This year was quite a mix of genres. For Western: She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Musicals & Comedies were represented by: On The Town, It’s A Great Feeling, and Adam’s Rib. Children’s films had quite a selection with Little Women, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and The Secret Garden. It was mainly a year of major drama: A Letter To Three Wives, All the President’s Men, 12 O’Clock High and today’s selection: The Third Man.
The Third Man written by Graham Green and starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, and Alida Valli. This is an intense drama made even better by stunning black and white cinematography for which it won an Oscar as well as a BAFTA for Best British Film.
Set in postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to find him dead. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a “third man” present at the time of Harry’s death, running into interference from British officer Maj. Calloway and falling head-over-heels for Harry’s grief-stricken lover, Anna.
The Third Man Theme is still recognizable 70 years after the fact even if people don’t know the source. The restored trailer.
