The Third Man

The Third Man was produced in 1949 by the director Carol Reed. His film uses a large amount of Thriller conventions to build suspense and gain the full attention of the viewer. The film is set in Vienna during the 1940's. During this time the city was split between four different nations, these were; Germany, Italy, Hungary and Romania. Due to the city being split up it became very confusing and resulted in creating a Labyrinth, which Reed used to his advantage during the filming of The Third Man (TTM). He took the aspects of the fractured city to extend on the mystery behind Harry Lime. The city allowed for criminals like Lime to easily hide because the police force was occupied with the other countries that were present in the city. Reed also uses the city to create confusion to the audience. Any language other than English used in the filming is not translated, so we are put in the same position as Holly Martins.This creates a barrier between him and the local people of Vienna that produces problems in particular sections of the film. The film uses a large amount of contrasts to show how alone Martins is in the big labyrinth. The biggest contrast is the difference between him and Lime. Holly Martins is very naive which puts him the position of the good guy, whereas Harry Lime is cunning which concludes in him being the bad guy. So, there is this contrast between good and evil.

       There are many other aspects of this film which make it a Thriller. Reed used conventional 40's clothing in the movie which then lead to the creation of noir fashion. The characters in the film wore trilby's, long coats with high collars and a suit. All of their outfits were either black or another dark colour. At this time in history all men wore hats because it was a sign that they were of a good class, and usually the bigger your hat the more money people thought you had.

       In TTM there are small things which also add to the conventions of it being a thriller. One of these is the fact that during the opening of the films Martins walks under a ladder on the way to Lime's apartment. Walking under a ladder is a sign of bad luck, so it is used a foreshadowing technique for later events that are going to occur. Another generic used straight after this cut is when Martins walks up the stair case in the apartment block. Stair cases are used in many thrillers because they show that the character(s) is entering a new world that is foreign to them. They normally also indicate that something big may be about to happen. Whilst walking up the stair case Martin's shadow is very large on the wall. Shadows are another generic convention which Reed decided too take advantage of in TTM.

        A lot of non-ambient lighting was used during the filming to create big shadows on walls that dominate the scene. Large lights would have been used at a low angle to accomplish this type of look on the screen. The shadows on the walls could be seen as either an angel or a demon watching over that character. The scene with little boy chasing Holly and Anna shows his shadow towering over him on the wall, this gives the impression that even though he is small he has the power over the adults. These shadows are used form the beginning of the film right till the very end during the chase in the dingy sewers. This sequence in the sewers uses the shadows along side a large amount of tilt shots. This effect is trying to bring about the idea off confusion for the police and Martins. The last generic convention is this sequence used is the narrow and small locations in the sewers. The create a sense of claustrophobia which adds to the horror of the situation. The wet walls of the slim sewer engulf the police, Martins and Lime inside of them.

       Through the entire film the same main soundtrack is used over and over again, this is called the Harry Lime Theme. The music is whimsicle which results in contrast being created to the actions which are currently being carried out on scream. The music plays with people in the film an the audience watching it. This kind of thing is used in The Dark Night with the character of the Joker. He messes with minds of people and manipulates them to do what he wants, these characteristics are seen in Harry Lime.