"The Third Man" (1949)

If I were Orson Welles, I’d wonder why America didn’t like me either. What amounts to a cameo in this movie, it would’ve been interesting for Welles to have won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, considering his ego being a lead, producer and director.

This follows the story of Holly Martins, an American in Vienna who arrives to have found that his old friend Harry Lime had been murdered/or killed in an accident. Who knows. No one but the neighbors really heard or saw anything, and they’re German. Throw in a beautiful Czech girl Anne Schmidt, with forged documents…you have political intrigue. A fact after the war is that Vienna was occupied by four countries, each with its own style of justice. France, Russia, America and German. And no one trusts anyone, but many can profit from crime. This leads to the sewer systems which run through the different areas. This trade is perhaps, also, why Lime was bumped off.

But who knows. We follow Holly the entire time…yes, Holly is a man, played wonderfully by Joseph Cotton (another one of Welles’ regulars). But this isn’t an Orson Welles movie. It’s a Carol Reed movie (yes, THIS is a man as well). It’s plastered all over the box and splattered as the biggest title in the credit. Most likely so it trumps Welles’ presence. But that’s not to say, a TON of influence didn’t come from Welles himself. The lighting, the camera placement…everything seems to owe it to the man who only makes an appearance, which most casual viewers will probably still consider it an Orson Welles movie. He’s on the damn cover.

Anyway, this is a dense crime drama. A really cool look into politics in an occupied country. There doesn’t seem to be anyone in the town that doesn’t have secrets. It’s not surprising that people are suspicious of one another, as even their languages clash. There is a lot on inherent truth in these darker stories. Sometimes we won’t get the woman. Or they’ll keep fucking with you over, just to…fuck with you. Resentment and anger through the mystery of death.