Holly Martins, écrivain de romans de gare, se rend dans une Vienne ténébreuse d'après-guerre et se retrouve à enquêter sur la mort mystérieuse de son vieil ami, Harry Lime.Holly Martins, écrivain de romans de gare, se rend dans une Vienne ténébreuse d'après-guerre et se retrouve à enquêter sur la mort mystérieuse de son vieil ami, Harry Lime.Holly Martins, écrivain de romans de gare, se rend dans une Vienne ténébreuse d'après-guerre et se retrouve à enquêter sur la mort mystérieuse de son vieil ami, Harry Lime.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
- Récompensé par 1 Oscar
- 6 victoires et 4 nominations au total
- Anna Schmidt
- (as Valli)
- Karl
- (as Paul Hoerbiger)
- Kurtz's Mother
- (non crédité)
- International Patrol A
- (non crédité)
- Soldier
- (non crédité)
- Man Chasing Holly
- (non crédité)
- Casanova Barman
- (non crédité)
- Military Policeman
- (non crédité)
- Russian Military Policeman
- (non crédité)
Résumé
Avis à la une
But in searching for details of Lime's death, Holly gets contradictory stories that don't add up. One of the persons who knew Lime is an attractive woman named Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli) whose continued presence in the story invites suspicion. The film's plot has Holly searching for the truth about his friend, while trying to stave off a city detective, Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) who tries to persuade Holly to leave Vienna.
The film's story is okay. But what makes "The Third Man" really interesting is the B&W cinematography, by Robert Krasker. Unlike most films, camera movement here is restricted, so as to draw attention to each frame's geometry. Typically in this film, a frame is tilted at an angle so that both vertical and horizontal points of reference are off-kilter. Frame images thus become a series of diagonal straight lines and curves. Further, very high-contrast lighting, especially in outdoor scenes at night, creates a bizarre, almost nightmarish look and feel, and are suggestive of German Expressionism.
All of which results in a visual disorientation for viewers that parallels Holly's disorientation both in the streets of Vienna and in his understanding of the circumstances surrounding Lime's absence. In most outdoor scenes there's a conspicuous lack of crowds, a lack of hubbub one would expect in a bustling city. Instead, only a few secondary characters appear in night scenes. This sparseness in characters on the streets conveys the impression that hidden eyes are watching Holly, ready to pounce at any moment from out of dark shadows.
"Everybody ought to (be) careful in a city like this", says one character to Holly, as an implied threat. Soon, a man who wants to give Holly some valuable information is murdered.
The script's dialogue is quite impressive, with some interesting lines and points of view. Some of the dialogue is in German, which enhances authenticity.
The film's acting and editing are very, very good. Adding a slightly romantic, and at times melancholy, tone to this dark film is the music of the "zither", an instrument similar to a guitar, but sounding quite different.
My one complaint about this film is that it's hard to keep tabs on some of the background characters. Trying to connect names with faces can be difficult, resulting in some confusion.
"The Third Man" tells an interestingly bleak story, set in a bleak, desolate urban environment, rendered truly mesmerizing by the creatively surreal B&W cinematography.
Western novelist Holly Martins (Cotten) comes to Vienna at the behest of his old friend Harry Lime, but when he arrives, he learns that Lime is dead after being hit by a car. He investigates and finds the circumstances very strange indeed, especially when learning there was a third man that helped carry Harry's body to the sidewalk, a man who has since disappeared.
He then meets Harry's girlfriend (Alida Valli). And he also meets a police officer in the British section of Vienna, Inspector Calloway (Trevor Howard), who tells him that Harry was a murderer and a racketeer, and it's better that he's dead. Holly is shocked and demands proof.
One of the most atmospheric films ever made, with its zither music, cinematography, and Vienna at nighttime. Then there's some brilliant dialogue, particularly the "cuckoo clock" speech made by Orson Welles.
The cinematography is particularly striking: odd angles, back lighting, and shadows on empty streets. And who can forget the man hidden in the doorway, when the light from an apartment goes on and shows his face - certainly one of the great appearances of a star in a film.
