Martin Scorsese, a great admirer of the film, wrote an extensive thesis about it while he was in film school. He received a B+ for his thesis; his professor remarked, 'Forget it, it's just a thriller.'
In Vienna, the film has a permanent screening slot at one of the city's oldest cinemas. It is shown at least twice a week at the famous 'Burg Kino'.
In 1951-52, Orson Welles starred in a British radio series based on his character's first adventures in this film (broadcast as 'The Adventures of Harry Lime', and in the US as 'The Lives of Harry Lime').
The giant Ferris wheel that Martins and Lime ride in the Prater was built in 1897. It is claimed that Sigmund Freud used this Ferris wheel to induce seasickness in his patients while experimenting with cocaine as a treatment.
It was the most popular film in the United Kingdom in 1949. Austrians, however, did not much care for the film.
In a shot in the Wienkanal, a security guard passes by a wall with 'O5' scratched into it; this was the secret symbol of Austria's resistance to the Nazi occupation. ('O5' stands for 'OE' or 'Ö', the first letter of Austria's native name, 'Österreich'.)
It is among Akira Kurosawa's 10 favorite films.
In Vienna, canal tours called the 'Der Dritte Mann-Tour' are organized; these tours visit the exact locations where the scenes of Harry Lime being chased by the police were shot.
When Martins comes to visit Anna with a bouquet of chrysanthemums, her nightgown is briefly visible before she puts on her dressing gown. The initials HL are discernible on the top of the striped men's pajamas. These probably belonged to Lime, but this inference meant pushing well past the limits that censorship permitted at the time, even in film noir.
In June 2008, it ranked 5th on the American Film Institute's list of the top 10 films in the 'Mystery' genre.
This film tops the 'Best 100 British Films' list (1999/2000) compiled by the British Film Institute. Paradoxically, it also appears (at 57th) on the American Film Institute's '100 Best American Films' list compiled in 1996.
Throughout the film, the 'Hotel Sacher' is visible. Its restaurant is famous for serving the Sachertorte, one of Vienna's and now Europe's most famous desserts.
In the AFI's 'Private Screenings' book, critic Roger Ebert named this film as his favorite. He later also included it on his 'Ten Best Films of All Time' list.
When Martins arrives at Dr. Winkel's house, the doctor is seen about to carve a roasted fowl for a fine meal with his guests. This amount of food was not readily available to most Viennese residents during the extreme postwar scarcity. This may be a nod to the black-market scenario involving Lime and his associates.
Vince Gilligan, creator and producer of Breaking Bad (2008) and Better Call Saul (2015), stated that this is his favorite film. The film's theme was used once in Better Call Saul.
In one of the opening scenes, Holly Martins walks under a staircase. After that, almost everything goes badly for him.
Gösser Beer, one of Austria's most popular beers, is seen being advertised in the train station café. Dating back to the mid-15th century, this beer has a famous slogan (translated): Good. Better. Gösser. It is still served in 2023.
'The Third Man' is not only a great film, it also reflects some of the corruption and crime problems in postwar Vienna. It is one of VERY few films to have a museum dedicated to it. Opened in 2005 in Vienna, Austria, the museum covers an area of over 400 square meters, is divided into 16 rooms, and offers a comprehensive collection of original exhibits centered on the film's international triumph. For more information, you can visit the museum online or, better yet, go to Vienna and see it in person! The museum's name is The Third Man Museum (Dritte Mann Museum). The museum received the Vienna Tourism Award in 2020. It was initiated by Gerhard Strassgschwandtner and is privately owned and run by him and his wife.
Roger Ebert described Harry Lime as his favorite film villain.
In addition to the awards listed, it won the Best Director award at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and was included in the top 100 among the Greatest American Films of All Time in a 1998 poll.
Sir Michael Caine's favorite film.
The film won many awards, including the Palme d'Or (Best Film) at the Cannes Film Festival (1949), the BAFTA Award for Best British Film (1949), the Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) (1950), an Academy Award nomination for Best Director (1950), the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director (1950), and a place among the 100 Greatest American Films of All Time in the American Film Institute's 1998 poll.
The character name Harry Lime may have been derived from Graham Greene's own name. Henry=Harry, Graham Greene (Green)=Lime. Others say he chose the surname 'because it recalls the quicklime in which murderers are buried.'
In the opening, the narrator says he would have preferred Constantinople to Vienna. Constantinople — or Istanbul, as it is known today — was previously the setting of Journey Into Fear (1943), which also starred Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.
