Director: Carol Reed
Screenplay: Graham Greene
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Paul Hörbiger, Ernst Deutsch, Erich Ponto, Siegfried Breuer, Hedwig Bleibtreu, Bernard Lee, Wilfrid Hyde-White
Country: Great Britain
Running time: 104 min
Year: 1949
BBFC Certificate: PG
As the 1940s came to a close, Orson Welles left Hollywood to work on a number of projects in Europe. The actor, director and radio personality had already directed several films that would be considered masterpieces or flawed classics; his amazing debut Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), and his adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth (1948). His distinctive voice had also terrified a nation with his radio production of H.G. Wells’ sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds in 1938.
After arriving in Europe, though, Welles would make perhaps his most iconic screen appearance in a movie he didn’t direct, starring as racketeer Harry Lime in the British film noir masterpiece The Third Man. Directed by Carol Reed from a screenplay by acclaimed author Graham Greene, who wrote a novella for the treatment of the screenplay, The Third Man follows American pulp novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), who arrives, broke, in the Austrian city of Vienna to work with his friend Harry Lime.
When he arrives, Martins is told Lime is dead, and starts an investigation to try to piece together what happened to his friend. During the course of his search for answers, Martins falls hard for Lime’s girlfriend Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), and discovers his friend was not a savoury character, but was in fact in charge of an illegal and dangerous racketeering operation.
Martins builds up a rapport with British military personnel Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and Sergeant Paine (Bernard Lee), who have been trying to bring down the racketeering operation. Helping, or hindering, his investigation are a wonderful cast of character actors brought to vivid life by the likes of Paul Hörbiger, Ernst Deutsch, Erich Ponto, Siegfried Breuer, and Wilfrid Hyde-White amongst others.
Opening with the hummable zither score by Anton Karas, the opening credits playing over the instrument, we’re immediately thrust into post-war Vienna, a brief narration by director Carol Reed (Joseph Cotten in the pre-1999 US release) sets the scene and location – the city at the time, we’re told, had a major black market trade and is divided into zones, each managed by a different country, aside from the shared centre.
What’s immediately striking is the look and sound of the film. That zither score is iconic and memorable and gives a very European feel to proceedings. The film was made on location in Vienna and that helps no end; it’s a beautiful city with striking exteriors, and feels lived in, because of such rich use of the real location. The production design by Vincent Korda for the interiors and some external sets, like the Ferris wheel and cemetery, complements the real locations well and is excellent.
The cinematography by Robert Krasker is also fabulous; all Dutch angles, perfectly framed shots, closeups and slow zooms. Much of the lighting and angles would feel perfectly at home in the classic silent era expressionist films of Germany. Each shot is interesting and enriches the world and characters right down to its famous final shot, which I shan’t spoil. It’s a beautiful film and visually sumptuous thanks to the cinematography, real locations and production design.
One spoiler I will provide, is the appearance of Welles as Harry Lime. Even if you haven’t seen the film, the poster, publicity materials and opening credits give away the fact that Welles is in the movie, so, it’s hopefully not much of a spoiler. The film is about the mystery of Lime, who he was and the audience trying to figure out when, why and how he will appear.
Welles only appears in the 104 minute film for 10 minutes, roughly a tenth of the movie, but what a 10 minutes it is. His first appearance at around an hour into the film is iconic. It builds the anticipation masterfully. A cat, who we’ve learnt only really liked Lime, stops at the feet of a man in a doorway and meows affectionately. We don’t see the man’s face. Martins hears the cat meow and looks to the doorway, seeing the feet of the man, and gesturing to the unseen individual, thinking he’s being spied on. A woman hears the commotion and turns on a light which reveals the face of Harry Lime, still alive and almost immediately cracking a smile to his friend across the street. Martin tries to get to Lime but a car stops him in his tracks. He then proceeds to chase Lime’s shadow through the streets, footsteps filling the soundtrack. Martins fails to catch him, Lime apparently vanishing into thin air. It’s one of the all-time great introductions of a character.