One feels Lime's presence throughout the film, though he only has five minutes of screen time.
Though none of these actors were the first choice to play their roles, they are all excellent.
There was a Third Man TV series in 1959 that ran for six years and starred Michael Rennie as Lime. In the series, Lime is a hero.
He's no hero in the movie, but it is a powerful story and film, never forgotten once seen.
The story starts, after a nicely done prologue, with Martins arriving in Vienna, and finding out that his friend Harry is not only dead but is accused of running a particularly destructive black market racket. Martins sets out at once to prove his friend's innocence, getting into an immediate scuffle with the police, and it seems at first to set up a conventional plot about clearing the name of a friend - but the actual story that follows is much deeper and much better. It is just right that Martins is an innocent who writes cheap novels for a living, and he gets a pretty memorable lesson in fiction vs. reality. There are some great scenes (the Ferris-wheel confrontation being as good a scene as there is in classic cinema) leading up to a memorable climactic sequence, and a good supporting cast, with Alida Valli as Anna being very good in complementing Lime and Martins. The setting in crumbling post-war Vienna and the distinctive zither score go very nicely with the story.
This is a fine, flawless classic, and while obviously belonging to an earlier era, it deserves a look from anyone who appreciates good movies.
In the story our protagonist (Joseph Cotten), a writer, travels to Vienna a city still recovering from the effects of the war, now divided into separate zones.
Our protagonist has come to attend the funeral of his charismatic friend, who was seemingly killed in an accident. However something doesn't seem right and foul play it soon suspected. An alluring young woman is introduced (Alida Valli) who herself has secrets she wishes to keep. A web of lies and corruption begin to unravel and our hero must make a choice about how loyal he can remain to his old friend.
The finished product innovatively, was years ahead of its birthright. Time and time again the viewer is bailed up by stunning camera angles and back-lighting. The eerie shadows around the deserted streets and of course the unforgettable first glimpse of Harry Lime (Welles) himself as he skulks like the rat he is, in the corner of the building, lit in close-up suddenly from the light in an adjacent apartment. Offhand I cannot think of a character's more dramatic entrance to a film.
Welles in fact has minimal screen time, though his dark presence and influence infiltrate proceedings like an insidious disease. Yet somehow his ultimate demise in the sewers brings into play an incredible sadness and compassion that has absolutely no right being there. It remains for me one of my top five film favorites. I have always given it a "10" personally but hey, to be voted an "8.6" universally is a pretty fair vindication of my words here.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesThe Vienna Police Dept. has a special unit that is assigned solely to patrol the city's intricate sewer system, as its network of interlocking tunnels make great hiding places for criminals on the run from the law, stolen property, drugs, etc. The "actors" playing police officers in the film were actually off-duty members of that unit.
- GaffesIn the two separate back projection shots of Calloway, Martins and Paine, supposedly traveling in a jeep at night in Vienna, a double-decker London bus can be seen in the background.
- Citations
Harry Lime: Don't be so gloomy. After all, it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.
- Crédits fousOpening credits prologue: V I E N N A
- Versions alternativesThe UK version features introductory voice-over by the director Carol Reed; in the US version Joseph Cotten provides the voice-over, as his character Holly Martins. The UK version runs 104 minutes, versus the US version at 93 minutes, which was cut by producer David O. Selznick to give the film a tighter pace. Both versions have been released on video in the U.S., but as of today the most common is the longer British cut. A video comparison between the narrations appears on the U.S. Criterion Collection DVD.
- ConnexionsEdited into American Cinema: Film Noir (1995)
Meilleurs choix
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Site officiel
- Langues
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- El tercer hombre
- Lieux de tournage
- 8 Schreyvogelgasse, Vienne, Autriche(doorway where Harry Lime first appears)
- Société de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
Box-office
- Montant brut aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 1 067 364 $US
- Week-end de sortie aux États-Unis et au Canada
- 13 576 $US
- 9 mai 1999
- Montant brut mondial
- 1 421 864 $US
- Durée1 heure 44 minutes
- Couleur
- Rapport de forme
- 1.37 : 1