Fresh
It transformed the way I looked at the world.
David Ansen, Newsweek
The Third Man
Hunted by men ... Sought by WOMEN!
1949 · 1h 45m · Approved
Mystery, Thriller
Directed by
Carol Reed
Overview
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.
Director and cast
- Carol Reed Director
- Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins
- Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt
- Trevor Howard as Major Calloway
- Orson Welles as Harry Lime
- Paul Hörbiger as Karl the Porter
- Ernst Deutsch as 'Baron' Kurtz
- Erich Ponto as Dr. Winkel
- Siegfried Breuer as Popescu
- Hedwig Bleibtreu as Anna's Landlady
- Bernard Lee Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
99%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Welles gives Harry a mask of irony that turns all moral judgment back on itself. He turns a mass murderer into a wry rogue, and makes his villainy all the more horrifying because we rather like him.
Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
Fresh
Seen today, The Third Man ... can be appreciated as a prophetic statement on the eventual moral bankruptcy of the one-world euphoria that clouded men's minds immediately after the second 'war to end all wars.'
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
Fresh
Top credit must go to Mr. Reed for molding all possible elements into a thriller of superconsequence.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
Fresh
For lovers of film noir, The Third Man is unquestionably a must-see -- one of the masterpieces of a genre that has contained everything from milestone motion pictures to low-budget potboilers.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
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