Carol Reed’s 1949 masterpiece, The Third Man, tells the tale of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal in a post-war world of corruption and moral ambiguity. Set in post-war Vienna, the film follows Holly Martins, an American novelist of cheap, formulaic Westerns, who comes to the war-torn city when his friend from boyhood, Harry Lime, offers him a job. Upon arrival, Martins finds out that Lime was killed in a mysterious car accident outside his building just a few hours prior; and it is at his funeral that Martins meets Anna, Lime’s beautiful and loyal Czech girlfriend, and British officer, Major Calloway, who tells Martins that Lime was a black marketer who committed atrocious felonies. Martins, refusing to believe his good friend could commit such horrible crimes, decides to stay in Vienna to investigate his friend’s death and clear his bad name. As Martin digs deeper in his investigation, he soon comes to realize that his simplistic views of good and evil do not withstand in the corrupt aftermath of war; and when faced with a harsher reality, is driven to choose between personal loyalty to his friend and a social responsibility much greater than himself. Through examining the theme of betrayal between characters and their relationship with one another, the film presents the ruinous effect of war and the weariness, tension, and mistrust which characterized post-war Europe and national political relationships.
In Benedict Anderson’s book Imagined Communities, Anderson defines a nation as “an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign” (Anderson 6). Post-war Vienna, occupied by the four Allied victorious powers—the American, British, Russian, and French—was divided into four zones, creating a fragmented landscape with no sense of community. Though the centre of the city was international policed by a patrol from each allied force, there is no sense of comradeship as the anonymous voice-over sarcastically comments in the opening sequence: “Wonderful! What a hope they had! All strangers to the place and none of them could speak the same language” (time). Attempts to rebuild a community in Vienna was hindered by the fractured state of the city and with the lack of fraternity between citizens, which Anderson notes is vital for a sense of nationhood, was a lack of shared values and morals. Furthermore, the division of authority also resulted in poor regulation and contributed to the flourishing of a black market economy. Black marketers would utilize Vienna’s sewer system, which connected the four sectors, to move about freely without having to face authority checkpoints. Harry Lime, the film’s dangerous but charming antihero who makes a home for himself amongst the sewer rats and debris of Vienna, exemplifies the lack of morality and humanity in war and in the divided city.
It is important to note the nationality of the different characters in The Third Man because the film’s setting can be seen as a representation of international politics, and therefore the relationships between the characters become figurative of national political relationships. Holly Martins is an idealistic and optimistic American—but the film does not portray him in a positive light. He is characterized as naïve, clumsy, and childish about his rigid ideas of good and evil—a dichotomy that is ever so present in the simple and conventional Western cowboy novelettes he writes. When Major Calloway, the British officer, tells Holly that Harry was “about the worst racketeer that ever made a dirty living in this city” (8:32 – 8:35), Martins (in a drunken state) attempts to punch Calloway but misses and gets punched instead. He stubbornly chooses to stay in Vienna to pursue his own investigation, especially after hearing inconsistencies in the accounts of Lime’s death. He questions witnesses and finds out that not only was Harry hit by his own automobile, but there was a mysterious third man who no one can seem to identify present at the scene. He begins to suspect that Harry was murdered and pushes on with his investigation until one of the witnesses he spoke to gets murdered. Martins treats reality like his own cheap Western novel, believing that there is a discernible and easy distinction between good and evil and that ultimately good will always win. At one point, Calloway explicitly warns Martins, “I told you to go away, Martins. This isn't Santa Fe. I'm not a sheriff and you aren't a cowboy. You've been blundering around with the worst bunch of racketeers in Vienna, your precious Harry's friends, and now you're wanted for murder” (55:08-55:18). Calloway then pulls out the “Harry Lime files” and tells Martins the whole truth of Lime’s crimes: he has been stealing penicillin from the military hospital, diluting it to make it go further, and selling it to patients. He goes on to explain that many have died from Harry’s crimes, including children with meningitis who were given the faulty, diluted drug in hopes to cure them. When Martins, still blinded by his loyalty to his friend, remains sceptical of the officer, Calloway pulls out further evidence with photographs and fingerprints pinpointing Harry to the exact crime and only then is Martins convinced. In spite of Martin’s earlier accusations, Calloway is not a corrupt cop and has been a decent and rational man all along. The two make an interesting portrayal of Americans and British. Martins represents the innocent, ignorant, and idealistic American who comes into Europe without much clue of European affairs, and Calloway represents the wiser, surviving British, who has witnessed the war in Europe first hand.
