Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #530 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-09-25
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 104 minutes

Synopsis
This classic noir mystery, from the team of Carol Reed and Graham Greene, is generally considered to be the best filmwork of both of these estimable talents. THE THIRD MAN features Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, a pulp novelist who has come to post-WWII Vienna with the promise of work from his friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles). When he finds that Lime has just been killed in a questionable car accident, he decides to remain in the city to investigate his friend's demise.

Customer Reviews

The Perfect Movie
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.

wonderfully atmospheric
This glorious film is a true classic, and a historic document as well as marvellous cinema, with its footage of post-War Vienna, a divided and unhappy city beginning to come to terms with itself. Everything about it is memorable - the naggingly catchy zither tune by Anton Karas which opens it (the Harry Lime theme), the eerie black and white photography, Graham Greene's excellently mysterious plotline, and in particular the performances, not so much of Joseph Cotten, who is fine and doesn't let the side down, as of Trevor Howard trying to make good British sense of an out-of-control situation, Alida Valli as Lime's doomed, tragic, world-weary, stunning girlfriend and Orson Welles as Harry Lime himelf, one of the most memorably delayed entries in all cinema, seductive and sinister at the same time. It is beautiful to the eye and completely compelling, one of the very great films.

"Nobody thinks in terms of human beings"
"The third man" is a CLASSIC, in capital letters. That is, one of those few films everybody that loves well-made movies should watch at least once. Directed by Carold Reed, and based on a script written by Graham Green, this film has action and a mystery, but also some romance, and a beautiful cinematography that you cannot help but admire. In my opinion, this is simply the kind of movie you will not be able to forget, if you give yourself the opportunity of watching it.

The story begins when a novelist without a dime, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), arrives to Vienna in search of a job his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) has promised him. Unfortunately, he learns from the police that Harry has died in dubious circumstances, and that he was involved in criminal activities. Refusing to believe that, Holly decides to investigate what really happened to Harry, in order to restore his reputation. But can knowledge be a dangerous commodity in post World War II Vienna?

On the whole, I think you will love this splendid noir movie, and that you will be fully immersed in the mistery of "The third man" as soon as you begin watching it. What will happen to Holly Martins in his search of truth? And who was Harry Lime? Those are answers that you will only find in this film, not in this review. I can promise you something, though: you will not find it boring!

Belen Alcat