The Third Man

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Sometimes I have written posts about movies that class members analyzed at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute. Since we have not been able to meet in person due to the pandemic, we used Zoom to talk recently about The Third Man (1949), directed by Carol Reed with a screenplay by famed author Graham Greene. As our instructors noted, this film is subversive in many ways. Instead of filming on a movie set as was the norm, the story was shot on location in Vienna. Given the city, one would expect classical music from the likes of Mozart to play in the background. Instead, director Reed used the now famous zither soundtrack played by Anton Karas, which resembles upbeat Greek dancing music, but which, as Roger Ebert implied, has a melancholy feel to it. We also don’t see the great Orson Welles until most of the film has played, and he is on screen for a very short time. (Later use of stars in this limited way are Janet Leigh in Psycho and Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now). The film also does not have an upbeat ending, which defied the rules of the time.

The unconventional moviemaking aspects reflect how the story indicates that the devastation of World War II has swept away the reliable rules on which the world was based. What’s left of the great architecture of Vienna stands in stark contrast to the rubble that makes the metropolis, as the cynical narrator at the beginning says, look, “Bombed about a bit.” He notes that what happened in Vienna didn’t “really look any worse than a lot of other European cities.” So Vienna is representative of the horror the war inflicted over the entire continent. The narrator is a child of the new chaos who “never knew the old Vienna,” the one of tradition and civilized culture. He only knows about the current time when the black market prospers in the darkness, but which has its casualties, too, just like the war, since “amateurs” meet their ends in this moral vacuum. To accentuate what the narrator says there are shots of stolen goods being exchanged and a dead body floating in the river. 

The narrator sets the stage by saying Vienna was occupied in four zones by America, Great Britain, France, and Russia. Outsiders, who don’t speak the native language, and don’t share a standard means of communication, have torn the city apart. The result is instability, a sense that the world is, as Ebert says, “out of joint.” Reed and cinematographer, Robert Krasker, convey that feeling of disorientation by employing numerous tilted shots, called Dutch Angles. The movie uses large, distorted, looming shadows in dark streets, reminiscent of paintings by Georgio de Chirico, and, as Ebert mentions the results are “an expressionistic nightmare.” The style of the film suggests how danger has filled the void left by the absence of an orderly, meaningful universe. 

The narrator then introduces us to the specific tale to be told. Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) is an American writer who has money problems and has come to Vienna at the invitation of his college friend, Harry Lime (Welles) to accept a job. However, Holly discovers that Harry died in an automobile accident and was buried. There are inconsistencies about whether Harry died instantly or had time to communicate his wishes about Holly and his girlfriend, Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli). Also, the accident supposedly occurred in the presence of Harry’s physician, Dr. Winkel (Eric Ponto), and two other people Harry knew, Baron Kurtz, played by Ernst Deutsch (does he really have that title, and if so, he does not act nobly), and a man named Popescu (Sigfried Bauer). That all three happened to be there at the same time seems too coincidental to Holly. After Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) tells Holly that he was investigating Harry for murder and racketeering, and eventually tells him that he thinks Harry was murdered. Holly vows to find out what really happened to his friend. Harry’s building porter (Paul Horbiger) tells Holly that there were three men who carried Harry away from the accident. One was Kurtz, another Popescu, and another, an unidentified “third man.”

Holly writes old-fashioned Western novels. They tell stories about good guys in white hats beating bad guys in black hats, and then most likely the hero rides off into the sunset toward a happy life. He is an anachronism, naive and ill-equipped to deal with the current post-war world where there is no noble battle between good and evil being fought. When the porter says that Harry either went to hell, the man points upward, or he went to heaven, and he points downward. Anne says to Calloway that when it comes to Harry, the Major is seeing things “upside down.” Indeed, almost everything in this movie is upended and not what it seems as secrets reside under appearances, or is the opposite of what is expected. There is the character named Crabbin (Wilfrid Hyde-White) who says he represents the British cultural department in Vienna, a place that has had its culture ravaged. Crabbin’s last resort to promote literature is to enlist the bottom-of-the barrel pulp writer Holly, who isn’t even from Vienna, to speak at a lecture. Crabbin wants Holly to talk about “The crisis of faith.” Holly’s response is, “What’s that?” Crabbin says, “Oh, I thought you’d know.” As this conversation shows, everybody is clueless here, especially about what to believe in. Even the ride to the lecture doesn’t appear to be what it seems. Holly is told a car is waiting for him. Inside is an imposing, silent man who recklessly drives away. Holly has no idea where he is going until he gets to Crabbin’s event, and is frightened along the way. Again, uncertainty and doubt reign in this confusing time. Holly and Anna discover that Kurtz, Winkel and Popescu were all secretly involved in criminal activity with Harry, who was getting a hospital worker, Joseph Harbin, to steal penicillin. Harry then diluted the drug so he could sell larger amounts on the black market to the victims of the war, causing many people to suffer and die. Even Anna has something to hide since she has a fraudulent passport because she doesn’t want to be turned over to the Russians. 

