The Third Man

Story

Vienna, after WWII, was the center of the black market and was divided into four zones: the American, British, French, and Russian, with the city’s center run by all four parties. Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton), from America, arrives to visit a friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Holly is broke, and Harry offered him a job. Upon arriving in Vienna, Holly discovers that Harry Lime was recently hit and killed by a car, and Harry journeys to the funeral for his friend. The attendees look suspiciously toward Holly, but he soon exits, offered a lift to town.

The man offering the drive is Major Calloway (Trevor Howard), who begins questioning Holly about Harry Lime. Holly calls Lime his best friend. Holly confesses to writing dime novels, but Calloway never heard of any of them. Calloway calls Lime the worst racketeer that ever made a dirty living in this city. Calloway orders a man to drive Holly home to a hotel, and the driver knows several of his novels. The hotel manager, Crabbin (Wilfred Hyde-White), wants Holly to speak at his weekly lecture on the contemporary novel this week. The manager says he could stay at the hotel for free if he speaks at the lecture, and Holly agrees.

Before leaving, a friend of Lime’s wants to meet Holly in the hotel’s café around the corner. Baron Kurtz is holding one of Holly’s books to identify himself. He shows Holly just how Harry was hit and killed by a truck. This prompts Holly to interview a small group who attended Harry’s funeral.

He first seeks out the actress who attended the funeral, meeting her backstage at a theater. Holly inquires if she was in love with Harry, but she blurts that she wants to be dead also. Anna wonders aloud if it was really an accident that killed Harry. At the inquest, it was said by some that he died immediately, while others said he was alive and talking to others.

Holly next visits Dr. Winkel (Erich Ponto) and asks for details about his death. The doctor understands that Lime was conscious for a short time, but was dead when the doctor arrived. He says he cannot give an opinion before he arrived and can only comment on his death. He asks Winkel if Lime’s death might not be accidental.

Major Calloway interviews Anna Schmidt because she was “intimate” with Harry Lime, and he asks whether she knew a man named Joe Harbin who works at a military hospital. And she denies knowing him. Calloway accuses Anna of lying, but she claims the major has things mixed up. He releases her until he needs her.

Holly and Anna go to the Casanova Bar, where Crabbin reminds him of the lecture he will deliver. Karl (Paul Hoebiger) approaches Holly about the investigation and tells him that Lime’s friend, who carried his body away, is here at the bar. Holly questions him and says the situation is funny. Holly says that, supposedly, a third unknown man helped the others carry the body. The man claims there were only two men present. But Holly claims Harry’s window cleaner saw three men. “Somebody’s lying,” Holly declares. And Holly mentions that Lime was involved in some kind of racket, but the other man denies it.

Holly visits Anna, who is studying a script for her next play. Anna is interested in hearing details about Harry's early life. Soon they go out for drinks and find some disturbance at Harry’s place. It seems the Porter of the apartment building was murdered. Leaving Anna behind, Holly asks for a car to see Major Caloway, but he is driven by a very aggressive driver to the gallery, where he is giving a lecture on the contemporary novel, and everyone applauds. Holly stands and reluctantly begins to deliver a makeshift speech. Holly struggles to address questions as the formerly enthusiastic audience begins to sneak out. One of Lime’s friends asks about his next novel, The Third Man, a murder story. Popescu is introduced as a gifted reporter. As the last people rush out, the meeting is officially declared closed. Holly sneaks out as Popescu has two men follow him. In a noirish, Expressionistic sequence, Holly manages to evade the men.

Major Calloway is upset that Holly has not returned to America and that he is hobnobbing with criminals and racketeers. Calloway tells Holly that in Vienna, there hasn’t been enough penicillium to go around. So a rash of robberies has occurred at military hospitals where the drug was stolen and watered down, and sold to patients. And then patients started dying, and this was the racket Harry Lime organized. Holly is ready to fly home, and Calloway will arrange a flight for him. Holly again visits Anna, this time with flowers to say goodbye. Both have been informed about Lime’s crimes and are disappointed in him. They thought that they knew him. Holly no longer cares who murdered Harry, for in that murder, some form of justice was served.

And at the 106-minute mark (of the 144-minute movie), Harry Lime is finally revealed. Holly is walking the darkened streets and sees the slight shadow of a man standing in a doorway, a cat at his feet. Holly stops to shout at the hidden figure, thinking he is being tailed. He orders the man to step out into the light. And when a woman in her apartment turns on her light, Harry Lime is revealed. Holly is shocked. Harry says nothing, but smiles broadly at Holly. Hearing loud running footsteps, Lime disappears from the darkened doorway. Holly runs toward the footsteps, but Harry is nowhere to be found.

