Written by Graham Greene as a piece of entertainment, as opposed to one of his more “serious” theological works, and yet still full of Catholic themes that probe beneath the surface of humanity, The Third Man is one of THE great films and famous for its noir filled vision of post-war Vienna and the signature zither music that accompanies it. Steeped in an indescribable atmosphere where shadows hide truth and evil lurks behind the most charismatic of personalities, The Third Man is a marvel of storytelling and filmmaking. Holly Martins is offered a job by his old friend Harry Lime, however, when he arrives to Vienna, he finds his friend dead in a suspicious accident, leaving him to unravel the truth and discover the identity of the enigmatic “third man” at the scene of the crime.

IN THIS POST

*Harry Vs. Holly by Fr. Peter Kwak

*Vienna, Anna and Forgiveness By A.A. Crayley

*A Reflection on Holly by Benard Chedid

*Harry, Holly and The Third Man by Jeremy Ambrose

*Fantasy vs Fact: What Do Women Really Want (and Need)? By A.A. Crayley

———————————————————————————————————————————-

Warning: The reflections below contain spoilers. The aim is to share these insights with all who are inspired to watch this film and help to draw out even more from the experience. So watch the film first and read the reflections afterwards…

Harry Vs. Holly by Fr. Peter Kwak

Harry and Holly used to fight over women. Presumably, Harry won most of the fights, just as he did in their last fight (over Anna) literally from beyond the grave! How did Harry win the fight? With devilish charm. He managed to convince Anna that he loved her outrageously more than he really did. Poor Anna, if only she knew how readily he was willing to betray her! Nevertheless, there was no doubt in Anna’s mind that their love was true and strong enough to survive the shocking revelations of deceit, murder and crimes against children, just to mention a few items on Harry’s list of problems. At the end, Holly seemed ready to risk everything to be with her. But Anna didn’t need to think twice about walking right past him, as though he still meant nothing to her, even after Harry had been pronounced dead for the second time. Such was the power that Harry had over Anna; it was seductive, irresistible and, for lack of a better word, enslaving.

How did Holly lose the fight against a man who was supposed to be dead even before the film started? Perhaps, that’s why he lost, because he was fighting a dead man. Sure, Harry only faked his death the first time around and therefore was technically still alive. But, in another sense, he really was dead. He was so “dead” that he was willing to forsake his true identity and embrace soulless existence as the Third Man. He lost his soul but gained the devilish charm of soullessness, with all its empty promises and glamour. It is no wonder that Holly lost the fight; he was hopelessly outclassed by the devil incarnate.

Foolishly, Holly spoke the language of the soul – the language of the heart – against a soulless opponent. When he saved Anna, he was willing to let her go and watch her from a distance, without ever telling her what he had done for her. What an untainted language of the heart, crying out to its beloved in its gentlest voice! Too bad it fell on deaf ears. He loved her by allowing her to be totally free, even to the end, when he protested not against her aloofness. Too bad she was not free; she was still under the seductive, irresistible and enslaving spell of the soulless Third Man. Holly, what a fool, what a loser! He really had no right to win “the girl”.

Of course, who won the audience’s heart is a whole other story.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

*Vienna, Anna and Forgiveness By A.A. Crayley

The Third Man is a deeply unsettling movie. In the opening scenes, we see the city of Vienna as one where people are busily engaged in conversations and daily activities. There is a great sense of liveliness and even joy in these activities, particularly as we are also shown how badly parts of the city have been damaged during the Second World War. Yet this appearance of normality is undermined by the narrator, whose voice we later recognise as belonging to one of the main characters in the film: Harry Lime (Orson Wells). Lime introduces us to life in Vienna by telling us in a rapid, smooth patter how the authorities are in disarray and how canny traders can take advantage of this to profit from the system. Lime oozes cynicism. He sounds more like a jaded sales person pitching a product rather than a citizen trading to rebuild the city in which he lives. The unsettling idea of positive society rebuilding being undermined by harmful activity is compounded by the oddly upbeat zither melody heard throughout the film. After watching these scenes, I was left with many questions: how has this strange situation come about, and what implications exist for the other characters in the film? Where will they choose to stand?

