A future in suspense

When we talk about Carol Reed’s The Third Man (1949) and the way the film is done, we tend to focus on the use of low light, hard shadows, the intense use of a tilted camera or the striking zither play by Anton Karas.

The film is based on an idea by producer Alexander Korda and the novel written by Graham Greene.

It has been shot in 1948 and was released in 1949 (USA) and 1950 (West-GER, AUT). The film very much deals with the post WW II situation in Vienna, the occupation by the allied forces and the black market, through which numerous racketeers tried to gain wealth, no matter the costs. It even mentions the theft, adulterating and reselling of Penicillin, which actually took place.
In 1946 several Berlin racketeers had been accused by taking powder as a base and pretending to have rare Penicillin to offer.

There are plenty of things, which are worth mentioning, nevertheless one of the most striking sequences in the films is one of those rare moments, in which neither a dutch angle is in use nor the absence of light.

Around 1h14’ Holly Martins is coming to Kurtz’s place, demanding to talk to Harry. Kurtz is at first trying to be ignorant, then inviting Holly to enter the building. Holly luckily refuses the invitation and insists on meeting Holly at the Prater.

The attached still shows Holly looking up the building, talking to Kurtz, who is accompanied by Winkel.

The shot has been taken at daytime. The only light, which is used, is plain daylight and the camera is in perfect balance.

The still is almost not of a filmic character but of a theatrical one. The ruins in the back serving as the back of a stage, Kurtz’s house on the left framing the stage as well as the lamp post on the right.

The cobble stones underneath Holly are like the stage itself.

For a brief moment the narration stops. Thinking of the The Third Man being sort of a documentary or travel report (“I never knew the old Vienna before the war…”) the audience follow Holly through a Vienna that is not the classic city (“…with its Strauss music, glamour and easy charme…”) anymore, but has not gained a status of independence and sovereignty yet (“Now the city is divided into four zones, you know, each occupied by a power.”). Robert Krasker’s expressionist way of using the camera gives the impression of city that is hovering and does not know where to go.

In the sequence to be discussed the audience see the essence of the situation Vienna is in.

The ruins in the back are the remains of the former Hotel Metropol, which became the GESTAPO headquarters after the so-called Anschluss in 1938. The house on the left can refer to the “old Vienna” and the ideas, values and of course people that or who were there before the Nazi regime and probably are responsible for the way history went. The fact that the racketeer Kurtz is living in there, gives an important hint. Kurtz calls himself a baron. It is not proven, whether is actually is of noble heritage or not, but it is of no importance (on a diegetic base). Since the end of WW I and therefore the proclamation of the first republic of Austria there is no aristocracy anymore. Everyone is equal and not superior to others just by birth. People, who derive from noble families must not insist on being addressed by their titles.

Holly is standing there, right in front of the ruins, which can be seen as the terror past, and next to one possible future, based on old ideas and new terrors.

The lamp post on the right is not representing any values and actually it is not a real frame, since there is some space left beyond the post.

Holly is free to go wherever he likes to. He can turn around and relive the reign of terror or he can enter Kurtz’s house, which will certainly result in his death. As an alternative he could also turn to his left and leave the image to a second unknown future. The audience as well as Holly do not know what will be there, because the image beyond has not been written yet.