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The Third Man

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7.9/10 • 2K

1949-08-311h 45m

ThrillerMystery

Hunted by men ... Sought by WOMEN!

In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.

Directors
Carol Reed
Editors
Oswald Hafenrichter

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Joseph Cotten

    Joseph Cotten

    Holly Martins

  2. Alida Valli

    Alida Valli

    Anna Schmidt

  3. Trevor Howard

    Trevor Howard

    Major Calloway

  4. Orson Welles

    Orson Welles

    Harry Lime

  5. Paul Hörbiger

    Paul Hörbiger

    Karl the Porter

  6. Ernst Deutsch

    Ernst Deutsch

    'Baron' Kurtz

  7. Erich Ponto

    Erich Ponto

    Dr. Winkel

  8. Siegfried Breuer

    Siegfried Breuer

    Popescu

  9. Hedwig Bleibtreu

    Hedwig Bleibtreu

    Anna's Landlady

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CharlesTheBold Avatar

CharlesTheBold

Feb 18, 2017

Holly Martens (Joseph Cotten) receives a job offer from his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) in postwar occupied Vienna. He arrives there only to find that Lime is dead and every witness has a different story. Being a pulp writer, Holly thinks he can solve the mystery. But this is a Graham Greene story, and the mystery is not just a whodunit but an exploration of evil. Tangling with a nihilistic band of black marketers exploiting the corruption and ruin of a great city after the war, Holly is told that he is in way over his head. The movie has many unusual touches. Expressionist camerawork increases the feeling of dread. The traditional orchestral accompaniment is eliminated, replaced by a single folk musician playing an eerie tune on a zither. Several scenes of the movie are in un-subtitled Austrian-German, leaving the audience feeling as bewildered as Holly as he tries to communicate with the locals. Holly's amateur sleuthing is frequently comic, in a story that is deadly serious. One of the masterpieces of noir cinema.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
$1,226,098.00
Keywords
staged deathblack marketcemeteryinvestigationsoviet militarypraterbritish armyaustriacover-upfilm noirblack and whitefoot chasevienna, austriasewermissing personpost world war iiferris wheelgrimpenicillinforged passportominous