Holly brings back Calloway and his aide, and they find a secret entrance to a structure in the courtyard. They descend the cavernous steps into the sewers. Returning, Calloway orders Lime’s grave to be exhumed immediately to find the body of Joseph Harbin buried in Lime’s grave.

The Russians seek out Anna Schmidt and request her presence at the International Police headquarters for possessing forged papers. Holly sees the Russians bringing in Anna, and he tries to intervene. Calloway sees Anna approach and tells the Russians to bring her to his office. Calloway only wants to find out what she knows about Lime, not her forged papers, which is a problem for the Russians. Calloway feels that Lime is hiding in the Russian Sector, and he asks her again where Lime is. He offers to help her if she helps him, but all she says is she wishes Lime were dead and safe from everyone.

Holly ventures to a small carnival with a carousel and a Ferris wheel, and from a distance, Harry Lime approaches and greets Holly warmly. They both grab a compartment on the Ferris wheel. Holly tells Lime the Russians have grabbed his girl Anna, but he does not seem concerned. Lime asks if he informed the police, and Holly answers yes, which stresses Lime a little. Harry says he is safe with the Russians as long as they can use him, so Holly figures he turned Anna in to them. Lime says Holly is the only man with proof against him, and Holly suspects it would be easy to kill him. He tells Lime his grave was dug up, and this distresses him even more. Leaving, Lime says he wants to cut Holly in on the profits, as they always did everything together, but Lime warns not to bring the police.

Holly returns to Calloway, and Holly realizes Lime deserves to die for his crimes. Calloway wants him to arrange a meet-up in the International Zone, so Calloway forces can snare him. “Twenty years is a long time, so don’t ask me to tie the rope,” Holly protests. Calloway says, "Okay, forget it." But Holly asks what price he would pay, and Calloway says, "Name it."

Anna is suspicious when Major Calloway returns her passport and allows her to leave by train. Spotting Holly enter a shop from the train, she exits to find him. She is leery that Holly knows where she is headed, and he denies working with Calloway. Anna suspects Holly revealed too many details about her. Anna refuses to reenter the train, and Harry admits Calloway is using him to capture Lime. The train pulls away from the station without Anna.

Holly rushes to Calloway’s office with Anna’s torn-up passport, wants a plane out of the country tonight, and says none of this is his business. Calloway drives Holly to the airport, but stops at the largest children’s hospital in Vienna, showing him some victims of the insufficient penicillin epidemic. In the Jeep afterward, Holly glumly states to Calloway that he’ll play his decoy.

As Calloway and his men wait, a gigantic silhouette of a man carrying balloons, bearded with a cane, approaches, and as Holly waits in a small tavern, Anna abruptly enters. Harry Lime approaches above among the ruins. As Lime enters the tavern, Anna says to Holly, “You must be very proud to be an informer!” Harry pulls a pistol and apparently aims to shoot Holly, but a government man enters, so Lime flees. Whistles blow, and many officers appear. In a long, protracted sequence, elements of film noir shadows and Expressionistic camera angles and sets record the underground chase through the sewers. Harry and the officers follow. The Russians join in the search. Water swirling through underground tunnels, harsh lights, and shadows accent the chase for Harry. More and more men enter the sewers, chasing Harry. Each turn and each ladder climbed brings Harry closer to more pursuers.

Eventually, Holly catches up to Harry, telling him he’s through, that he might as well surrender. Harry fires his weapon and kills one of his pursuers. Harry is eventually shot and crawls up the stairs toward a sewer grid on the street. Reaching the metal grill, his fingers twist around the metal. His fingers reach for the sky. As he slumps downward, very weak, Holly pursues him. Lime, looking defeated, shakes his head for Harry to shoot, and a bullet explodes. Holly emerges from white smoke.

Anna and Holly are next attending Lime’s actual funeral and gravesite. Anna once again walks away alone while Calloway offers Holly a ride. Holly asks Calloway to do something for Anna. He says he will try. Holly exits Calloway’s Jeep to confront Anna. Holly walks down the road with his luggage as Calloway drives off. Holly pauses, waiting for Anna to catch up, but she passes him by. Holly lights a cigarette very much alone as credits appear.

