The Third Man (1949)

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

David Ansen

Newsweek

Top 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

Jeff Millar

Houston Chronicle

Top 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

Andrew Sarris

New York Observer

Top Critic

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

May 20, 2003 Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Top 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

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

The Third Man is like the exhausted aftermath of Casablanca.

January 17, 2002 Full Review

Susan Stark

Detroit News

Top 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

Manny Farber

The Nation

As powerful and original now as it was in 1949.

January 2, 2011 Full Review

Scott G. Mignola

Common Sense Media

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

April 20, 2009 Full Review

Film4

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

December 16, 2008 Full Review

Matt Noller

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

Matt Noller

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

Peter Canavese

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

Nick Davis

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

Phil Villarreal

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

Eric Melin

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

James Kendrick

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

Mark Bourne

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

Sean Axmaker

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

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

This will haunt you.

September 23, 2006 Full Review

Empire Magazine

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

August 15, 2006 Full Review

Jamie Russell

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

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

• 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)