Live stream preview

Watch this video and more on BFI Player Classics

Watch this video and more on BFI Player Classics

Start your free trial Learn more

Already subscribed? Sign in

The Third Man

Thriller & Mystery • Classics, Crime, Thriller, A, 31-Aug-1949

One of the greatest British films, Carol Reed's classic very consciously emphasises its time and place - post-war Vienna - yet its resonant themes around loss of innocence and a fall from grace render it timeless. Joseph Cotten plays the writer searching the Austrian capital for his missing friend, Harry Lime. He's disturbed to discover that Lime recently died, but soon begins to doubt the official version of events.

Tags
Vienna, Aftermath of war, Black market, Missing persons
Cast
Joseph Cotton Holly Martin
Orson Wells Harry Lime
Alida Valli Anna Schmidt
Trevor Howard Major Calloway
Crew
Carol Reed director

Up Next in Thriller & Mystery

  • The Limey
    1:28:42
    The Limey

    The Limey

    An English career criminal (Stamp) who travels to the United States to investigate the recent suspicious death of his daughter.

  • The Internecine Project
    1:25:06
    The Internecine Project

    The Internecine Project

    Hollywood legend James Coburn (Cross of Iron) stars as Robert Elliot, a former secret agent given the job opportunity of a lifetime: adviser to the President of the United States. However, he has some skeletons in his closet that need eliminating, namely the four people aware of his shady past. E...

  • The Eagle Has Landed
    2:15:32
    The Eagle Has Landed

    The Eagle Has Landed

    A Nazi Strike Force plots to kidnap Winston Churchill while he is resting in a desolate Norfolk village. Colonel Radl (Duvall), Colonel Stenier (Caine) and Liam Devlin (Sutherland) are enlisted to carry out the operation, which if successful, would irrevocably alter the outcome of the war. Disgui...

×