Anatomy of a British screen classic

Jeffrey Meyers

THE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE HAS VOTED The Third Man (1949) the greatest British film ever. John Walsh’s new book surveys the setting (Vienna), the director (Carol Reed), the actors Joseph Cotton (Holly Martins), Orson Welles (Harry Lime), Alida Valli (Anna Schmidt) and Trevor Howard (Major Calloway), the screenwriter Graham Greene and the zither player Anton Karas, as well as the film locations in Vienna and near London, and Reed’s influence on other directors. The Third Man has the same setting as Christopher Isherwood’s fictional description of Viennese politics and filmmaking in Prater Violet (1945). Three years later, during the Cold War, the city was divided into four sec British, Americans, French and the Russians, who were hostile to the Allies. The innovative camera angles, like the tilted floor and billiard table…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2025

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