The physical city of Vienna, with its vacant areas of rubble and twisted metal adjacent to ornate, intact buildings acts an eloquent symbol for the characters trying to rebuild society who live alongside those merely seeking to profit from misfortune. Like a human body with wounds that allow bacteria to enter and breed, the scars of Vienna and its dissection into four parts allow parasitic traders like Lime to enter and thrive. Society, like the city, badly needs penicillin to counteract infection. But who has the full-strength dose of integrity to succeed?

In the same way that the city has been divided up and ruled by four Allied powers, Lime’s powerful position as an underworld figure determines which “side of the line” the other characters choose for themselves. Holly Martins’ relentless search for the “third man” at the accident and his dogged search for truth identify him as a character working for good – he is one of the rebuilders of society, regardless of his lack of money or worldly success. In contrast, the other male characters working with Lime try to dissuade Martins from his investigations and even resort to murder to protect their underworld activities from being discovered.

Anna, however, is the only major character who does not appear to have chosen a side on which to stand. Anna could be the most mysterious figure in the film – even more mysterious than the elusive Lime, given that we are privy to Lime’s world view and disregard for human life through his speeches as a narrator and to Martins on the ferris wheel. We can make no mistake about where Lime stands when he explains “What would it matter if one of those people, one of those tiny dots down there, were to disappear?”

Unlike Lime, Anna does not allow us to determine her motives with any certainty; she obliges us to reserve our judgement about her complicity in Lime’s activities or her complete innocence. We see her grief when she believes Lime to be dead, we see her attempt to find the truth by accompanying Martins on his investigations; she even reminisces with Martins about her love for Lime. Although Anna seems surprised when she is informed by the authorities that Lime diluted penicillin to sell to sick clients, we know Anna is a professional actress in Vienna… can we ever be sure of her innocence? We understand Anna’s deep gratitude to Lime for helping her remain in Vienna, we can even understand her intense loyalty when she encourages Lime to flee. But Anna’s true thoughts remain obscured. Indeed, she seems intent on maintaining her composure by walking out of the film in the final scene to continue her life off-camera. Importantly, Martins allows her to do this freely; he does not accuse or attempt to stop her.

By concealing her thoughts and moral view, Anna may highlight the necessity of forgiveness and its function of healing and renewing life. The film’s author, Graham Greene, may have intended this idea to have a general application, one that was particularly relevant after the Second World War when many people in Europe were accused of being complicit in activities which had harmed others. The Third Man highlights the importance of upholding truth and seeking justice by acknowledging wrongdoing. The characters of Anna and Martins also show that truth and justice must be accompanied by forgiveness to enable people, and society as a whole, to eventually recover from trauma and be truly alive.

————————————————————————————————————————————

*A Reflection on Holly by Benard Chedid

Watching the Third Man was an interesting experience to say the least. It is one of the great films of cinema history and yet for quite a long while I was not engaged in the film. Though the plot was being developed and characters fleshed out I was impatient to just find out what the whole point was as the lead character, Holly Martins, was bumbling all over the place and acting like a stereotypical American. Martins seemed, just by the virtue of his race, to demand that the whole world stop and take notice of him and his ‘vital’ mission and the self-importance was grating. However as the film progressed and a reveal occurred that changed the tempo, it changed the way that I viewed Martins and his mission and he became a sympathetic character searching for black and white in a world of grays and the longer he tried to shine a light on events, the further down he was dragged into dark and secret affairs where friends and enemies became indistinguishable.

—————————————————————————————————————————————

*Harry, Holly and The Third Man by Jeremy Ambrose

Click here to read ‘Harry, Holly and The Third Man’

—————————————————————————————————————————————

*Fantasy vs Fact: What Do Women Really Want (and Need)? By A.A. Crayley

Click here to read “Fantasy vs Fact: What Do Women Really Want (and Need)?”