The character’s second appearance is equally as iconic, the famous ‘cuckoo clock’ speech from Welles’ Lime to Cotten’s Martins on the Riesenrad, a Giant Ferris Wheel, which director John Glen also featured in the fantastic 1987 Timothy Dalton James Bond film The Living Daylights as an homage to The Third Man. Welles wrote the speech, the only part of the script he wrote; the rest being crafted by Graham Greene. And then there’s another chase, the finale where Lime tries to evade capture through the sewers. It’s a brilliantly edited scene that ratchets up the tension. These scenes alone are amongst the most memorable in cinema history.
And with these scenes Welles steals the movie, yet his presence is felt beyond those moments as his character casts a mysterious shadow across the whole film; he’s talked about in many scenes as we piece together his life, learning he is notoriously running a penicillin racket, stealing it, diluting it, selling it on the black market and injuring or killing many people. We also learn that Lime is the love of Valli’s character Schmidt’s life. She spends most of the film with a mournful and sorrowful look, missing him. Whilst Wells steals the movie, Cotton, Valli, Howard and Lee in particular, ably supported by many others, carry it for much of its runtime. All perform their parts and leave us with a really memorable cast of characters, who I’d gladly spend much more time with.
Special mention too for the editing by Oswald Hafenrichter which is fantastic and really helps to add tension, or to allow scenes to slowly play out; characters walking slowly to the camera as we wait to see what they will do and if they’ll talk to other characters at the forefront of the frame.
The Third Man is a simply marvellous film, a masterpiece which has topped polls as the best British film ever made and rightly so, it’s an astonishing piece of cinema full of wonderful performances and where each of member of the cast and crew are at the top of their game with every single element of the production coming together perfectly.
Film: 
The Third Man Collector’s Edition is released on dual-format 4K and Region A, B and C Blu-ray on 4 November 2024 by StudioCanal as part of their Vintage Classics Range. The release contains pop-up rigid box packaging which plays The Third Man theme on opening, a 64-page booklet with brand-new essays, a fully annotated shooting script, four artcards, and a poster of Nico Delort’s gorgeous new artwork. The picture is astonishingly good, the gorgeous black and white cinematography likely never looking better. Detail is rich, tears glistening on a cheek, the fur of a cat, striking details of faces and the locations of Vienna. It’s the best it’s looked on home video and a real treat. The audio is also great, which is particularly important for a film in which the use of sound is so important. Sound effects are clear – those footsteps through the otherwise silent streets sound great, and audio is also crystal clear.
Special features:
Noreen Ackland on Saving The Third Man (Excerpt from BEHP audio interview)
The Third Man – A Filmmaker’s Influence
Restoring The Third Man
Audio Commentary with Guy Hamilton, Simon Callow & Angela Allen
Joseph Cotten’s Alternate Opening Voiceover Narration
The Third Man Interactive Vienna Tour
The Third Man On The Radio
Interview and Zither Performance By Cornelia Mayer
Shadowing The Third Man
Guardian NFT Interview – Joseph Cotten (Audio Only)
Guardian NFT Interview – Graham Greene (Audio Only)
Behind The Scenes Stills Gallery
Trailer
I can recall at least two previous StudioCanal UK Blu-ray editions of the film and this new release, as well as being on a UHD disc and adding some gorgeous physical content, is mostly made up of archival extras from the previous UK releases. New is the Noreen Ackland archival interview, but lost from the 2015 edition is a near hour long PBS documentary on screenwriter and author Graham Greene, so completists will want to keep that edition.
Noreen Ackland on Saving The Third Man is a six minute excerpt from a BEHP (British Entertainment History Project) audio interview with Ackland, who was a film cutter on the movie. She recalls a fire which led to the loss of some film reels, and recalls Carol Reed and Anton Karas in a neat but brief interview.
