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The Third Man [1949] | ![The Third Man [1949]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RKyDlf%2B8L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Carol Reed
Actors: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Wilfrid Hyde White
Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £17.99
Buy New: £5.35
You Save: £12.64 (70%)
New (17) Used (1) from £5.35
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 742
Format: Box Set, Pal, Special Edition
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5060034576389
ASIN: B000HEVTEA
Theatrical Release Date: 1949
Release Date: September 25, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New - Swift dispatch from UK mainland
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
A slice of Lime. January 24, 2008
DangermouseZilla (Doncaster, Yorkshire, UK.)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The DVD cover sums this film up brilliantly (even giving away the twist!) with the angled black and white image. The wonky camera work was dismissed by many at the time, but in retrospect it reflects the feel of disorientation Holly Martins must feel when in an unfamiliar place, with no money, and discovering varying accounts of his friends death - a friend he was due be staying with. The slanted shots also mirror the broken feel of Vienna, a beautiful city ravaged by the Second World War and now home to jagged piles of broken bricks.
The strong lighting (typical of black and white films) is used to emphasise the shadows in the dark. The beautiful cinematography of Viennese streets capture a unique period in history. Most scenes have no music to accompany them, but when it does kick in, you instantly recognise it - either from watching this film in the past, or for the numerous films since which have borrowed the iconic Harry Lime theme. The natural performances mean the characters seem flawed, real, believable. And Harry Lime has a constant presence despite barely appearing on screen.
All the above make this an absolute corker of a film - but the most impressive thing is, it all feels so effortless. The film never looks as though it's *trying* to be something that bit special, it's almost as if it *knows* it has a unique chemistry which will ensure a status of `classic' for years to come.
In a nutshell: If you've never seen this film then this might seem like you've seen it all before - but this was the first to do it with style. Often imitated, never bettered.
What can you say? January 22, 2008
Jones the Film (Wales)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Call me a heathen (or whatever), but I have never quite got Citizen Kane. Yes it 's a landmark film, but is it really that good?
The Third Man is that good. Tight direction, an omnipotent Wells as Harry Lime, a haunted post-WWII city in ruins and the repetitive melody of the zither, all combine to create a superb masterpiece.
For me, the real star was Trevor Howard as Major Calloway. Wells was of course enigmatic and Vienna was the perfect backdrop to a bankrupt Germanic landscape. Cotten as Holly Martins was a little pedestrian, yet his character was never meant to be a sophisticated moral crusader.
The film taps into the psychi of the lowest form of humanity, i.e. those that prey on the sick and inflicted.
Memorable, and yes a true classic.
The Perfect Movie September 23, 2007
M. Dowden (London, UK)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is the best British movie ever made, and is sheer enjoyment to watch. Based on a story by Graham Greene we are taken into the occupation of Vienna after the second world war. A story of black-marketeering, mistaken identity and a man wanting to solve what is happening around him. Orson Welles is on top form as Harry Lime, the main protagonist in one of his best roles. The scenes of a post-war Vienna are fantastic and everything in this movies jells together. All the acting is excellant and the cat and mouse story is more than enough to keep you gripped to your seat.
Carol Reed's masterpiece shows us what true drama is all about. Unfortunately Hollywood have never really learned from what is a masterclass in film-making, in what makes perfection.
A masterpiece of movie making and story telling from Carol Reed and Graham Greene August 26, 2007
C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Everything about this movie works. If anyone wants to see how a movie should be directed and edited, or a screenplay written, or complex characters acted, or a film photographed, this is the one to flip in the DVD machine.
Holly Martins, a down-on-his-luck writer, shows up in post-war Vienna looking for his old friend, Harry Lime. But he's told Lime died in an accident, the military tell him to go home, and he's attracted to a mysterious woman he sees at Lime's grave. He sticks around, gets different stories about Lime, but finally understands Lime was an unscrupulous black marketeer, dealing in adulterated drugs among other things. And he realizes that Lime is alive.
Carol Reed was at the top of his form with this movie. His partnership with Graham Greene (they had collaborated the year before on The Fallen Idol and would again in 1959 with Our Man in Havana) is unusual in that both were heavyweights in their fields.
Joseph Cotten as Martins strikes just the right note of charm, inquisitiveness and weakness. He's the kind of a guy who would most likely follow the strongest person around, and that has been his old friend, Lime. And what a great voice Cotten had. Orson Welles, who could be so hammy, reins it in here. He doesn't have a lot of screen time, but his character dominates the movie. And the two work perfectly together. Welles' cuckoo speech has been mentioned so many times in so many places that it has lost much of its charm for me. It sounds to me now more like an alienated high school kid's idea of philosophy. But Lime's discussion of all those little dots goes to the heart of his character. The interplay on Cotten's and Welles' faces as they discuss how easy (or how difficult) it might be to get rid of Martins on the ferris wheel is masterful, and so is Welles as he teases out of Martins what Martins may have told the military police. Alida Valli as Anna is terrific as a woman who loves Lime but has no illusions left. I suspect Trevor Howard took the role of Major Calloway because he wanted to work with Reed and Greene. In 1949 he was a major star in England, with Brief Encounter under his belt. I've always liked him, even in most of the later lousey movies he signed up for.
And the look and sound of the film...glistening, damp cobblestones at night, bombed out buildings, off-angle camera shots, harsh nightime lighting and deep shadows. The chase through the sewers with only the sounds of rushing water and footsteps. The first glimpse of Lime, nothing but deep shadows in a doorway and then a pair of shoes of someone unseen standing there. The sound of the zither playing the main theme over and over.
The ending is one of the most understated and powerful I've ever seen. Lime has been shot in the sewer by Martins. Martins and Calloway leave the funeral in a jeep to catch his plane home. Anna ignores them and leaves the cemetery on foot. The jeep passes Anna but then Martins asks Calloway to let him out. He obviously has feelings for her. Martins leans against a cart on the side of the road as Calloway drives off. The camera doesn't move. Anna, in the distance, walks toward him. Without looking at him she walks straight past, and past the camera. Martins lights a cigarette, looks after her, then tosses the match away. And that's it.
Perfect cinema - perfect release! February 21, 2007
Green Knight (London, UK)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
About time. This superb DVD release of THE THIRD MAN finally does the film justice. For lyrical reviews read the others on here, but for unbridled enthusiasm, take my word for it - if you haven't got a copy of this classic, then this is the issue to have. Unbeatable!
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