“The Third Man” quotes

(1949)
Movie The Third Man
Sir Carol Reed directed this movie in 1949
Title The Third Man
Year 1949
Director Carol Reed
Genre Film-Noir, Thriller, Mystery
Plot – Shortly after the end of the war, Holly Martins, a Canadian writer, goes to Vienna where Harry Lime, his childhood friend, is conducting humanitarian activities. Martins aims to collaborate with him, but he learns that Harry died and at his funeral Martins meets Calloway, the head of the American military police. He reveals him Harry was a criminal, but Martins doesn't believe him and begins to investigate by himself interrogating some of Harry's friends. They tell him only two people were present when the accident occured. He talks again with Calloway who proves Harry was selling falsified penicillin. Martins decides to leave Vienna and goes to say goodbye to Anna, a good Harry's friend. While he's near Anna's house, he notices Harry flesh-and-blood: Martins calls him but the man escapes. Who is the man buried under the name of Harry? And what's going on?
All actors – Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee, Paul Hörbiger, Ernst Deutsch, Siegfried Breuer, Erich Ponto, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Hedwig Bleibtreu, Nelly Arno, Jack Arrow, Harold Ayer, Harry Belcher, Leo Bieber, Paul Birch, Martin Boddey, Madge Brindley, Robert Brown, Ray Browne, Paul Carpenter, Marie-Louise Charlier, Alexis Chesnakov, Guy De Monceau, Reed De Rouen, Jack Faint, Peter Fontaine, Thomas Gallagher, Michael Godfrey, Vernon Greeves, Herbert Halbik, Paul Hardtmuth, Walter Hertner, Lily Kann, Geoffrey Keen, Brookes Kyle, Martin Miller, Hannah Norbert, Eric Pohlmann, Carol Reed, Annie Rosar, Frederick Schreicker, Hugo Schuster, Karel Stepanek, Gordon Tanner, Ernst Ulman, Helga Wahlrow, Jenny Werner
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  • “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.”
    Orson Welles - Harry Lime
  • - Martins: I was going to stay with him, but he died Thursday.
    - Crabbin: Goodness, that's awkward.
    - Martins: Is that what you say to people after death? "Goodness, that's awkward"?

    Joseph Cotten - Holly Martins
    Wilfrid Hyde-White - Crabbin
    [Tag:death, opinions]
  • “A person doesn't change just because you find out more.”
    Alida Valli - Anna Schmidt
    [Tag:changing]
  • “- Martins: Have you ever seen any of your victims?
    - Harry Lime: You know, I never feel comfortable on these sort of things. Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really,...” (continue)
    (continue reading)
    Joseph Cotten - Holly Martins
    Orson Welles - Harry Lime
    [Tag:killing, money]
  • “- Harry Lime: Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't. Why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs - it's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, so have I.
    - Martins: You used to believe in God.
    - Harry Lime: Oh, I still do believe in God, old man. I believe...” (continue)
    (continue reading)
    Orson Welles - Harry Lime
    Joseph Cotten - Holly Martins
    [Tag:death, faith, people]
  • “- Calloway: Death's at the bottom of everything, Martins. Leave death to the professionals.
    - Martins: Mind if I use that line in my next Western?”

    Trevor Howard - Maj. Calloway
    Joseph Cotten - Holly Martins
    [Tag:death, job]
Highlights