Watching Carol Reed’s
superb 1949 film The Third Man again, not long after reading Eric Ambler’s
novel of ten years earlier, The Mask of
Dimitrios, I was struck by the similarities between the novel and Graham
Greene’s screenplay. Both feature an apparently dead villain whose story is
sought after by a rather naive popular novelist, and the two story-lines
develop (despite many differences) in a broadly comparable way.
There can be
little doubting Ambler’s influence on Greene, yet The Third Man remains a
distinctive and enjoyable piece of work, and it is, I think, a very good
example of how one story-teller can properly borrow from another, and yet still
make his work very much his own.
The setting in post-war
Vienna is highly atmospheric, and of course the famous sewer sequence, as well
as the scenes shot near to the Wiener Reisenrad, which long pre-dates The
Millennium Wheel, are intensely memorable. The cinematography is complemented
by Anton Karas’ zither music, and “The Harry Lime Theme” became an
international hit.
Greene’s narrative has
plenty of pleasing twists and turns, as well as a downbeat ending, and he and
director Carol Reed are extremely well served by the cast. This includes those
British stalwarts Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee and Wilfred Hyde-White, as well as
Joseph Cotten and, best of all, Orson Welles. It is, at heart, a story about friendship
and betrayal, and is a first rate example of how a tale that is very much of
its time can nevertheless stand the test of time.
