CS Weekly Archive > DVD > 06/01/07

Moral Relativity at its Best

By jason davis

The Criterion Collection revisits Graham Greene's story of an unwary American investigating his friend's death in post-war Vienna in a new special edition that highlights both the film's skillful blend of suspense and social commentary as well as its author. Spoilers follow, so proceed with caution.

The Third Man (Criterion Collection)

Graham Greene

Lured to war-torn Vienna by the promise of a job, hack Western novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) arrives to discover his childhood friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) has been killed in a mysterious car accident. Despite warnings from British sector controller Major Callaway (Trevor Howard), Martins begins an investigation into Lime's death and the unidentified third man alleged to have witnessed the event. Along the way, the author attempts to woo Lime's illegally documented girlfriend Anna Schmidt (Valli) while unraveling the details of his deceased friend's dealings with the Austrian black market. Combining a pessimistic examination of the post-war period with a cracking mystery and ample doses of quirky humor, Greene crafts a masterpiece of moral relativity that fits comfortably within his oeuvre of cynical stories wittily told.

Greene doesn't waste a scene as he plunges the viewer into a divided Vienna, with sectors ruled by American, British, Soviet, and French forces. The setting is quickly established, as are the enigmatic characters dwelling within it. Martins is a drunken loser bumbling into a country where his naiveté is certain to rock the boat. Schmidt is so besotted with Lime that she seems ambivalent to her Soviet exile and the implicit oppression it entails. Callaway is the voice of caution warning those that will listen (only the audience, alas) that Lime was not the pal or paramour the others believed him to be, but a criminal of the worst caliber. Greene fills out the first act with a cast of memorably eccentric characters, not the least of which is the city itself. Indeed, the audio commentaries point out how director Carol Reed availed himself of the city's local color to embroider the movie's unique atmosphere. Schmidt's Turkish landlady (Hedwig Bleibtreu), whose German ramblings remain untranslated as she shouts at intruding policemen, Harry's porter (Paul Hörbiger) and his broken English, and a drunken balloon vendor (uncredited) who accosts Calloway during a stakeout all introduce the audience to a city of eccentrics. The decision to leave their dialogue untranslated puts the audience on similar footing with Martins as he's forced to rely on Schmidt's unreliable translation to piece together what's going on.

It would be virtually impossible to fully appreciate The Third Man without acknowledging that it provides one of the best character entrances in the history of cinema. For an hour, Martins—and the audience—explore the mysterious circumstances of Lime's demise. At each appearance, Major Calloway warns the protagonist and the audience that Lime was a scoundrel involved in the most sinister of dealings and that he's a character that bettered the world with his death. A contrasting opinion is offered by Schmidt, who sees her dead lover and the passport he forged as the only thing standing between her and deportation to the Soviet Union. When Lime is finally revealed to be alive—illuminated by accident in a Viennese doorway late at night—the entire movie takes an unexpected turn as Martins and the viewer are forced to reevaluate what's been said about the character. And what a character! He delivers the film's most memorable speech, contrasting the accomplishments of Borgia-ruled Italy (Da Vinci, Michelangelo, the Renaissance) with those of peace-loving democratic Switzerland (the cuckoo clock) and defines his own self-image after an hour of other people coloring his character one way or another.

Harry Lime is the avatar of moral relativity. He's an unabashed capitalist who eludes capture by hiding in the Soviet sector of the city. From atop Vienna's Ferris wheel, he asks Martins if the latter would consider 25,000 pounds a worthwhile price for the life of each person going about their business below. In asking, Lime poses the same question that men like Churchill and Truman asked of their soldiers before ordering them to bomb cities like Vienna, Dresden, and Hiroshima. Does the fact that Lime indirectly caused death with diluted penicillin make him any more evil then Allied soldiers personally bombing cities under orders? These are the questions Greene's cynical script asks of its audience, and though the film continues to regard Lime as the heavy, it never completely answers the quandary. These are the notions that the movie leaves banging around the mind after the climactic chase through Viennese sewers culminates in Martins' only decisive action.

- Video introduction by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
- Audio commentary by filmmakers Steven Soderbergh and Tony Gilroy
- Audio commentary by film scholar Dana Polan
- Abridged recording of Greene's treatment read by actor Richard Clarke
- Shadowing the Third Man documentary
- Omnibus: "The Hunted Man: Graham Greene"
- Who Was The Third Man? documentary
- The Lives of Harry Lime: "A Ticket to Tangiers" radio episode written and performed by Welles
- Lux Radio Theatre radio adaptation of The Third Man
- Illustrated production history
- Cotten's opening narration from the US version
- Archival footage of post war Vienna
- Translations of the untranslated scenes
- Essays by scholars Luc Sante, Charles Drazin, and Philip Kerr

Criterion's new edition of The Third Man provides a wealth of insight into the screenplay that ranked first on the British Film Institute's list of the 100 top British films of the 20th century. Filmmakers Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Thirteen) and Tony Gilroy (the upcoming The Bourne Ultimatum and Michael Clayton) discuss everything from the differences between Greene's prose and screenwriting to the audience's presumed awareness of Welles' role and how it affects the watching of the film. Another commentary finds scholar Dana Polan indulging in some thoughtful literary criticism and social contextualization. A third option allows the viewer to listen to an abridgment of Greene's treatment (eventually released as a novella) while watching the film. The 90-minute Shadowing the Third Man documentary delves into the film's creation and production with particular emphasis on Greene's inspiration for Lime—Kim Philby, one of the infamous Cambridge Five who were revealed to be Soviet agents. An edition of the BBC arts program Omnibus features an exploration of Greene's work alongside lengthy interviews with the author concerning his fiction, his religion, and his politics. The versatility of the story is showcased with a radio production of both the film and a sample episode of The Many Lives of Harry Lime wherein the character is played as a heroic adventurer in a script written and performed by Welles himself. Copious notes on Vienna, a selection of translations for the untranslated scenes in the film, and essays by several authorities on the film round out an extraordinary array of supplements.

Even if you can get the movie's hypnotic zither score out of your head, the enigmatic Harry Lime and his selfish dismissal of human life will wander your conscience like a Viennese sewer, reiterating Greene's questions about our society and what we're willing to sacrifice for our own benefit. Character is key in the cinematic masterpiece and Lime is one of the best-written characters in the medium.

The Third Man (Criterion Collection)
The Criterion Collection
Not rated; 104 min.
$39.95

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Jason Davis is the DVD Manager for CS Weekly , a contributing editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and has written for Cinescape.com, MSN.com, and created the TV series Studio 13, which ran on Lorne Michaels' Burly TV network. He lives in the small space left over by his ever-expanding library of books, movies, and music.

The Third Man (Criterion Collection) courtesy The Criterion Collection

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