More on the Context of the Third Man

The writer of The Third Man's screenplay, Graham Greene, never intended the film to be a political piece. Greene was quoted as saying, "My only intention was to amuse.... I didn't want to provoke political sentiments." Reed's modifications to Greene's script transformed The Third Man into an intellectual work and expose its relationship to its historical context. The most significant change Reed made was to change film's tenor toward Holly Martins. Its unflattering view of the naïve, inexperienced, unworldly Martins contrasts its positive view of Calloway, the British MP attempting to police the wreckage of Vienna, and to a lesser extent Anna. It should be noted, however, that Anna herself is a participant in the same underground trade as all of our civilian protagonists--it is a fact of life that lends an overall palor to the film rather than a morally ambiguous realism. As the same essay quoted above argues (persuasively, in my opinion), the film's tone toward its American characters exemplifies Britain's frustration at the wartime cooperation and accommodation of the Soviet Union by the U.S.. However, the film retains some of Greene's imprints. Some commentators have characterized The Third Man as a lament of totalized war and its dehumanizing effects on all parties. