The Thrid Man (1949)

The Third Man is a 104-minute running British elegant Hollywood felony drama, which was released during 1949. The movie was produced and directed by an English movie director, Carol Reed and starring Alida Valli, Joseph Cotton, Trevor Howard and Orson Welles. The Third Man is considered one among the greatest all time movies, renowned for its impressive cinematography, musical score and performances. Graham Greene, an English writer and novelist, wrote the screenplay and then published the short story of the similar name. Anton Karas, a zither player and musician from Vienna, wrote and performed the score that employed only the zither. The title music of the movie topped the global music charts during 1950, bringing the then-unidentified musician to the international fame.

Some ins and outs of the movie

Orson Welles, an American actor, director and writer, evaded fabrication assistants and assistant director, Guy Hamilton while touring in Europe when he was expected to be on location filming in Vienna. During the unanticipated absence of Welles, Carol Reed had to film just about him, getting many stunning shots in the sewers, observed in the completed film. Many body doubles for Welles were employed, included Hamilton, who was prepared to be dressed in a padded coat and an extra-large hat to approximate the larger size of Welles. Carol Reed himself doubled for the hands of Welles when they attain through the sewer grate. When Welles lastly arrived, he was two weeks late.

The Police Department of Vienna has an individual unit that is allotted exclusively to patrol the intricate drainage system of the city because its network of interlocking channels create immense hiding places for criminals escaping from the law, drugs, stolen property, etc. The performers playing police executives in The Third Man movie were, in fact, off-duty associates of that unit.

Style of the movie

The distinctive exploit of black-and-white expressionist photography by Robert Krasker, a cinematographer from Australia, with insensitive lighting and unclear "Dutch angle" camera angles, is a key quality of the movie. The style of the movie, which is combined with the matchless theme music, seedy places, and much-admired performances from the cast, stirs up the atmosphere of a tired, pessimistic, post-war Vienna at the beginning of the Cold War. A few critics at the time disparaged the strange camera angles of the movie.

Principal cinematography

Six weeks of major cinematography was shot in place in Vienna, ending on the 11th of December 1948. Then, the production of the movie moved to Shepperton studios close to London and the Isleworth Worton Hall Studios and was finished during March 1949. The Harry Lime scenes in the sewer were shot in place or on sets constructed at Shepperton. The majority of the location shots employed doubles for Welles. However, Reed asserted that, in spite of initial unwillingness, Welles rapidly became eager, and resided in Vienna to finish the movie. The team sprayed water on the paved streets to create them to reproduce light at nighttime. Carol Reed had four dissimilar camera units shooting about Vienna for the period of the production. He worked all through the day, using the Benzedrine drub to continue awake.

Nominations and awards

The Third Man movie was nominated for Oscar for the Best Director and the Best Film Editing category and it won the award for the Best Cinematography during 1951.

The movie was nominated for BAFTA Awards for the Best Film from any Source category and it won the award during 1950.

The movie was nominated for the Directors Guild of America, USA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures during 1950.

It won the National Board of Review, USA award for Top Foreign Films category in 1950.

The Third Man movie won the Online Film & Television Association award for the best Motion Picture category in 2006.