Ten Movies I'm Glad I Saw: The Third Man (#1)

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THE END!!! For the past 40 days I've counted down a series of movies, from those movies that "everybody" saw except me, to the mega-blockbusters that I did see, to movies I wish I could un-see, and finally the movies (mostly oldies) that I watched with slight interest (mostly for a college class or because it was on TCM) and ended up loving. Closing out the set, here's the movie at the top of that final list, as well as one that's one of my all-time favorites. #1: The Third Man Or, "yet another movie JJ has never seen, but at least he's heard the theme!" This is unquestionably one of Joseph Cotten's greatest roles. He played the pulp fiction writer Holly Martins, who'd gone to post-war Vienna on the advice of a friend, Harry Lime....only to discover that Lime was dead. The problem is, Cotten is almost a footnote to this film, because, out of all films ever made, Orson Welles picked this one to make one of the greatest entrances in cinematic history in. And, today, nearly 70 years later, that entrance is what many people first mention when discussing this movie. Ah, but there's so, so much more to it. The twists, the suspense, the intrigue as Martins investigates what became of his friend, encountering a helpful but unsympathetic policeman (Trevor Howard, who was also terrific), unsavory characters, and a broken-hearted girlfriend who gets betrayed by the man she loves thanks to a phony passport. Even Martins himself realizes what a jerk he had for a "friend." Watching Holly's transformation from the innocent man getting off the train at the beginning to the toughened, emotionally empty man standing by the gate of the cemetery at the end is nothing short of spellbinding. This has been listed by various film critics as the best British film ever. I haven't seen "every" British film (let alone American one), but I've rarely seen a film from either side of the pond that's better. Thanks for reading. The Third Man Directed by Carol Reed Released in 1949 The iconic "Harry Lime Theme" (a/k/a "The Third Man Theme"):