Third Man

Pros: Excellent cinematography and score. Fine performances.
Cons: Minor story disappointments

It’s a common misconception among casual movie viewers that The Third Man (1949) was an Orson Welles movie. He’s in it, reunites a Citizen Kane friendship with Joseph Cotten, and the film’s camera angles and lighting look strikingly ...

Pros: Script, Cinematography, Score, Cotten, Welles, supporting Cast
Cons: None

The Third Man (1949) Director Carol Reed’s "The Third Man" is an amazing tale of post-WWII cold war Europe. Set in the then present-time in bombed out Vienna, it stars Joseph Cotten as hack writer "Holly Martins". The ...

Pros: Truly suspenseful story, fine direction and acting
Cons: The music is jarring with the visuals now and then

Carol Reed's suspense classic is the most Hitchcockian film not made by Hitchcock. It features a complicated, twist-filled plot surrounding the death of one Harry Lime, and the aftermath of the event. His friend, Holly Martens, arrives in Vienna...

Pros: Astounding Cinematography; dark , morally ambigious, thought provoking, Welles, Cotten, Valli
Cons: British cadence; disturbing premonition of the birth of the "ugly American".

Wandering through Orson Welles biography a few weeks ago, I found this movie. And although it has a dark, morally ambiguous tone, it has cinematography that achieves genius in black and white filmography, a mystery that captures your attention, although...

Pros: Orson Welles's magnificent entrance and cuckoo clock speech; great soundtrack, cinematography, script, directing, and performances
Cons: None, really

In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had 500 years of democracy and peace, ...

Pros: Cast, story, cinematography, musical score
Cons: Storyline might be confusing for some people

I admit. I haven't watched many old movies.....but I really like them. Don't know why. I've just had an interest in old movies. So when my "Film Appreciation" teacher told me to watch The Third Man, I decided to watch it.

I have to...

Pros: A "happy accident," in terms of acting, direction, writing, cinematography and, of course, score.
Cons: Unsentimental story may turn some away. Be sure to get a late, restored edition.

The following review was originally published on August 14, 2002. I have felt, however, that it needs revision, especially since a lot of the older review was a plot summary. Also, being an uncreative hack, I did not have a creative entry point to ...

Pros: Orson Welles makes an impression!
Cons: Can be tough to follow

One of the great tragedies of cinematic history is that Orson Welles really didn't capitalize on the potential he showed with Citizen Kane. He made a couple more noteworthy movies like The Third Man and Touch of Evil, but mostly his career just faded out ...

Pros: Brilliant direction,stellar cast and the magnetic screen presence of Orson Welles.
Cons: Nothing really!

This film is a classic and stands up to repeated viewings no matter what your age. I first viewed this film as a student and was blown away by it. The black and white format adds to the genre of this film-film noir- and Vienna acts as the perfect...

Pros: The pros are infinite
Cons: A few dated fade-transitions, but nothing big.

The Third Man is a brilliant film noir picture filmed on location in post-war Vienna. Joseph Cotten stars as a dime-novel writer from America, Holly Martins, who travels to post-WWII Vienna in response to his college friend's invitation, Harry Lime...

Pros: script, direction, cast, sets, score
Cons: poor sound

"The Third Man" is one of the best films of the
1940s. It is an outstanding film, with a script
so dense that its quality cannot be fully
appreciated with a single viewing. The quirky
score, featuring a zither, puts a...

Pros: Wonderfully acted and directed
Cons: Hard to find a good print

Let me begin with a warning. Much of the joy of watching Carol Reed's The Third Man comes from something quite unexpected that happens. I will give that twist away. If you haven't seen the film this review will spoil it for you. You should see the...

Pros: Just about everything.
Cons: Just about nothing.

By Max Scheinin.

In The Third Man, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) journeys to Vienna in search of his friend Harry Lime, only to find that the man has recently passed away. And yet, something, he senses, is not right -- something must be outed....

Pros: Everything
Cons: Nothing

"She ought to go careful. Everybody ought to go careful...in a city like this."

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Warning: You are advised not to read this review unless you have already seen the film, for I will...

Pros: Brilliant in all respects
Cons: None

The Third Man, directed by Carol Reed, is a brilliant film of corruption, faith, and friendship. It isn't nearly as well-known as it should be.

Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a down on his luck pulp novel writer, has travelled to Vienna at...