Noir November: The Third Man
Written by Cameron Geiser
Every day for the month of November, Cameron Geiser is reviewing a noir film (classic or neo) for Noir November. Today covers Carol Reed’s untouchable opus The Third Man.
The Third Man is one of the finest noirs to have come from the golden age of cinema. If you’re inclined to see all of Orson Welles performances, or curious about the genre of Noir films across the board, you can’t go wrong on any of those counts with this film. Speaking of Welles, there’s a dual casting here that is one of the most inspired choices of cinema’s earlier eras. Joseph Cotten stars as the lead, Holly Martins, an American author of paperback Westerns who gets caught up in the crimes and mysterious nature of his old friend from their shared youth, Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles had worked together since the days of the Mercury Theater in New York City, from the War of the Worlds radio broadcast days to Citizen Kane and beyond! They were longtime friends and coworkers and the fact that this film is essentially about the death of nostalgia, about the morality of doing what’s right despite your personal attachments, well that’s just brilliant emotional manipulation if you know the story of the two.
The film takes place in post-war Vienna with the city being split up between the allied nations, the Americans, British, French, and Soviets. Much of the city is still in ruins and seems like it could all crumble into dust at a moment's notice. Director Carol Reed reportedly fought with his producers about every aspect of the film, including shooting on location in Vienna and the proof is in the film reels. It simply wouldn’t have half the power it still has today without it. Setting a story about the challenges of entering a post war world where the old ways no longer apply in a bombed out city of former glory was a brilliant move. Juxtaposing that idea with dutch angles tilted just enough to suggest that the world is… off somehow combines to give the film an appropriately eerie atmosphere.
An example of the sublime cinematography in The Third Man.
Martins arrives in Vienna to meet Lime just in time to discover that his friend has died, recently hit by a car in the street. After the funeral Martins gets acquainted in town, but he’s also questioned particularly intently by Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) a member of the British Royal Military Police whom Martins mockingly calls ‘Callahan’ throughout the film. Martins takes it upon himself to go see the spot where his friend died, and he asks a few of the locals if anyone saw the incident. One of the only residents willing to offer up any information is the hall porter who corrects the record for Martins. It wasn’t two men carrying Lime’s body across the street after the accident, “There was another man . . . a third man. . .” With this information Martins decides to stick around and see what comes of it.
The film makes some truly unique choices, particularly for the soundtrack. The whole soundtrack is performed by one man and one instrument, the Zither played by Anton Karas. Reed happened upon a beerhouse one night in Vienna where he heard Mr. Karas playing the instrument- he was hired on the spot. Nearly all aspects of the film come together in brilliant fashion. The cinematography and lighting hold fascinating, calibrated, choices like Harry Lime’s eventual reveal, which is possibly the best character reveal in film history. The infamous manhunt for Harry Lime in the streets and sewers of Vienna with seemingly hundreds of pursuers felt like a manic fever dream. I doubt sewers have ever been as foreboding and ominous as filmed here.
Speaking of Lime, we must also take a moment to focus on the casting of Orson Welles as Harry Lime. Welles created three or four landmark creative choices in his career that ultimately kept audiences coming back (Even after Hollywood had declared him persona non grata). Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, Chimes at Midnight, and this role in Carol Reed’s infamous Noir film were the high points of a performer, a magician of cinema, and a legend in his own right. We’ll get more in depth on Welles later though. Casting him as Harry Lime was the right choice. After having faded from fame somewhat after Citizen Kane, choosing to have Welles re-emerge from the shadows with that familiar, cheeky face was the perfect way to introduce us to Lime by putting the audience in the same position of familiarity as Martins.
What makes this film such a great example of Noir? I believe it’s in the atmosphere, and the story’s implications. If we compare The Third Man to Casablanca, one made before World War Two and the other after, they may share many similarities, but they have tonally very different endings. One ends on a note of hopeful optimism while the other sinks into the new normal of international anxiety and a blurred sense of morality. What did it take to win the war? Did we lose our innocence and sense of right and wrong? Or did we merely settle into a new and more grim realization of things to come? Catch this one if you haven’t, it’s not just one of the best Noir films, it’s one of the highest quality films of its time.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.