Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.
The Third Man is a landmark of film noir with an exceptionally distinctive visual identity — Robert Krasker's tilted, expressionistic black-and-white cinematography earned a well-deserved Oscar. The plot is tightly constructed with genuine moral complexity, and Orson Welles delivers an iconic performance despite limited screen time. The film's atmosphere of postwar Vienna decay is wholly singular. The ending, while memorably bleak and thematically resonant, is the one element that, while bold, is more of a controlled landing than a truly exceptional payoff — hence the slight pullback there.