The Third Man Returns!
Movie lovers are in for a treat this week as one of the all-time classics of the cinema has just been re-released on DVD. Carol Reed's noirish thriller The Third Man has been loved and admired since its initial release in 1949, and the new double-disc edition comes replete with many entertaining extras. Chief among these is the documentary 'Shadowing the Third Man,' which was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year. But of course, it's the film itself which remains the main attraction.
The Third Man tells the tale of Holly Martins, an American pulp fiction writer who journeys to post-war Vienna to track down his old pal Harry Lime. However, things are not quite as they seem in the demoralised former Habsburg capital, where black-marketeering is rife under the four-pronged occupation of the French, British, Americans and Russians.
The film boasts treasures of a different order, including classic performances by Orson Welles and Ernst Deutsch, a wry script by Graham Greene, and that inimitable zither music by Anton Karas. Enjoy!
The Third Man: 2 Disc Special Edition released by Optimum, September 25th 2006.
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