The Third Man
Set in postwar Vienna, Austria, the film follows Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, who arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to find him dead. He then investigates the mysterious death, and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder.
11 November 1906, Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
14 December 1884, Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
30 December 1906, Putney, London, England, UK
April 7, 1908 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK
2 July 1888, Berlin, Germany
31 May 1921, Pola, Istria, Italy [now Pula, Istria, Croatia]
29 April 1894, Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]
16 April 1907, Stirling, Scotland, UK
12 May 1903, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England, UK
2 September 1899, Kremsier, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Kromeriz, Czech Republic]
15 October 1901, Bedford Park, London, England, UK
May 17, 1888 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
16 September 1890, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]
25 February 1916, Vienna, Austria
21 August 1916, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, UK
December 8, 1921 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
29 October 1899, Brünn, Austria-Hungary [now Brno, Czech Republic]
23 July 1921, Swanage, Dorset, England, UK
August 18, 1924 in Hampstead, London, England, UK
November 22, 1886 in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
15 May 1905, Petersburg, Virginia, USA
6 May 1915, Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA
24 June 1906, Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
18 July 1913, Vienna, Austria-Hungary
July 28, 2015
Welles was a still-ridiculously young 34 when he played Harry, but he was probably born sounding 56...
July 02, 2015
Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene let the story unfold slowly and deliberately, like the cigarette smoke that floats around the characters, and keep us guessing at every step.
June 23, 2015
The Third Man is a movie of sobering pleasures.
July 04, 2015
The bombed buildings, piles of rubble and their evocative shadows form a haunting backdrop to the outdoor scenes, particularly at night. ... Greene's talent for dialogue and suspense shine. [It] has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster.
March 09, 2017
There's an element of show-off quality in The Third Man-it's a stylistic tour de force of bravura lighting, brilliant location shooting, dynamic imagery, and sharp angles throwing the world off kilter-but Reed rises to the challenge of Greene's script.
August 06, 2015
Krasker's camera reveals a dank, matte, defeated city - so dully vivid as to be a character unto itself - except that this Vienna becomes something altogether different seen at night or underground.
July 02, 2015
Like many, I have loved this thriller of conscience and betrayal most of my moviegoing life.
August 01, 2015
By the very nature of its settings and story, there are occasional reminiscences of Lang and Hitchcock, but there is nothing borrowed or imitated. Stylistically, The Third Man is Reed's most impressive film.
July 01, 2015
What really makes the film sing, though, isn't the jaunty and iconic zither score by Anton Karas. It's the film's groundbreaking visual aesthetic, which combines noir tropes with expressionism to create a visual wonderland of living shadows.
June 24, 2015
A lot funnier than you remember it, Carol Reed's immortal 1949 film noir seems to exist in the space between two worlds: an earlier time when thrillers were mostly serious affairs, and a future one, when such supremely witty entertainments felt passé.
July 03, 2015
It's an exciting experience, dazzling and entertaining and thought-provoking.
June 26, 2015
"The Third Man" is important not just because of its technique but because of its theme ...
