MUBI brings you a great new film every day.  Start your 7-day free trial today!
Watch a new film every day for $4.99.
Try MUBI for FREE.
 

The Third Man

United Kingdom

1949

104 Min
Black and White
1.37:1
German, Russian, English
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

   |   

DIR Carol Reed

PROD Carol Reed, Alexander Korda, David O. Selznick

SCR Graham Greene

DP Robert Krasker

CAST Orson Welles, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Ernst Deutsch, Joseph Cotten, Erich Ponto, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Siegfried Breuer, Paul Hörbiger, Herbert Halbik, Bernard Lee

ED Oswald Hafenrichter

MUSIC Anton Karas

SOUND John Cox, Jack Drake

Cannes, Stockholm (Tribute), San Francisco (Tribute)

Synopsis

Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime—and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder. Thanks to brilliant performances by Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; Anton Karas’s evocative zither score; Graham Greene’s razor-sharp dialogue; and Robert Krasker’s dramatic use of light and shadow, The Third Man, directed by the inimitable Carol Reed, only grows in stature as the years pass. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Carol Reed

At the end of the 1930s, Carol Reed was regarded as one of the most promising young directors in England; at the end of the 1940s, he was the maker of one of the most popular and critically acclaimed movies of the decade, the most prominent director working in England, and the most lionized British director this side of Alfred Hitchcock, and the world was knocking at his door. During the 1950s, he became the first movie director ever to be awarded a knighthood, and he closed out the 1960s with one of the very few blockbuster musicals of its time to earn a profit or filmmaking honors, in between and around those triumphs lay a life and career worthy of a movie. Carol Reed was born into a family with some of the best artistic/theatrical credentials of any film director who ever lived. His father was Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1853-1917), the leading actor of his day and, among many other credits, the stage’s first Henry Higgins, and his mother was Tree’s mistress, May Pinney Reed. Born… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 99 wall posts.
Picture of Joe Morton

Joe Morton

16May13

All film noirs should be funny! Amazing lighting: the sewer kiosk, lit from behind!! Wet streets, angled shots! Over acting: GREAT! Vienna: Rococo BLASTED! Unless you like STRONG film grain&subtle scratches, skip the Blu-Ray. Comment track: "It (the zither) casts a huge umbrella of eccentricity over the film." (Tony Gilroy) "...the greatest "NON-AUTURE" film." Bogdanovich is mistaken. This is Carol Reed's celluloid.

Picture of Ariel Rowan

Ariel Rowan

27Apr13

lime lime lime lime lime lime

Picture of jcdc31

jcdc31

7Apr13

Sometimes, I think people like to please or are afraid of each other by giving this a 5 star rating. Honestly, I'm with the guy who commented this one is a 3 star movie. Boring experience. The distorted camera angles are ugly as f*ck. The story isn't strong enough. I just don't rate it two stars due to the great cinematography and the year it was made. P.S.: How can a novelist be so dumb? lol

  • Picture of Joe Morton

    Joe Morton

    15May13

    What is the purpose of angled shots? Psychological mal-adjustment? A foreign environment? I say the reason is artistic. And also if you have set up a camera,a level tripod is not always best for even a "normal" shot. It is like over acting though: the audience has to be introduced to the angled shots, and put at ease.

  • Picture of jcdc31

    jcdc31

    15May13

    If the reason is artistic and not due to the story (ex: something feels wrong), you are agreeing with me. Seriously I don't remember the context where the angled shots were taken, but I do remember it felt (to me) disconnected to the story and without any purpose at all. Though, it's only opinions; opinions which I respect, but as I said before, I don't always understand them.

Picture of ElTigreNegro

ElTigreNegro

5Mar13

You take away Welles from this and the movie falls apart, even with him, the protagonist is a dull character, the "mystery" regarding the third man is something even your kids could figure out. It has great direction for sure, but the script is just not strong enough to make this the classic it could have been.

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 4856 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

The Forgotten: Europe After the Rain

By David Cairns on August 25, 2011

A naive young girl falls into the schemes of her sister-in-law’s previous husband, long thought dead, in post-war Berlin.

read article
W184

"Avatar," "Nine," "Young Victoria" and Holiday Revivals

By David Hudson on December 18, 2009

"With Avatar James Cameron has turned one man's dream of the movies into a trippy joy ride about the end of life - our moviegoing life included

read article

Lists

Displaying 5 of 764 lists.

Reviews

Displaying 4 of 8

Viennese Lime light

By Musycks on June 4, 2012

Carol Reed followed the remarkable ‘The Fallen idol’ by Graeme Greene in 1948 by collaborating with the writer again on this drama set in post-war Vienna, a city divided up by the 4 occupying powers…  read review

A near perfect film noir.

By LifeofF​iction on December 9, 2011

A bit overrated by everyone and their mother, this film is a masterpiece, in ALMOST every sense of the word. Yes, I had a problem with the film, although it’s not a major one. The sound. There were…  read review

Untitled

By Nicole Cliffor​d on November 25, 2009

Beautifully sinister noir about a mystery, possible murder, and of course, an elusive third man who no one seems to be able to identify. This film won the Oscar for cinematography and it’s easy to…  read review

Untitled

By Primote​nore on September 26, 2009

Post-WWII Vienna is the perfect setting for Carol Reed’s gorgeously filmed The Third Man. I have now watched it twice and I can’t get over the cinematography, especially during one-on-one dialogues…  read review

Forum

Displaying 4 discussion topics.

Existentialism in The Third Man? Anyone?

30 posts by 9 people 6 days ago

A any great older films to see on a first date?

38 posts by 23 people over 2 years ago

As it must to all DVD, Double Dip came to Criterion...

15 posts by 12 people almost 3 years ago

Out of Print

15 posts by 12 people almost 3 years ago

DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.