The Third Man (1949): Film Review — Monochrome Monday
Carol Reed’s mystery noir masterpiece turns 75!
On Monochrome Monday, published one Monday every month, we celebrate all films black-and-white.
Typically, I’ll touch on films from cinema’s early days, the days before color motion pictures became the norm, but I’ll also occasionally write about more modern black-and-white films, like Manhattan, Schindler’s List and Sin City.
This month, let’s grab our best hats and coats (some rainboots would come in handy, too) and venerate the 1949 noir classic The Third Man.
The Story
Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), a self-proclaimed “hack writer who drinks too much and falls in love with girls,” arrives in post-WWII Vienna having been sent a plane ticket by his good friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles).
Not possessing two pennies to rub together, and having only written a handful of western novels that have quickly fallen in obscurity, Holly leaps at the opportunity to travel and bunk with his old friend.
