FILM · 1949 · UK
The Third Man
- Directed by
- Carol Reed
- Runtime
- 105 min
- Studio
- London Films Productions
32 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (32)
- #001
The Vienna Police Department has a special unit tasked solely with patrolling the city's complex sewer system, because the interlocking network of tunnels creates excellent hiding places for criminals fleeing the law, stolen goods, drugs and more. The "actors" who played police officers in the film were in fact off-duty members of that unit.
- #002
The film has a permanent home at one of Vienna's oldest cinemas. It plays at the famous "Burg Kino" at least twice a week.
- #003
Orson Welles worked on this film for one week.
- #004
On his trip to Europe, where he was to shoot in Vienna, Orson Welles evaded production assistants and assistant director Guy Hamilton. During Welles's unexpected absence, Sir Carol Reed had to shoot around him and carried out many of the magnificent shots seen in the finished film in the sewers. Numerous body doubles were used for Welles, among them Hamilton, who was given an oversized hat and a padded jacket to approximate Welles's larger frame. Reed doubled for Welles's hands when they reached out from a sewer grate. When Welles finally arrived, he was two weeks late.
- #005
Orson Welles initially refused to do the sewer scenes because he believed the bad air would give him diseases. Sir Carol Reed claimed the smell came from disinfectant, not excrement, and that there was nothing to worry about. According to Reed, the anxious Welles did not believe him.
- #006
The ending was a subject of dispute during production. Surprisingly, Graham Greene, known for his bleak, depressing stories, wanted the film to have a "happy ending" in which Holly Martins embraces Anna Schmidt after Lime's funeral, while David O. Selznick, known for his love of "Hollywood endings," argued that Anna should ignore Holly after the funeral. Sir Carol Reed agreed with Selznick, and the melancholy ending was used. However, Reed felt insecure about the length of the roughly two-minute shot in which Martins waits for Anna and she walks past him without acknowledging his presence. Greene later wrote: "One of the very few major arguments between Carol Reed and myself was about the ending of the film, and he was proved right."
- #007
It was long said that Orson Welles wrote all of Harry Lime's dialogue and even directed his own scenes. Everyone, including Welles, insisted that Sir Carol Reed alone directed the film. Welles claimed he wrote most of Lime's dialogue, which is a fabrication. The extent of Welles's contributions was Lime's grumbling about his stomach troubles (these were improvised) and the famous "cuckoo clock" speech at the end of the Ferris wheel scene. The origin of the cuckoo clock line goes back to the essayist Walter Pater.
- #008
Because Orson Welles refused to be filmed in the Vienna sewers, his close-ups were shot at London Film Studios, and a stand-in was used for the wide shots. It is said that about 85% of the resulting footage is Vienna and 15% is London.
- #009
One evening, Trevor Howard, playing a British colonel, went out for a drink after shooting without taking off his uniform, and police officers followed him, not daring to intervene because of his high-ranking appearance. In the end they decided to arrest him, but when Trevor told them he was not an officer but an actor in costume, they arrested him for impersonating a police officer. The production crew and Sir Carol Reed had to use all their influence and courtesy to get him released. Trevor shrugged, saying he had wanted a change of pace and had certainly achieved it.
- #010
Director Sir Carol Reed initially wanted James Stewart for the role of Holly Martins; producer David O. Selznick insisted on Joseph Cotten, who was then under contract to Selznick's production company.
- #011
Orson Welles is on screen for only about five minutes.
- #012
When the film was first distributed in America, David O. Selznick initially replaced the narration by Sir Carol Reed (a necessity to explain Vienna's very unusual situation in the post-World War II period in which the film was shot) with a narration read by Joseph Cotten in the character of Holly Martins. Selznick's version cut nearly eleven minutes of the film, including all references in the original cut implying that Cotten's Holly Martins is an alcoholic and everything else portraying him as an unheroic figure.
- #013
Orson Welles said that when he agreed to play Harry Lime, he was offered either a direct salary or a percentage of the profits. Welles chose the salary, but later regretted it, because the film was such a big hit that the percentage would ultimately have been worth far more than the salary.
