What does the world look like after it almost doesn’t exist? This existential question lies underneath much of the 1949 film, “The Third Man”. On the surface, it is a murder mystery set in postwar Vienna. The setting of a closed city run on the black market, with reserved characters, and the use suspense all contribute to it being a classic “film noir”. However, there is situational irony, jovial music, and a variety of dialogue thrown in, making it much more complex. The use of heavy shadows and “dutch angles” also gives the audience a feeling that there is more here than is being seen.

Holly Martins comes to Vienna for a job, and by the end he is lucky to be alive, more alone than at the start. His friend, Harry Lime, believed to be dead then dead by Martins’ hand, seems to believe that the world owes him something — or that he doesn’t owe the world anything. Their two perspectives of the world clash. The Ferris Wheel scene, with Lime and Martins high in the sky, shows how Lime always likes to feel in control. The audience does not know if Martins will get off alive. Martins’ investigation into “The Third Man” while managing the British and Russian authorities makes the film interesting enough. However, the best part of the film comes from Martins’ response to Lime’s crimes — both moral and actual. He wants to help the police arrest him. This helps build one of a central message of the film: right and wrong should matter more than relationships or societal conditions. Martins doesn’t excuse Lime for his crimes because he is his friend or because they live in a world after a world war. The last shot of the film shows that Martins survives, yet he is alone in a devastated and beautiful place. Like everyone after the war, he must move on.