Long established in the pantheon of greats, Carol Reed's 1949 noir - written by doleful English novelist Graham Greene - remains a gripping exploration of moral shadowlands. Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) is a naive writer of Western potboilers, reluctantly realising that his childhood friend Harry Lime (a masterful Orson Welles) has become a ruthless racketeer in corruption-riddled, post-war Vienna.
DVD Extras:
Original theatrical trailer, re-release trailer, US opening sequence, The Third Man Lux Theatre radio play, The Third Man: A Ticket To Tangiers radio play, photo gallery, newsreel sewer footage, newsreel of Anton Karas playing the zither theme.The disc's main draw is the digital remastering, which makes the cinematography's giddy angles and adventurous lighting even more startling. The extras focus on the marketing, with a cringe-worthy trailer that emphasises the love triangle element ("Her man was the third man") and crass, albeit intriguing, radio tie-ins. And great though it is, Anton Karas' theme ("he'll have you in a dither with his zither," quips the trailer) is so ubiquitous that, by the final newsreel, you may want to ram that zither where the sun doesn't shine.
