Review of The Third Man (1949) by Danny R — 02 Feb 2012

Director Carol Reed's absorbing classic is one of most literate thrillers ever filmed. It takes place in postwar Vienna where an American writer Holly Martins, played by Joseph Cotten in a superlative performance arrives having been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime, who is a black-market opportunist, utterly immoral, totally without a conscience, trafficking stolen diluted penicillin which has killed and left children brain dead, he is played brilliantly by Orson Welles in one of the most memorable performances in screen history, even though he has a short role and does not have much screen time; his presence is felt throughout the entire film.

Upon his arrival Holly discovers that Harry has been killed in a traffic accident. He just makes it to the funeral where he meets Major Calloway, played excellently by Trevor Howard who tells Holly that Harry was a thief and a murderer; at first Holly is outraged and does not believe it, and decides to investigate, then he gradually discovers that its all true and that Major Calloway was right.

Harry has staged his own death and is very much alive. The final climatic confrontation between Holly and Harry in the sewers of Vienna is one for the ages, Masterfully direction by Carol Reed with majestic Oscar winning cinematography by Robert Krasker, and a striking zither score by Anton Karas.

Wells has one of the great movies lines in cinema history as his character Harry excuses his terrible deeds with words: "After all, it's not that awful. you know what the fellow said: In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, they produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance.

In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produced? The cuckoo clock!" A truly stunning classic. Highly Recommended.