The archival commentary features Guy Hamilton, who was an assistant director on the film; Angela Allen, who was on the second unit in the sewers, and a continuity assistant; and Simon Callow, who has written biographies on Orson Welles. The trio play off each other well and Callow does a fine job keeping the conversation focused and moving forward. As well as their recollections of filming the movie, Hamilton and Allen share memories of the Austrian actors, stars like Welles, Cotton, Valli and Howard, and what it was like to work with Carol Reed. They point out interesting background elements, give their thoughts on some of the scenes and provide fine company. A very solid commentary.
The Third Man: A Filmmaker’s Influence runs for 17 minutes and sees directors Martin Scorsese, John Sayles, Ben Wheatley, and Franc Roddam plus screenwriter Hossein Amini share how influential the movie was on their careers, what they appreciate most about it and why they feel it’s such a classic. Scorsese, as expected, provides the most value, sharing why he often returns to the movie, but all, particularly Amini, add their own valuable insights too.
Restoring The Third Man is a 20-minute feature which also appeared on the 2015 edition and looks at the restoration of the movie. There’s some fascinating technical background showcasing how to do a top tier film restoration. There’s also some wonderful footage looking at some of the negatives of the movie and of the restoration in action, showing what a phenomenal job was done to clean-up the print.
Joseph Cotton’s alternative opening narration, replacing that of Carol Reed, is a welcome addition. It was used pre-1999 for the US release of the movie. Reed’s narration was used pre-1999 for the UK release and in all post-1999 releases.
The Third Man interactive Vienna tour includes 14 locations and features Vienna expert Dr Brigitte Timmermann providing an overview of the locations used in the film. I’m a huge fan of features which look at film locations and this is one of the best as we not only see how the places look in a more contemporary setting, but hear some wonderful facts about the locations as well as insights into the film. Each segment runs for around two to five minutes, focusing on one location at a time and providing around an hour in total. One of the videos also takes a look at The Third Man Museum in Vienna.
The Third Man on the Radio: The Lives of Harry Lime features the A Ticket to Tangiers episode of the 1951-1952 radio production. The Lives of Harry Lime was the US title of the radio series, which was broadcast as The Adventures of Harry Lime in the UK, although the BBC only acquired 16 of the 50-plus episodes. Orson Welles reprised his role as the title character and, as is to be expected given Welles is in it, it’s an excellent production.
The interview and performance of a zither by Cornelia Mayer is a welcome addition. It’s nice to hear about the instrument, how it’s performed.
Shadowing The Third Man is a phenomenal 93-minute documentary, narrated by the late great actor John Hurt, which covers so much ground. It features archival interview footage with Welles amongst other members of the cast and crew, alongside other contemporary interviews and tells the full story of the film, its setting, its origins, its cast and crew, its making-of and its legacy. It’s a top class documentary which provides a lot of information about the movie.
The two Guardian/ NFT interviews are from the 1980s and are great. Cotten’s interview in particular is a wonderful inclusion, as he was suffering with ill health including laryngitis at the time, which affected his voice, so it’s an honour that he did the interview despite this. He was on great form sharing some excellent recollections of the film and the making of it. Cotton’s interview runs for around 47 minutes and is from 1987. Greene’s interview, from 1984 is an eight minute excerpt, with the author and screenwriter answering questions from the audience. Despite its brief runtime, there’s some interesting information to glean.
The photo gallery contains just over 30 fabulous black and white behind the scenes images.
Also included is a 40 second anniversary re-release trailer.
StudioCanal have released a near definitive edition of the British masterpiece The Third Man. The film itself is perfect and one of the finest movies ever made, filled with wonderful performances, evocative and atmospheric locations and sets, a memorable score and some of the all-time great scenes of the cinema. StudioCanal’s release gives us an excellent presentation of the film on a UHD disc and packs most of the extras from the previous UK releases, including hours of insightful background and analysis of the movie. A standout release of 2024 and highly recommended.
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