Critique

This American/British co-production is considered one of the icons of film noir, based on a Graham Greene novel, adapted by director Carol Reed and co-writer Alexander Korda. Most of the movie is spent on the character of Harry Lime, uncovering the secrets of his death and the mystery behind it, then revealing that he is not dead at all. When Harry Lime finally appears, there are roughly 40 minutes remaining for Orson Welles’ performance. The movie mostly discusses Harry Lime rather than showing him.

The movie, directed by master British director Carol Reed, revels in film noir shadows and contrasting blacks and whites. The way cameraman Robert Krasker films the movie features odd angles and Expressionistic art direction, which to me is the movie’s strength, its visual impact.

The movie’s complicated plot focuses too heavily on Holly’s romantic tryst with Anna Schmidt, which ultimately goes nowhere and disintegrates at the film’s end. Why the focus on a relationship that doesn’t last?

The movie’s essential question: Who is Harry Lime, and is he still the same “best friend” Holly knew in the past? The conflicting morality of Holly and his wavering feelings about his friend Harry Lime are at the core of this noir espionage thriller. Holly is closer in character to Lime than he realizes, a man who asks not to be asked to put the noose around Lime’s throat but then turns and offers himself as a decoy to capture Lime, ultimately putting that noose around Lime’s neck. And he does it for Calloway’s money, not for the welfare of the damaged children. Throughout the film, Holly commits minor indiscretions that show he possesses a damaged moral compass. Such as accepting a free hotel room in exchange for lecturing on the contemporary novel, which he is ultimately unprepared for, and almost clears out the hall as fast as a fire. Holly, who is presented as the movie’s hero, is deeply flawed.

Harry Lime is almost presented as a rogue, a devilish entrepreneur in a criminal country. But when it is revealed that he is stealing penicillin, watering it down, killing and harming children, he is revealed to be an evil profiteer. Harry and Holly, two similar names, are both criminally minded, only one far worse than the other. Remember, Holly is initially revealed as a man who needs money and a job, and the job is offered by master thief Harry Lime. The present career of Holly, being a dime novelist, seems at first insignificant and rather silly. Not that writing pulp fiction is worthless, but it rather makes him seem like a man who could do far more with his life, since he does not take pride in his writing but seems embarrassed by it.

The climax in the Vienna sewers is fast-paced and gripping, featuring superb shadows, stark lighting, and Expressionistic sets and architecture. But Holly’s utter lack of a strong moral compass, recently selling out for money (since no job offering is coming to the soon-to-be-deceased Lime), wields the bullet that ends Lime’s life, his so-called best friend. He even attends his first and second funerals, the second after killing him, and is rejected by Anna Schmidt, whose morals are more solid than Holly’s. She leaves him standing on the side of the road, smoking a cigarette.

The zither score by Anton Karas is unique, offering a decidedly European flavor to the setting of seeing a stranger (Holly) in a strange land. The catchy instrumentation seems a natural for the film, and it succeeds quite well in its mission, especially in its theme. While some people do not enjoy the zither score, it is immediately identifiable and remains one of the most unique musical scores ever recorded.

The film illustrates how Orson Welles dominates it even when he is not on screen for most of the movie. Appearing in only a small portion of the film, his presence is felt throughout. Sometimes Welle’s Harry Lime comes off as a little too glib. His essential lines of dialogue include: “Don't be so gloomy. After all, it's not that awful. As the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love—they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.” This dialogue reveals a very cynical view of the world and shows the contempt for people that Lime shows.

Another interesting dialogue sequence by Harry Lime: “You know, I never feel comfortable on these sorts of things. Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax—the only way you can save money nowadays.” Money or people, Lime unfortunately chooses money over people.

Although this motion picture is always highly praised for its multi-layered acting, cinematography, and Expressionism, I always felt the film felt a little flat. No, it’s still impressive, but there’s no one to fully like in the film, everyone is tainted and a little flawed. It’s never been one of my favorite film noirs. But I respect what it does well, it doevery well indeed. I just wish there was somebody to like within. When it comes to films that dare to be different, this is flawed but still a standout.

HOLLY MARTINS (JOSEPH COTTEN) AND HARRY LIME (ORSON WELLES)

HARRY LIME RUNNING THE VIENNA SEWERS AT THE CLIMAX, DISPLAYING INNOVATIVE NOIR PHOTOGRAPHY.

garysvehla509@gmail.com

DO YOU LIKE DARK CINEMA LIKE WE DO?

Submit an article or a critique of an article; Tell us how to improve the website!