Carol Reed

The Third Man

The Third Man

Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime—and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder. Thanks to brilliant performances by Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; Anton Karas's evocative zither score; Graham Greene’s razor-sharp dialogue; and Robert Krasker’s dramatic use of light and shadow, The Third Man, directed by the inimitable Carol Reed, only grows in stature as the years pass.

Film Info

  • United Kingdom
  • 1949
  • 104 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • English
  • Spine #64

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed mono soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich
  • Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by film scholar Dana Polan
  • Shadowing "The Third Man" (2005), a ninety-minute feature documentary on the making of the film
  • Abridged recording of Graham Greene’s treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke
  • "Graham Greene: The Hunted Man," an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC's Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist
  • Who Was the Third Man? (2000), a thirty-minute Austrian documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
  • The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 “A Ticket to Tangiers” episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles; and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man
  • Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer
  • Actor Joseph Cotten’s alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version
  • Archival footage of postwar Vienna
  • A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Lucy Sante (DVD and Blu-ray), Charles Drazin (DVD only) and Philip Kerr (DVD only)

    New cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang

Purchase Options

Collector's Sets

Collector's Set

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

DVD Box Set

50 Discs

$650.00

Out Of Print

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed mono soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich
  • Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by film scholar Dana Polan
  • Shadowing "The Third Man" (2005), a ninety-minute feature documentary on the making of the film
  • Abridged recording of Graham Greene’s treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke
  • "Graham Greene: The Hunted Man," an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC's Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist
  • Who Was the Third Man? (2000), a thirty-minute Austrian documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
  • The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 “A Ticket to Tangiers” episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles; and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man
  • Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer
  • Actor Joseph Cotten’s alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version
  • Archival footage of postwar Vienna
  • A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Lucy Sante (DVD and Blu-ray), Charles Drazin (DVD only) and Philip Kerr (DVD only)

    New cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang
The Third Man
Cast
Orson Welles
Harry Lime
Alida Valli
Anna Schmidt
Trevor Howard
Major Calloway
Ernst Deutsch
Kurtz
Joseph Cotten
Holly Martins
Paul Hoerbiger
Porter
Erich Ponto
Dr. Winkel
Credits
Director
Carol Reed
Producer
Carol Reed
Screenplay
Graham Greene
Cinematography
Robert Krasker
Presented by
Alexander Korda
Presented by
David O. Selznick
Assistant director
Guy Hamilton
Editing
Oswald Hafenrichter
Associate producer
Hugh Perceval
Music
Anton Karas
Sets
Vincent Korda

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The Kordas

Producer, Production Designer

The Kordas
The Kordas

During sound cinema’s first full decade, the Hungarian-born Korda brothers—Alexander, Zoltán, and Vincent—built a British empire. The mastermind behind their legendary company, London Films Productions, was producer, director, writer, and eventual mega-mogul Alex; born Sándor Kellner, he became interested in the art of silent cinema as a teenager in his home country, writing criticism and even founding a movie magazine before finding success making his own films all over Europe. In the late twenties, following a short stint in Hollywood, Alex was sent to England to head up Paramount’s British Production Unit; in 1932, he established London Films and brought aboard his younger siblings, Zoltán as a writer/director and Vincent as a production designer. Their first big hit was The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), which earned Charles Laughton an Oscar and the Kordas international attention. The rest of the thirties held highs (The Rise of Catherine the Great, Elephant Boy) and lows (The Private Life of Don Juan) for the company. But its films—often about historical personalities (Rembrandt) or the exploits of the British Empire abroad (Sanders of the River, The Four Feathers)—remain exemplars of a grand period of British cinema. In the forties, the Kordas only grew in stature—due not only to such immensely popular titles as The Thief of Bagdad and That Hamilton Woman but also to the selection of Alexander, the first film director to be so honored, for knighthood.