The Third Man

The Third Man was not only an extremely entertaining film, but was able to provide me with a portrayal of Vienna following the Second World War. The 1949 British film may have little do with Vienna in substance, but the entire film takes place in the city as it was being rebuilt in the years following WWII. The film revolves around the investigation of the death of Harry Lime by his American friend Holly Martins. Throughout the course of the film the audience learns that Lime has faked his own death to escape investigation of his role in a penicillin scandal. While the penicillin scandal serves primarily as a vehicle to further the plot, it says a lot about the state of Vienna after the Second World War. As seen in the film, Vienna had come under heavy bombing in WWII (up to 30% of the city was hit according to the Ringstrabe tour) and there would have been many accompanying injuries. The film therefore serves as an exposition for the toll that civilian bombing had not only the appearance of the city, but on the health and well being of Vienna’s civilians. In seeing this impact on Vienna it gives me a much greater understanding of the devastation that befell the city and probably very similar to the impact on other major cities that served as battleground areas in Europe during WWII. The siege by the Russians in 1945 against the Nazi occupation probably caused a great portion of this damage, but I found the issue of Russian influence an interesting topic in the movie.

The film takes place during the period following WWII when Vienna was divided and occupied by each of the four victorious allies with one international zone in the middle. The divisions of cities like in Vienna and Berlin proved to be the beginning of hostilities between the Soviet Union and the West. Not only is this theme exposed in the film, but there are also subtle anti-Soviet messages in various parts of the film. Holly works with the police that appear to be from English background for most of the film, but hostilities with the Soviets are evident in his attempt to find Harry. They often speak of the Soviet zone as being a place for Harry to be able to easily escape to or that the Soviets would not help with the investigation to find him. This lack of cooperation seems to mirror the start of the Cold War where the cooperative occupation and reconstruction of formerly occupied countries turned into a power struggle and ultimately bitter feuds over division of cities like Berlin.

The subtle anti-Soviet messages also come out in Anna’s attempt to forge her passport. It’s revealed that Anna was romantically involved with Harry and he had helped her forge a passport to appear as an Austrian rather than a Czechoslovakian. This brings an interesting side story because the whole purpose of her trying to be an Austrian was to avoid being under control of the Soviets who were trying to identify Czechoslovakians. While it is never really explored why it is an important issue to be under Russian control, it is clearly a negative message about Soviet control and influence. This subtle message is furthered by the portrayal of the Russian officer as a mean, unhelpful person wearing a black uniform. This distaste for Soviet influence manifests in present day Vienna with the public opposition to the huge monument honoring the Russian soldiers who fought to free the Viennese. While the issue of hostilities between the Viennese and Soviets is not a major part of the film, it is definitely addressed throughout various parts of the film and is in a sense confirmed historically today by the social opposition to the memorial to the Soviet soldier. Seeing The Third Man was both a great opportunity to experience Viennese style cinema while getting to view some great shots of post War Vienna and experience an interesting commentary on relations between the Soviets and other Allies.