Opening

47% The Great Gatsby May 10
33% Peeples May 10
94% Stories We Tell May 10
100% The Painting May 10
—— Assault On Wall Street May 10
53% Aftershock May 10
86% Sightseers May 10
40% No One Lives May 10

Top Box Office

78% Iron Man 3 $174.1M
46% Pain & Gain $7.5M
77% 42 $6.1M
56% Oblivion $5.6M
69% The Croods $4.2M
8% The Big Wedding $3.9M
98% Mud $2.2M
60% Oz the Great and Powerful $2.1M
4% Scary Movie 5 $1.4M
81% The Place Beyond The Pines $1.3M

Coming Soon

88% Star Trek Into Darkness May 16
29% Erased May 17
100% Frances Ha May 17
—— The English Teacher May 17
The Third Man Play Trailer

The Third Man (1949)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 9.1/10
Reviews Counted: 60
Fresh: 60 | Rotten: 0

This atmospheric thriller is one of the undisputed masterpieces of cinema, and boasts iconic performances from Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.

100

Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 0

This atmospheric thriller is one of the undisputed masterpieces of cinema, and boasts iconic performances from Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.

audience

93

liked it
Average Rating: 4.3/5
User Ratings: 47,241

My Rating

Movie Info

In this Cold War spy classic, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a third-rate American pulp novelist, arrives in postwar Vienna, where he has been promised a job by his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Upon his arrival, Martins discovers that Lime has been killed in a traffic accident, and that his funeral is taking place immediately. At the graveside, Martins meets outwardly affable Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) and actress Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), who is weeping copiously. When Calloway

Unrated,

Mystery & Suspense, Classics

Graham Greene (I)

Nov 30, 1999

Selznick

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

All Critics (63) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (70) | Rotten (0) | DVD (28)

It transformed the way I looked at the world.

November 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Newsweek
Newsweek
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Welles gives Harry a mask of irony that turns all moral judgment back on itself. He turns a mass murderer into a wry rogue, and makes his villainy all the more horrifying because we rather like him.

July 21, 2005 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Seen today, The Third Man ... can be appreciated as a prophetic statement on the eventual moral bankruptcy of the one-world euphoria that clouded men's minds immediately after the second 'war to end all wars.'

April 22, 2004
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Top credit must go to Mr. Reed for molding all possible elements into a thriller of superconsequence.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

For lovers of film noir, The Third Man is unquestionably a must-see -- one of the masterpieces of a genre that has contained everything from milestone motion pictures to low-budget potboilers.

August 29, 2002 Full Review Source: ReelViews
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Third Man is like the exhausted aftermath of Casablanca.

January 17, 2002 Full Review Source: Detroit News
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie's verve comes from the abstract use of a jangling zither and from squirting Orson Welles into the plot piece-meal with a tricky, facetious eyedropper.

August 29, 2012 Full Review Source: The Nation
The Nation

As powerful and original now as it was in 1949.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

One of British cinema's most enduring and atmospheric thrillers. A genuine and endlessly rewatchable classic.

April 20, 2009 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

An already near-essential DVD release of an essential noir, updated for the high-def age.

December 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Directors like Reed and Wilder created an environment of spatial and moral confusion in which their pulpy narratives could take on the ethical weight of a Biblical proverb.

December 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine

Greene's story and screenplay, which he accurately described as "a comic thriller," is a gift that keeps on giving, with patter that's never less than brilliant. [Criterion Blu-ray]

December 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews
Groucho Reviews

If The Third Man is a tragedy, it isn't just the tragedy of a hobbled city, scribbled with ruins and parsed into zones of occupation that can't communicate and don't cooperate.

September 13, 2008 Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks
Nick's Flick Picks

As you watch the film, you feel as though the screen is tilted higher, glowering over you as you wince in its devastating presence, which is probably how Martins felt scurrying through the Vienna darkness.

July 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star
Arizona Daily Star

...a model of shrewd plotting and subtle characterization. The dead soul of an amoral man stands in for a cynical attitude that spread like a plague after World War II.

June 15, 2007 Full Review Source: Scene-Stealers.com
Scene-Stealers.com

one of the most influential films in Western cinema, its shadow ultimately looming larger than any one of its individual collaborators

June 9, 2007 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk
Q Network Film Desk

It's a suspense-thriller-romance steeped in Hollywood's best influences and 'gimmicks,' yet it's crafted with enough looming European 'art-house' style to topple Fritz Lang into an existential funk.

May 29, 2007 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com
DVDJournal.com

... one of the most beloved of movies of all time, a crisp, clever, witty, yet serious international thriller, with a dramatic ambiguity and a satirical edge.

May 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Turner Classic Movies Online
Turner Classic Movies Online

It isn't hard to see why so many people love the film; it has the right stars, setting, mystery, atmosphere, humor, and music to set it apart.

May 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis
Movie Metropolis

This will haunt you.

September 23, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

An iconic film noir that's still fresh despite being familiar.

August 15, 2006 Full Review Source: BBC

An undisputed masterpiece, this movie captures the mood of Vienna in post-WWII like no other, and is also a testimony to film as a collaborative art, benefiting from Greene's writing, Reed's direction, and stellar cast with Orson Welles at his scariest

July 28, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

Audience Reviews for The Third Man

It's difficult not to be captivated by this outstanding film-noir.

Full review at themoviefreakblog.com on 11/28
November 26, 2011
spielberg00

Super Reviewer

If you take away Welles it wouldn't be that memorable, and even with him, the movie is still not that memorable. What do you remember about this aside from Welles lines, the photography, and the theme song? Having trouble remembering anything else? That's because most of the story dances around a "plot twist" or discovery or whatever it is that is hardly exciting, and all too predictable (Lime is alive, duh) and our main lead is a doofus, and not exactly the charming type, just a helpless goon going around from one point to another. The switch he has at the end in his confrontation with his old friend ends up feeling like a super moralistic preachy lesson about "doing the right thing". I can see why this movie has stand the test of time, but it's merits are rather shortcoming. Not bad, just not great.
July 19, 2011
DragonEyeMorrison
Tsubaki Sanjuro

Super Reviewer

    1. Harry Lime: In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. They producedd Michaelangelo, da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.
    – Submitted by rick b (14 months ago)
    1. Anna Schmidt: Honest, Sensible Holly martins. Holly. What a silly name!
    – Submitted by Mithil B (14 months ago)
    1. Harry Lime: Like the fella says, 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, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
    – Submitted by Emily G (15 months ago)
    1. Harry Lime: In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, and they had 500 years of democracy and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)

Discussion Forum

Topic Last Post Replies
The 3rd Man 5 months ago 0

Latest News on The Third Man

February 4, 2009:
Exclusive: Inside Pinewood/Shepperton - A Photo Tour
Every year, the BAFTA film awards present a trophy for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema....

Foreign Titles

  • Der dritte Mann (DE)
  • Le Troisième homme (FR)
Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile