The Third Man (1949)

Welles was in the middle of filming his brilliant Othello (1952) and took The Third Man as an acting job for the money. He was given the option of taking a percentage of the profits after the film's release. Strapped for cash, Welles took the money up front. But The Third Man was the biggest hit Welles was ever associated with and he lost out. He went on to do a Harry Lime radio show and the character was recycled again for a short-lived television series.

The leading characters in The Third Man are really pulp western writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) and cabaret actress Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli). It's just after WWII and Vienna is divided into four segments controlled by Russia, France, Great Britain, and the USA. Martins comes to Vienna to meet his friend Lime who has promised him a job. Upon arriving Martins learns that Lime is dead. He suspects something is up and sticks around to find out, but doesn't count on falling in love with Lime's former flame, Schmidt.

Welles stands out in this movie not only because of his own dashing performance, but because Cotten's and Valli's characters, Martins and Schmidt, are so dreary. Martins is a dullard, a drunk, and not above being an informant. And Schmidt is in mourning the whole time we see her. So, when we meet Harry Lime it's like burst of birthday cake. He seems almost in color. After watching Martins slog through his own muddled definitions of right and wrong, Lime makes it all clear for us when he asks from atop that humongous ferris wheel, "if one of those little dots down there stopped moving, would it really matter to you?"

This movie is a mishmash of many different talents coming together in a way that seems magical. It has a distinctly European feel and a tone of sadness, depravity, and longing. It's a crime movie and a film noir, but it is punctuated by comedy bits. The Third Man seems uncommon and unusual, not only because of its exotic setting, but because of the several untranslated languages spoken in it.

The Third Man was directed by Englishman Carol Reed who, despite making two other notable movies, Odd Man Out (1947) and The Fallen Idol (1948), was not one of the cinema's greatest visionaries. However, aided by his amazing crew, The Third Man was made with an extraordinarily atmospheric look, using tilted camera angles and the high-contrast climactic chase through Vienna's sewers (which could have been borrowed from a similar scene in Anthony Mann's He Walked by Night, made the previous year). A great deal of credit for this look goes to Robert Krasker who won an Oscar for his black-and-white cinematography. The great screenplay was by the famous critic-turned-crime-author Graham Greene. But perhaps the most important ingredient is Anton Karas' Zither score. Audiences today may not be able to stomach the steely Zither sound, but back in 1949 and 1950 they were enthralled. The record of the music was a big seller and partially contributed to the movie's box office success.

I haven't yet mentioned actor Trevor Howard (Brief Encounter) who plays English police major Calloway -- a decisive rock of moral assurance. I've seen The Third Man five times and this is the first time Howard has really struck me. He's a great center to the film. But it is Welles you come away with and remember. And like watching one of Welles' own movies you feel like you've really seen something great.

The Criterion Collection issued The Third Man twice on DVD, and briefly on Blu-Ray before it became clear that they did not actually own the Blu-Ray rights for this title. (All three Criterions are now out of print.) Through a complex series of legal papers, the rights instead landed in Lionsgate's lap, and they have released their official Blu-Ray as of September, 2010. I wish I could vouch that it's the same transfer, but I never saw the Criterion version. (According to dvdbeaver.com, it's slightly different.) The Lionsgate disc has different extras as well. It comes with a commentary track by Guy Hamilton (the assistant director), Welles biographer Simon Callow and script supervisor Angela Allen. Other extras include an interactive tour of Vienna, the radio show, audio interviews with Cotten and Greene, Cotten's alternate narration, an interview and Zither performance by Cornelia Mayer, stills and trailers. Unfortunately, it has no subtitles or captions.