- #014
The giant Ferris wheel that Martins and Lime ride in the Prater was erected in 1897. Sigmund Freud claimed that while experimenting with cocaine as a treatment, he used it to induce seasickness in patients.
- #015
Sir Carol Reed had three separate film units working on most days of the production: a day unit, a night unit and a sewer unit. Reed insisted on directing each unit, and as a result worked 20 hours a day.
- #016
It was the most popular film in Britain in 1949. The Austrians, however, did not care for it.
- #017
Orson Welles wrote his own dialogue, and the fingers passing through the grate were his idea, but since Welles was not in Vienna at the time, the fingers belonged to Sir Carol Reed.
- #018
The tunnels shown in this film are part of the Wienkanal, which channels the Wien River from the center of Vienna to the Danube. The main tunnel is the huge arched structure through which the river flows for about 1.6 km. The gated side passages are connections to sewer overflows in rainy weather, and the room with the balcony is the overflow point. The spiral staircase is one of the main culvert's 6 exits. Tours of the system are conducted daily. Events are occasionally held in the tunnels in memory of the film and its characters.
- #019
Assistant director Guy Hamilton, while negotiating with the owners of the apartment overlooking the square where Orson Welles would famously hide in a doorway, got nowhere by telling them that Welles, Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli were in the film. But when he happened to mention that local star Paul Hörbiger was also in the film, they decided to sell their home to others.
- #020
Paul Hörbiger could not speak a word of English and had to learn his lines phonetically.
- #021
Future director John Glen was working in the editing department at Shepperton Studios when the film went into production. He had a build similar to Joseph Cotten's and was assigned to provide the footsteps for the post-production sound dubbing. He watched a continuous loop in the Westrex theatre until he had memorized the exact pace of Cotten's steps, then ran up and down a hard-surfaced stairwell where the walking sound was recorded.
- #022
The scene showing Harry Lime's final moments, in which he reaches his fingers in vain toward freedom through a sewer grate, was suggested to the director by Orson Welles. The hands used in this shot belong to director Sir Carol Reed.
- #023
In the single take in the Wienkanal, a security guard walks past a wall bearing the engraving "O5," the secret symbol of the Austrian resistance against the Nazi occupation. ("O5" stands for "OE" or "Ö," the first letter of Austria's native name, "Österreich.").
- #024
David O. Selznick insisted that the producers use Alida Valli for the female lead. Sir Carol Reed and Sir Alexander Korda were in fact happy with the choice. Selznick was displeased that Reed dressed Valli in plainer clothes and wanted her to look glamorous and beautiful throughout. Thanks to Korda's support, Reed prevailed on this point.
- #025
Cary Grant was considered for the role of Harry Lime. Coincidentally, when shooting returned to the sound stages in London, Grant was a regular visitor to the film set at lunchtime.
- #026
David O. Selznick resisted Sir Carol Reed's idea of casting Orson Welles as Harry Lime because Selznick had labeled Welles "ticket revenue poison."
- #027
Graham Greene created the character of Harry Lime inspired by Kim Philby, the British double agent who was Greene's superior in the British Secret Intelligence Service.
- #028
It is among Akira Kurosawa's 10 favorite films.
- #029
The shots of the shadowy figure running were performed by assistant director and future full-fledged director Guy Hamilton.
- #030
Because Orson Welles refused to work in the sewers due to the terrible smell, they had to build a sewer set at Shepperton Studios. The lower half was constructed and the upper part was filled in with matte paint. When Harry panics as he tries to see which tunnel the police team's sound is coming from, the camera angle is very tight because the height and size of the set were limited.
- #031
It was the first British production shot largely on location. With its preference for real locations and real local people as extras, it is also Britain's first foray into the neorealist style that Italian directors such as Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rossellini had made so popular at the time.
- #032
The final scene was shot in the middle of winter, after the trees in Vienna had lost their leaves. To achieve the effect of falling leaves as Joseph Cotten's and Alida Valli's characters walk along the path, stagehands were positioned on cranes just above the camera's range and threw leaves down as the actors passed.
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