The third man

Today I am going to write about a famous British movie named the third man. This movie was released in 1949 and becomes a representative milestone of film noir. The directer, Carol Reed, was regarded as the best noir film directer in last century.

Vienna, in ruins from bomb raids during the world war two, is divided into four separate zones, each policed by a power, and a jointly-administered international zone, which many signs erected for indication. Many strangers came to there, and none of them could communicate in the same language except a sort of smattering of German. Soldiers salute to each other for respection, while the people trade goods in black market, such as boots, stockings and wristwatches for cash. They had to avoid inspection sometimes. So that condition does tempt amateur. An American scrubber writer, Holly Martins all the way arrives seeking an old friend, Harry Lime , a poor chap too, has offered him the opportunity to work with him there. When Martins got this news, he was happy as a lark because he's always hard up.

After the train pulls into the station, Martins Arrives at Lime's apartment and discovered that Lime, according to a postmortem's words, was recently hit and killed by a lorry while crossing the street. Shocked, Martins heads to the cemetery to attend his friend's funeral, where he meets two British Army Royal Military Policemen: Sergeant Paine, a petrol and a fan of Martins's books, and his superior, Major Calloway. Martins decides to be off the next day firstly before he met Calloway and Paine. They advise Martins to give up his crazy notion but Martins refused. They had a brief dialogue in the hotel, after Martins was attacked by a soldier when hen wants to punch his major in the eye. where Hartman can't very well introduce Martin to everyone involved in this. Martins soon knows Crabbin, the man who is working in propaganda section and believed that he could represent the C.R.S or C.H.Q. And Crabbin said he met Martins once in while and invited Martins to join a little lecture on the contemporary novel. Though Martins believes strongly that they handled it easily at a person's expense, Martins accepts the invitation after the service, delaying his departure to do so. He is contacted by a friend of Lime's, Baron Kurtz, who wants to talk about Lime's death. He said Harry went to cross. And from up there came the truck. Kurtz also relates that he and Popescu, another friend of Lime's, had picked Lime up after the accident and brought him over to the side of the street, where before dying he had asked them to take care of Martins and Anna, his actress girlfriend. Kurtz mentions the theatre where Anna works, but advises that the case is pointless to pursue and best left.

Martins meets Anna after the show. During their conversation, he becomes suspicious and and wonders if Lime's death had really been an accident. The porter at Lime's apartment house tells Martins that Lime could not possibly have been alive after being hit by the lorry, "not with the way his head was", and adds that he saw a third man helping to carry the body across the street, not just two as Kurtz and Popescu had described. Martins pressures the porter to tell his story to the police, but the man felt awkward and refuses, becoming agitated, and asks Martins to leave. Martins noticed gradually that it is conspiracy of his best friend's death and decided to dig up the truth by him self.

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