The famous Wiener Riesenrad, or Vienna Ferris Wheel, is seen from afar and up close as the film progresses. Long a symbol of the city, this Ferris wheel was still carrying visitors and locals in 2023.
The cover of the novel 'The Oklahoma Kid' that Baron Kurtz brings to the café to meet Holly Martins bears a strong resemblance to the poster for the film The Oklahoma Kid (1939). The graphic style of the two images, the cowboys' gun-holding poses and the fluttering ends of their bandanas are remarkably similar. Graham Greene, the author of this film, had collaborated with Robert Buckner, who wrote the screenplay for The Oklahoma Kid, on Confidential Agent (1945).
It appears on the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the 100 Best American Films.
This classic film became such a part of the contemporary vocabulary of espionage that a member of parliament called on Prime Minister Eden to expose Kim Philby as the 'third man' involved in the 1951 defection of Burgess and Maclean. At a press conference in November 1955, Philby, recorded by news cameras, denied at least twice that he was the 'third man'.
The same year that Orson Welles delivered his famous speech about Italy in the time of the Borgias in this film, he played Cesare Borgia in Prince of Foxes (1949).
It was parodied by the cartoon The Third Mouse/The Visit (1996), with Pinky in the Joseph Cotten role and The Brain in the Orson Welles role. Appropriately, the voice of The Brain, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, is modeled on Orson Welles's.
Musician Jack White's favorite film; he named his record label Third Man Records as a tribute.
When Holly meets Anna in the dressing room of the Josefstadt Theatre, he gives her a cigarette and lights it, even though there is a sign on the wall reading 'RAUCHEN polizeilich verboten! (Smoking prohibited!)'. The German sign would have meant nothing to Holly, but not to Anna.
The film appears on Roger Ebert's 'Great Movies' list.
The soft teddy bears seen in the children's hospital scene were made by the Steiff Company, founded in Germany in the 1880s. The modern teddy bear is based on a creation of theirs seen in the film and dating to 1897.
New York Film Critics Award (Best Director) 1950.
It ranks 57th among AFI's 100 best films.
It is among the '1001 Films You Must See Before You Die', compiled by Steven Schneider.
The wartime and postwar black-market smuggling plot element was popular at the time and continues to be used in every possible way in today's productions.
During the Dritte Mann tour in Vienna, there is a rat behind a plexiglass barrier and the tour guide says 'Oh, look! A rat!'
The closing section after Lime's funeral appears in Silent Witness (1999): A Good Body, part one. The film is being shown in a cinema about to suffer a disastrous fire.
AWARDS: Best Director - New York Film Critics Award 1950.
This film is in the Criterion Collection, spine #64.
Princess Margaret is said to have been a great fan of the theme music.
The scene in which Martens and Calloway bargain over a price (for Anna's freedom) foreshadows a similar deal made in the 1993 film Schindler's List.
The Baltimore Waltz, written by playwright Paula Vogel, quotes from the film about Switzerland and the cuckoo clock.
It won the Palme d'Or (Best Film) at the Cannes Film Festival, 1949.
One of the 100 Greatest American Films of All Time - American Film Institute poll 1998.
Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) 1950.
Academy Award Nomination (Best Director) 1950.
Among American Cinematography Magazine's (March 1999) Top 10 Shot Films (1894-1949).
This film is among the Official Top 250 Narrative Films on Letterboxd.
It appears on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of 250 films nominated for AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.
The final chase scene in the Vienna sewers bears a strong resemblance to the final chase scene in He Walked by Night, which used the Los Angeles storm drains a year earlier.
It won the British Academy Award for Best British Film, 1949.
He Walked by Night (1948), released the previous year (1948), also depicts an ending in which a man is chased through sewer tunnels.
Holly Martins wrote a Western novel titled 'The Oklahoma Kid'; this may refer to the James Cagney film of the same name.
The all-time classic ranked 57th in AFI's poll of the 100 best films.
There are many connections between The Third Man and the James Bond films. 1) Orson Welles, who played Harry Lime, appeared in the 1967 version of Casino Royale. 2) Guy Hamilton, who was assistant director on The Third Man, directed four James Bond films. 3) Bernard Lee, who played Sergeant Paine in The Third Man, later played M in the first 11 Eon-produced Bond films. 4) Geoffrey Keen, who played an uncredited British Military Police officer in The Third Man, portrayed British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in six Bond films. 5) And Ian Fleming, the author of the books on which the James Bond films are based, named Graham Greene, who wrote The Third Man, as the writer who influenced him most.
Janez Lapajne stated that this is probably his favorite film.