1949: “The Third Man”

This film premiered in 1949 and was directed by Carol Reed who wrote the screenplay with Graham Green. In cooperation with US producer David O. Selznick, the British thriller also had a strong Austrian contribution: the National Bank took on preliminary financing, actors such as Hedwig Bleibtreu and technicians from Austria participated in the film. The film was shot in Vienna, especially in the 1st district, at the central cemetery and the Prater; some of the sewer scenes, however, were re-shot in London.

In trying to get to the bottom of the (fake) death of his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), the unsuccessful US author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) encounters a mysterious “third man”, Lime’s secretive girlfriend Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), drug smuggling, and the borders of the occupation zones in Vienna’s “International Sector” – borders that the smuggler Lime overcomes through the sewers. The film depicts everyday life in the postwar period based on “internal” secret intelligence information, and is considered a masterpiece of film noir. The chase scene through Vienna’s sewer system achieved particular fame, as did the Harry Lime theme music from Anton Karas. The movie received numerous awards, including the 1949 Palme d’Or at Cannes, three Oscar nominations in 1951 (Oscar for cinematography), and was voted “the best British film of all time” in 1999. While the film’s technical brilliance and its moments of tension were highlighted in the consistently positive reviews, missing was mention of the film’s “analytical depth” and its value beyond being simply a good thriller.