The Third Man (1949)

Time for yet another film noir. This one stars, amongst others, Orson Welles.

This wasn't bad, not bad at all.

This movie tells the story of a man in Vienna trying to solve the mystery of who killed his friend. The witnesses, all friends of the dead man, say it was an accident and there were two men at the scene while a man who claims to have seen the murder from his apartment says there was a third man. The protagonist, played by Joseph Cotten, attempts to find the third man.

The movie also stars Alida Valli and Orson Welles. Welles doesn't have much of a part in this movie but he does manage to deliver a famous cuckoo clock speech near the end of the film.

Overall, the actors in this film are good, but do nothing overly memorable. Even the famous cuckoo clock speech isn't all that memorable unless you anticipate it.

The plot is pretty good, although it isn't nearly as entertaining as Sunset Boulevard and The Maltese Falcon. This is an above-average effort, but falls well short of some other film noirs.

Lastly, how could I forget the music? The music in this film is played by a zither which is some instrument I've never heard of. It's played numerous times and is quite distinctive. Although the music is quite odd, I loved its use in the film. It isn't typical music at all, but it is great nonetheless.

80/100
B-

UP NEXT: This movie had a lot of German dialogue. Let's stick with the German theme and try a silent film - Fritz Lang's silent masterpiece Metropolis.