thirdman

Third Man
"The Lives of Harry Lime,"

That was the shot that killed Harry Lime. He died in a sewer
beneath Vienna, as those of you know who saw the movie The
Third Man. Yes, that was the end of Harry Lime. But it was
not the beginning. Harry Lime had many lives. And I can
recount all of them. How do I know? Very simple. Because
my name is Harry Lime.

This BBC produced series was a radio spinoff of the movie of the same name. The stories
concerned the adventures of the anti-heroic Harry Lime from before the events that led to his
getting gunned down in the sewers of Vienna. His travels took him to all parts of the globe
(though he concentrated his activities in Europe), where he would encounter and be at odds with
persons whose moral character was even more questionable than his own, and he didn't
necessarily always come out on top. The show was broadcast in Britain in 1951 and was
syndicated in the States in 1952 and featured Orson Welles reprising his role as Harry Lime.
With the classic zither score and mucic by Anton Karas.

Third Man Theme By Anton Karas

Synopsis for The Third Man Movie
Carol Reed reached the peak of his form with this classic noir, an
elegy for American innocence and European elegance. Joseph
Cotten, in fine form, stars as unemployed pulp-novelist Holly
Martins. When he arrives in post-WWII Vienna on the promise of a
job from his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles), he finds that
Lime has recently died in a dubious car accident. Against the advice
of British sector authority Major Calloway (Trevor Howard), who
accuses Lime of criminal behavior, the indignant Martins decides to
stay to investigate his friend's death. He searches this city of
rubble-strewn streets and bombed-out buildings, earnestly
questioning Lime's associates, a cynical, war-weary collection of
black-market hustlers. At length, he realizes that the stories he's
hearing are so full of contradiction, he's getting nowhere. Yet, he's
entranced by Lime's beautiful girlfriend, Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli),
who, unlike the others, seems to have loved Harry. Calloway finally
provides evidence of Harry's treachery, and Martins, despondent, is
about to return home when everything changes in a shadowed
moment. The Third Man is a masterpiece of melancholia featuring
extraordinary writing, acting, and directing, as well as a classic zither
score by Anton Karas. Welles is memorable as the seductive villain,
but the true star may be the camera work of Robert Krasker, which
transforms Vienna into a coruscating, expressionist nightmare.

Anton Karas And Carol Reed
1949 In London.

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