The Third Man is a 1949 film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene, and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. The film is set in post–World War II Vienna. It centres on Holly Martins, an American who is given a job in Vienna by his friend Harry Lime, but when Holly arrives in Vienna he gets the news that Lime is dead. Martins then meets with Lime’s acquaintances in an attempt to investigate what he considers a suspicious death.
The atmospheric use of black-and-white expressionist cinematography by Robert Krasker, with harsh lighting and distorted “Dutch angle” camera technique, is a major feature of The Third Man. Combined with the iconic theme music, seedy locations and acclaimed performances from the cast, the style evokes the atmosphere of an exhausted, cynical post-war Vienna at the start of the Cold War.
Greene wrote the novella of the same name as preparation for the screenplay. Anton Karas wrote and performed the score, which featured only the zither.
Els fets : El major Calloway presenta a un incrèduñ Holly Martins les evidències que Harry Lime ha estat traficant amb penicilina adulterada. Una època on encara era possible arribar a un consens sobre els fets, evidències que no es podien desqualificar com a fake news.
La nòria : Holly Martins es troba dalt de la nòria amb Harry Lime en una escena sublim de qüestions morals. Confrontat amb el fet de les víctimes de la penicilina adulterada, HL es pregunta si per cada petita figura que desaparegués a baix, una formigueta, rebés 20.000 lliures, si li resultaria tan difícil de rebutjar. After all it’s not that awful. You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly.
El final: al cementiri, Holly espera Ana que ve caminant des de lluny i que l’ignorarà. Tot i saber que Harry era immoral, no pot perdonar Holly que l’hagi entregat. És qui ha desfet el seu somni.