Despite not feeling like it should work on paper, Carol Reed’s The Third Man continues to be perhaps the greatest film noir ever made.
Director: Carol Reed
Genre: Noir
Run Time: 93′
4K Restoration Release: September 6, 2024
Where to watch: in UK cinemas
On paper, The Third Man shouldn’t work. There’s no reason why a 1940s film noir, where it feels like almost every other shot is a dutch angle, should be accompanied by a goofy banjo score that would feel right at home in an animated kids show, but yet here, it just works. See, there’s something magical about The Third Man.
The director, Carol Reed, weaves together various cinematic techniques to create an almost entirely unique experience, one that at times, almost feels like a showreel for what can be accomplished in the medium of film. It’s truly a testament to cinema, and with every frame, Reed makes a remarkably compelling case for why the artform should continue to exist.
Unfortunately for myself, The Third Man isn’t just a film that feels like it shouldn’t work on paper. It’s also one that’s almost impossible to do justice in a review, especially in regards to its story. The premise is quite simple: American writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives in Vienna to see his childhood friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), only to find out that he’s died, reportedly from getting hit by a car. Though, when stories start to differ, Martins decides to take it upon himself to investigate Lime’s death. As he does so, he meets and becomes entangled with Lime’s girlfriend, Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli).
As you’d expect from a story built around a central mystery, The Third Man has a few big twists and turns that, unfortunately, as I want to keep this review spoiler-free, I’m going to just have to vaguely say are very interesting and exciting, in hopes that you’ll trust me and that will be enough to convince you of the narrative’s quality. What makes The Third Man so great is that it’s not just the journey that’s the exciting part. I find with so many films revolving around a mystery, they often can’t provide you with satisfying enough answers.
Of course, it makes sense, because most of the time you’ve just spent about an hour and a half slowly watching someone attempt to solve a mystery. It’s naturally going to be hard for any writer to pay that off in a way that keeps the excitement going. The example I always point to is Scream movies, which I feel like always lose a bit of the charm when the main killer is unmasked and the mystery is lost. Mysteries are an inherently exciting concept, they don’t have to do much to pull a viewer in, they just have to promise the reward of finding out information. The human brain always wants to fill in the blank, we don’t like having information kept from us, so mysteries provide writers with an easy hook, especially in the case of murders, where the high stakes add a certain amount of thrills for free.
Yet, when it comes to time to pay that mystery off, well, it makes sense why that’s the part that so many writers falter on. It’s very easy to present a mystery, but it’s very hard to then pay that off. You have to find an answer that both makes sense logically, doesn’t come out of nowhere, is satisfying to the audience, and is still thrilling and entertaining to watch unfold. It’s not an easy balance to pull off in the slightest. What The Third Man has though, that a lot of other films don’t, is a little thing called Orson Welles. As a diehard Citizen Kane (1941) fan, I’ve always found Welles to be one of the most magnetic, charming actors to ever live. I’m a strong believer that his documentary F For Fake (1973) is one of the greatest films ever made, almost entirely because of the entrancing way that he presents it.
Welles has an unrivalled screen presence, and from the second he shows up in The Third Man, he completely takes it over. He provides Reed’s film with the spark it needs to maintain that sense of excitement that so many other mystery films lose over the course of their runtime. If Welles ever played Scream’s iconic Ghostface, then I’m sure I would have enjoyed the last act of those movies significantly more. With his bizarre, unique line deliveries and absurd amount of charisma, he helps lift the film up just when its narrative is starting to struggle under the weight of its own mystery, and ensures that The Third Man will forever be remembered as one of the best film noirs ever made.
Of course, it’s not just Welles who we have to thank for The Third Man being as good as it is. Anton Karas’ score and its almost whimsical and quirky nature is unusual, sure, but it provides the film with a firm identity of its own. Yes, it may not have felt out of place in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants (2000-), but what other film noir score can you say that about? Reed’s iconic noir is a masterclass in tonal balance, and Karas’ score is just another piece of the greater puzzle. Reed takes these elements that, in isolation, probably shouldn’t work, like Karas’ banjo and Welles’ larger-than-life performance and mashes them together to create a mood and an atmosphere unlike anything ever seen before.
Almost every frame of The Third Man is a visual marvel, employing all kinds of cinematic techniques. There’s plenty of dutch angles, sure, but what I found even more interesting is the way that Reed uses shadows. He puts his main character in a situation and a location that is brand new to him, and builds this world to be one constantly cloaked in mystery. Reed places silhouettes around every corner, plasters every wall with them, creating a city that almost doesn’t feel real. It’s an atmosphere that I don’t think has ever been captured again to this extent, and perhaps the biggest reason why the movie has gone on to be one the most critically acclaimed noirs of all time. Simply put, no other film in its genre looks or feels quite like it.
A new 4K restoration of The Third Man will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on September 6, 2024. For the first time ever, the film also will be available on 4K UHD Anniversary Collector’s Edition this Autumn.
