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The Third Man
Set in postwar Vienna, Austria, the film follows Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, who arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to find him dead. He then investigates the mysterious death, and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder.
24 June 1906, Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
July 30, 1914 in Cairo, Egypt
November 22, 1886 in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
12 May 1903, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England, UK
September 26, 1894 in Russia
10 January 1908, Brentford, Middlesex, England, UK
25 February 1916, Vienna, Austria
29 October 1899, Brünn, Austria-Hungary [now Brno, Czech Republic]
December 8, 1921 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
15 October 1901, Bedford Park, London, England, UK
May 17, 1888 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
11 November 1906, Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
August 18, 1924 in Hampstead, London, England, UK
30 December 1906, Putney, London, England, UK
2 September 1899, Kremsier, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Kromeriz, Czech Republic]
16 September 1890, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]
23 December 1868, Linz, Upper Austria, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
August 01, 2015
By the very nature of its settings and story, there are occasional reminiscences of Lang and Hitchcock, but there is nothing borrowed or imitated. Stylistically, The Third Man is Reed's most impressive film.
July 04, 2015
The bombed buildings, piles of rubble and their evocative shadows form a haunting backdrop to the outdoor scenes, particularly at night. ... Greene's talent for dialogue and suspense shine. [It] has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster.
June 24, 2015
A lot funnier than you remember it, Carol Reed's immortal 1949 film noir seems to exist in the space between two worlds: an earlier time when thrillers were mostly serious affairs, and a future one, when such supremely witty entertainments felt passé.
July 01, 2015
What really makes the film sing, though, isn't the jaunty and iconic zither score by Anton Karas. It's the film's groundbreaking visual aesthetic, which combines noir tropes with expressionism to create a visual wonderland of living shadows.
March 09, 2017
There's an element of show-off quality in The Third Man-it's a stylistic tour de force of bravura lighting, brilliant location shooting, dynamic imagery, and sharp angles throwing the world off kilter-but Reed rises to the challenge of Greene's script.
July 03, 2015
It's an exciting experience, dazzling and entertaining and thought-provoking.
July 02, 2015
Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene let the story unfold slowly and deliberately, like the cigarette smoke that floats around the characters, and keep us guessing at every step.
July 28, 2015
Welles was a still-ridiculously young 34 when he played Harry, but he was probably born sounding 56...
June 23, 2015
The Third Man is a movie of sobering pleasures.
July 02, 2015
Like many, I have loved this thriller of conscience and betrayal most of my moviegoing life.
August 06, 2015
Krasker's camera reveals a dank, matte, defeated city - so dully vivid as to be a character unto itself - except that this Vienna becomes something altogether different seen at night or underground.
June 26, 2015
"The Third Man" is important not just because of its technique but because of its theme ...