Film Review: Classic ‘The Third Man’ coming to local theater

“The Third Man” — the second of three collaborations between director Carol Reed and novelist Graham Greene — slipped into public domain decades ago. As a result, the copies in video stores and TV libraries have generally been generations of dupes away from the original prints. When I first saw it as a teen, I assumed that it was a low-budget production or the victim of technical problems caused by shooting in the ruins of Vienna. Now that the film has finally gone through a major restoration, the improvements reveal how great the visuals are and how unfortunate those dupes may have been to the film’s standing.

Joseph Cotten plays Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, who is lured to Vienna with a job offer from longtime friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Sadly, he arrives just in time for Lime’s funeral, which is attended by one beautiful woman (Alida Valli), a few shady looking characters, and a bunch of military police. The head policeman (Trevor Howard) infuriates Martins by insisting that Lime was a particularly evil black market profiteer. Martins, ever the naive American, is determined to prove his friend’s innocence.

For the first two-thirds of the film, Lime is the subject of every conversation — the central character despite (or because of) his absence. When he finally does appear on screen — for mere seconds and surrounded by shadows — the moment is unforgettable, an iconic shot that somehow positions Welles as the star of the film. Lime is in only three scenes; Welles is on screen for no more than 10 minutes in all.

From shortly after the initial release, the film’s score has (depending on your point of view) either kept the movie’s reputation alive or overshadowed and obscured it. Reed hired Anton Karas, whose twangy zither is the only instrument we hear (multitracked at times). The score is more or less wall to wall; the volume is cranked up whenever there’s no dialogue.

The main theme is doubtless known to millions who have no idea where it came from; it’s likely that it was a major reason “The Third Man” was spun off into a radio series and then a TV show (with Harry Lime as a good-guy adventurer).

Because of the striking, noirish style, and because Welles dominated the whole in his minimal screen time, he is often suspected of having directed parts — an assertion denied by virtually everyone who was there (including Welles). It’s certainly insulting to Reed, who made a number of first-rate movies. Welles’ only “behind the scenes” contribution was the movie’s best remembered and most quoted line: “In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, and they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

While it’s quite possible that Reed was influenced by Welles — who wasn’t? — the reverse is likely true as well. The tone of “Touch of Evil” is similar; its tinkly piano resembles Karas’ zither; and its final scenes — Welles being shot by his best friend, Tana’s last couple of lines, and her long walk away — have an undeniable similarity to “The Third Man.”

“The Third Man” opens Friday at the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena.

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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).