Garnering a new 4K restoration on the occasion of its 75th anniversary release, Carol Reed's film The Third Man is based upon the story by Graham Greene is highly regarded as one of the Greatest British films of all time
Based in post-war Vienna, it tells the story of pulp author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) who arrives in the war torn Austrian capital to visit his old friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles) at his suggestion. Upon arrival, Martins learns that Harry is dead and he starts investigating the murder in unison with British officer, Calloway (excellent Trevor Howard). All while flirting with Harry's old flame Anna (Valli).
As he digs deeper into Lime's old associates, his faith is destroyed upon finding Lime had been dealing with watered down penicillin. On the brink of despair, Lime reveals one more twist for Holly.
Shot with economy and showing us that life in Vienna is a bit off-kilter, this remains an entry in British and world cinema history that is endlessly rewatchable. Employing the two Mercury Theatre alumni of Welles and Cotton as friends is a masterstroke, yet the casting of all the correct people from their respective nations gives an irrefutable air of authenticity.
The writing is so crisp with that English flippancy such as when Holly says how he got a cut on his finger, ‘A parrot bit me' and Calloway's response is ‘Oh do pull yourself together' is seemingly so off the cuff yet it does not feel out of place – this is how people would and do talk. Even the moment before Lime's reveal, when Anna says her cat only liked Harry and then we see the cat in a doorway licking some man's shoes. The telegraphing is so wickedly handled and effectively done, that it benefits from frequent re-watches and allows the audience to savour each moment.
Shot for the majority on location in Vienna this lived in quality gives more realism to a story that while fiction, Greene admits was from actual stories of the black market in Vienna.
Reed and cinematographer Robert Krasker employed Dutch angles – themselves indebted to the German Expressionism cinema of the late 1920s – comes to the fore when Harry is revealed in one of cinema's great character entrances, a light from a bedroom is turned on and Orson Welles' handsome face appears on the screen. Welles does not utter a word, he merely smirks and rolls his tongue in his mouth knowing the jig is up with his friend but that does not stop him going on the run. These angles give the audience like Holly a sense of disbelief at the circumstances he finds himself in.
The thrilling climax in the sewers of Vienna as Lime makes for one last run at freedom and escaping Calloway's long arm of the law; the image of Lime's fingertips reaching for freedom from underground is another marvellous image in a film full of them.
The final sequence of Anna walking past Holly is one of cinema's great endings when no words are spoken and she walks past his hoped for reconciliation. The ending has been mimicked by among others Altman in The Long Goodbye (1973) and Scorsese in The Departed (2006).
Every so often in film, there are films when by happy accident you make gold dust or you have creative collaborators all colliding at the right place and right time. Reed was coming off of Odd Man Out (1947) and The Fallen Idol (1948) and this was his third hit in a row. Welles is as always an amazing performer in his small screen time, Cotton enjoying his purple patch of the 1940s, Greene was Britain's most famous author and then you add the supporting cast along with Karas' once-in-a-lifetime zither score; that is as offbeat as one of Holly's pulp western novels.
The Third Man is a first rate, five-star masterpiece that needs to be savoured on the big screen if the opportunity provides itself to any fan of film history.
The Third Man returns to cinemas from 6th September and will be released on 4K UHD later this year
