincent Korda, Joseph Bato,John Hawkesworth
Screenplay : Graham Greene
Image : Robert Krasker
Sound : John Cox
Editing : Oswald Hafenrichter
Decors : Vincent Korda, Joseph Bato,John Hawkesworth
Production : London Film Productions, The British Lion Film Corporation
Distribution: Tamasa Distribution
Distribution: Tamasa Distribution
Palme d'or at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival, the film started as a novel by Graham Greene. The subject, rather than being the plot itself, is more an acerbic description of the state of Europe in the aftermath of the war, in a world where no-one is what they seem. Following in the example of Italian neo-realism, Carol Reed shot the film in the ruins of Vienna, the cousin city of Berlin in Germania anno zero (Germany, Year Zero) the previous year. Just like Berlin, Vienna was a jumble of baroque buildings and rubble, split into four occupation zones. In The Third Man, Vienna appears as a character in its own right, a sort of monster corrupting people and yet at the same time preserving its beauty and its architecture.