Besides the skewed camera angles, the film uses different tactics to suggest that there are no social or moral anchors to steady people’s orientation, which leaves the characters feeling detached from the stability that civilizations are meant to provide. Many of the characters are in such a fog they can’t even get the names of others straight. Holly calls Calloway, “Callahan.” Dr. Winkel’s name should be pronounced as if it starts with a “V,” but the “W” sound is used instead. Anna addresses Holly as, “Harry.” (More on that later). Ebert points out that even the name on Harry’s tombstone is wrong. Communication breaks down as the meaning of words is muddled. A British MP tells Anna that they must follow “protocol.” Anna says she doesn’t know “what protocol means.” The MP responds, “Neither do I.”  Also, the movie includes professions that feature putting on shows and presenting pretend events. Holly is a fiction writer. Anna is an actress. An amusement park is depicted. We are, after all, watching a made-up work, a film. Reality begins to lose its hold in this atmosphere, and surrealism takes over. So, when a huge, ominous shadow approaches, suggesting danger, turns out to be a little guy selling balloons the implication is that we can’t trust what we believe to be true. 

Holly eventually discovers that Harry is alive, which is another example of the upside-down nature of this world. Harry is supposed to be underground, below the surface. But, that is a lie, and he is alive and above ground, so what is above the surface and that which is below it are deceptions. When they dig up Harry’s grave they find the body of the penicillin provider, Joseph Harbin, there instead. The implication was that it was Harry who was “the third man” carrying the body. To get at the truth is difficult in this world, as Calloway says, “We should have dug deeper than a grave.” (Harry Lime’s last name, according to IMDb, could refer to writer Graham Green’s last name, a lime being green. However, to “lime” a leaf or twig is to use a sticky substance to catch or ensnare something. That definition would fit in with Harry’s character). 

Holly sends a message to Harry through Kurtz and Winkel to meet him near the Ferris wheel at a fairground. We then have the pivotal scene between Holly and Harry. The criminal is deceptively charming, throwing others off guard, who do not suspect him to have done nasty deeds. The two ride the Ferris wheel, a symbol of the rotating, upside-down upheaval of morality that has taken place, and the resulting disequilibrium that ensues. Holly confronts his old friend with how he has created victims with what he has done with the penicillin. Harry presents a cynical, nihilistic philosophy that places self-interest above the concerns for others in an ethically barren existence. He says, “Victims? Don’t be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me, would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare?” Harry, at the top of the ride, is like a merciless god, feeling himself above any laws or rules, and the only obligation he has is to himself. He goes on to say that the whole world shares his view now since, “Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don’t.” His pessimistic view of life on earth is shown when he says, “the dead are happier dead. They don’t miss much here, poor devils.” Harry even argues that mayhem coincides with greatness, while caring and harmony lead to nothing noteworthy. He says, “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 they produce? The cuckoo clock.” Harry even made a deal to expose Anna’s fake passport if the Russians would let him hide in their sector. But, he wouldn’t dream of atoning for his transgressions. He indicts Holly’s innocent ignorance of the state of affairs when he says, “You didn’t expect me to give up? … Oh, Holly, you and I aren’t heroes. The world doesn't make heroes outside of your stories.” Harry almost thinks about killing Holly after he finds out that he told the police about seeing Harry alive. It’s possible this betrayal shows Harry that Holly also has faltering ethics. He tells Harry that they can meet again, but without any police presence.

Holly has fallen in love with Anna, and makes a deal with the authorities that he will set a meeting with Harry if they let Anna go free. But, Anna does not have romantic feelings for Holly, and is repulsed by the deal he has made. She still loves Harry, even after learning of his crimes. What does that say about her moral compass? Calloway takes Holly to see the patients that Harry put in harm’s way. Holly agrees to lay a trap for Harry. Now let’s get back to how Anna would substitute Harry’s name when addressing Holly. At the stakeout, Holly sits in a cafe. Written on the window next to him is the word “dopple.” This shot implies that Harry and Holly are doubles of the same person, each representing positive and negative qualities. Holly can go the dark side, as he has done, betraying Harry.

Anna appears and warns Harry of the ambush. Harry goes into the underground sewers. He has descended into the hell of the underworld where his befouled soul already belongs, where he can’t hide by pretending to be something other than what he is. The authorities pursue him and Harry shoots one of Calloway’s men. Holly picks up the fallen man’s gun and goes in pursuit. Harry finds himself trapped, like “a cornered rat,” as Ebert observes. Harry slowly nods as Holly approaches, giving Holly permission to perform a vigilante killing. Although justice has been dispensed, it is outside of the legal system, and Holly now has the stain of killing another human being darkening his previous innocent nature.

Ebert says the film, “reflects the cold war years of paranoia, betrayal, and the bomb.” Given that gloomy perspective, it is no wonder that the last image of the movie has a long shot of Anna walking toward Holly, but then passing him by without a sign of recognition. There is no riding off into the sunset with the promise of living happily ever after. The journey ahead is a difficult and lonely one.

The next film is Saving Private Ryan.