After Holly Martins learns the truth about Harry, he goes to Anna (Harry’s former girlfriend) to tell her about his crimes. Martins, after miserably confessing his love for her, tells her “I am leaving Vienna. I don’t care whether Harry was murdered by Kurtz or Popescu or the third man. Whoever killed him, there was some sort of justice. Maybe I would have killed him myself” (1:03:09-1:03:22). While Martins has a shift in his perception of Harry, Anna’s love and loyalty to Harry never falters. She responds to Martins by saying “a person doesn’t change just because you know more” (1:03:22-1:03:25). Even after knowing all his misdeeds and horrible crimes, she still only regards Harry as her lover. Anna, a Czechoslovakian living in occupied Vienna with forged paper that Harry kindly gave her, has given up on ideologies. In E.M. Forster’s essay “What I Believe,” he has a famous quote that reads: “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” Anna is in agreement with Forster. Unlike Martins, she has lived through war and borne witness to different ideologies and systems of government which has only brought upon more destruction and pain. As Anna tells Harry, “Harry was real. He wasn’t just your friend and my lover. He was Harry” (1:02:30-1:02:34). No longer laying her trust in ideologies or the government, she puts all her faith and loyalty to what is personal, what she believes to be real.
In the following sequence, Holly Martins leaves Anna’s apartment and—in a surprising turn of events—finds Harry, very much alive. He realizes then that Harry was never murdered and that the mysterious third man is Harry, who faked his own death. Martins informs Calloway that Harry is still alive and Anna is arrested to coerce her to reveal Lime’s whereabouts, but she does not cooperate and remains utterly loyal to Harry. Although Harry keeps slipping through Martin and the officer’s fingers, Holly and Harry eventually do meet up in a crucial and climactic scene atop a Ferris wheel, symbolic of their childhood friendship. On the Ferris wheel, high above the city, Martins confronts Lime of his racketeering and asks if he’s seen any of the victims of his crimes. Harry, looking out at the dots of people on the ground, casually responds: “Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you 20,000 pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money?” Humans being treated and seen as less than human is a Nazi mindset which Harry showcases in the scene. Although one may infer that Harry is an American because he went to school with Martin as a child, Harry’s nationality is left rather ambiguous and his complete disregard for humanity seems to not represent any nation but is parallel to the inhumanity displayed by the Nazis: the inhumanity and amorality which ran Vienna and many other European cities to ruins. Lime is a direct product of war; especially considering that he would not have had the market for his crimes if not for the ally-split Vienna. The film seems to suggest that even though the allies won the war, the ravages of war linger in its wake. Furthermore, beyond dehumanizing strangers, Martins is horrified to discover that Harry has betrayed his own girlfriend to the Russians in order to purchase his own safety in the Russian sector. Martins realizes in this sequence that Harry is beyond redemption. Yet Martins, though aware that Harry is guilty of horrendous crimes, is still hesitant about ratting his old friend out to the police, telling Calloway “don’t ask me to tie the rope” (1:21:32- 1:21:34). He eventually only agrees to betray his old friend in exchange for new papers to free Anna. A decision that feels right to Martins, not only because his betrayal of his friend will save Anna, but because saving Anna will also counterbalance Harry’s betrayal of his former lover. However, Anna will not agree to Martins’ proposal. In fact, she is furious that he will betray his friend. Even with knowing the whole truth about Harry and even with her freedom at stake, Anna’s loyalty towards Harry, who helped her out of the unspoken horrors she faced during the war, is unwavering.
For a moment, Martins returns to his old romanticism and chooses to leave Vienna. But before his departure, Calloway takes Martins to one last stop to the children’s ward where Martins comes face to face with Harry’s victims. Martin’s choice then becomes to either betray his friend or to betray the many victims of Harry’s horrible actions. A choice between personal loyalty and social duty, which also corresponds to a choice between totalitarianism (represented by Harry) and democracy. Ultimately, Martins chooses to betray his friend out of a sense of social responsibility.