The Third Man
Academy Award × 1·BFI #65
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.
What critics thought
One of cinema's most unanimously celebrated films, though its reputation at release was not without friction — Viennese audiences were indifferent, some critics found the tilted Dutch-angle photography more irritating than artful, and Bosley Crowther, while dazzled by Reed's technique, insisted the film was essentially a well-engineered melodrama and nothing more. Decades of retrospective love have only widened the gap between that initial skepticism and where the film now stands.
“crammed with cinematic plums that would do the early Hitchcock proud—ingenious twists and turns of plot, subtle detail, full-bodied bit characters, atmospheric backgrounds that become an intrinsic part of the story, a deft commingling of the sinister with the ludicrous, the casual with the bizarre.”
Time
“for all the awesome hoopla it has received, is essentially a first-rate contrivance in the way of melodrama—and that's all. ... It doesn't present any 'message.' It hasn't a point of view. It is just a bang-up melodrama, designed to excite and entertain.”
Bosley Crowther·The New York Times
“habit of printing his scenes askew, with floors sloping at a diagonal and close-ups deliriously tilted”
C. A. Lejeune·The Observer
“Of all the movies that I have seen, this one most completely embodies the romance of going to the movies.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“exemplary piece of moviemaking, highlighting the ruins of World War II and juxtaposing it with the characters' own damaged histories”
Gene Siskel·Siskel & Ebert
Genres
Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
Cast & Crew
DirectorCarol Reed
StarringJoseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Orson Welles, Paul Hörbiger
ComposerAnton Karas
The Third Man
Academy Award × 1·BFI #65
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.
What critics thought
One of cinema's most unanimously celebrated films, though its reputation at release was not without friction — Viennese audiences were indifferent, some critics found the tilted Dutch-angle photography more irritating than artful, and Bosley Crowther, while dazzled by Reed's technique, insisted the film was essentially a well-engineered melodrama and nothing more. Decades of retrospective love have only widened the gap between that initial skepticism and where the film now stands.
“crammed with cinematic plums that would do the early Hitchcock proud—ingenious twists and turns of plot, subtle detail, full-bodied bit characters, atmospheric backgrounds that become an intrinsic part of the story, a deft commingling of the sinister with the ludicrous, the casual with the bizarre.”
Time
“for all the awesome hoopla it has received, is essentially a first-rate contrivance in the way of melodrama—and that's all. ... It doesn't present any 'message.' It hasn't a point of view. It is just a bang-up melodrama, designed to excite and entertain.”
Bosley Crowther·The New York Times
“habit of printing his scenes askew, with floors sloping at a diagonal and close-ups deliriously tilted”
C. A. Lejeune·The Observer
“Of all the movies that I have seen, this one most completely embodies the romance of going to the movies.”
Roger Ebert·Chicago Sun-Times
“exemplary piece of moviemaking, highlighting the ruins of World War II and juxtaposing it with the characters' own damaged histories”
Gene Siskel·Siskel & Ebert
Genres
Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery
Cast & Crew
DirectorCarol Reed
StarringJoseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Orson Welles, Paul Hörbiger
ComposerAnton Karas