The Third Man

In postwar Vienna, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives broke to visit his old friend Harry Lime, only to learn that Lime has died. The city is a maze of ruined streets and tense alliances, where black market deals coexist with the weary optimism of soldiers. Martins is drawn into a shadowy puzzle when he is told that a mysterious 'third man' was present at Lime's death, a person who seems to hold the missing pieces of the story. Major Calloway, a stern British officer, probes with dogged caution while Anna Schmidt, Lime's lover, mourns and guards what she knows. Martins finds himself torn between loyalty and suspicion. The mood stays tense from the start.

The Third Man released in 1949 was directed by Carol Reed with a screenplay by Graham Greene. Built from Greene's drawn concepts, the film blends a wartime Viennese mood with stark black-and-white photography that amplifies the suspense and character drama.

Box office receipts totaled $1,226,098, reflecting strong cinema attendance for a wartime drama. The money came from international markets as well as domestic release, bolstering the film's reputation and enabling later prestige reissues worldwide, in art houses, and revival circuits.

The film's cultural footprint runs deep. Anton Karas's zither score became a global sensation, and the Vienna sewers chase along with Orson Welles's cameo linger in memory. The Third Man helped redefine postwar noir as stylish skepticism about truth and loyalty cherished by audiences across generations for generations to come.

Critics praised the film's atmosphere and the uneasy moral questions it raises. The story wrestles with trust and suspicion in a city where aid and deceit mingle, and it questions what makes a hero when survival comes at a price. The performances, especially Welles and Cotten, sharpen that doubt beautifully.