The Third Man (1949)

The Third Man (1949) is a lean, atmospheric film-noir thriller set in a ruined, divided Vienna just after World War II. Pulp novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives expecting a job from his old school friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only to learn that Lime has supposedly died in a street accident. Martins’s curiosity draws him into a tense investigation that peels back layers of lies, black‑market profiteering and moral compromise: with Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) slowly revealing the shocking truth about Lime’s involvement in adulterating medical supplies, and Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), Lime’s grieving lover, caught between loyalty and heartbreak. Seeing the movie is as much about mood as plot. You’ll be pulled through rain‑slicked, shadow-strewn streets and bombed-out boulevards, guided by Robert Krasker’s expressionistic cinematography and Anton Karas’s unforgettable zither score. The film builds a steady, aching suspense—quiet interrogations, strange inconsistencies in eyewitness accounts, a haunting Ferris‑wheel confrontation—and culminates in a desperate chase through Vienna’s sewers and a morally ambiguous, devastating resolution. Viewers can expect tight performances (Welles’s charismatic, menacing presence looms large despite limited screen time), a morally complex mystery rather than neat answers, and moments that have become cinema landmarks: the zither theme, the Ferris wheel monologue, and the brooding depiction of a city and people trying to survive amid ruin. The Third Man is as much an elegy for postwar Europe and friendship gone wrong as it is a gripping detective story—haunting, stylish, and emotionally unsettling long after the credits roll.

Actors: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli

Director: Carol Reed

Runtime: 104 min

Genres: Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller

8.2 /10 97 /100 8.1 /10 8.7 /10