The Third Man (1949)

Director Carol Reed

"I never knew Vienna before the war..." Timeless and peerless, The Third Man remains one of the great romantic thrillers of all time. In terms of its creation, The Third Man, is a little like Casablanca , insofar as a series of happy accidents combined to create a classic. The screen writer, Graham Greene, short on story ideas, wandering around a war torn Vienna is told about the city's extensive sewer system... he happens to hear a snatch of zither music... later, hearing stories of the old days (during and just after the war), he begins to toy with the idea of an enigmatic and charismatic black market operator. Orson Welles, the actor hired to play Lime, suggests several script rewrites... But this movie is much more than the scenes so often touted as great moments in cinema history. Although our first sight of Harry Lime in the half-shadows of the broad doorway, and his dismissive talk of democracy and brotherly love in Switzerland ("What did it produce?The cuckoo clock.") still rate as high points, the film always repays another viewing in order to enjoy other touches of greatness. The triangular relationship between Anna, Holly and Harry is as compelling as it is unusual, and Trevor Howard as Calloway ("I'm English, not Irish.") gives one of the best performances of his career. The music wonderfully underpins the strange madness and concept of fragile beauty which pervade the movie and Carol Reed's direction perfectly conveys the sense of a city and society utterly askew. Another successful 1999 rerelease, illustrating that for the Carol Reed/Graham Greene masterpiece, it's far from 'Goodnight, Vienna.'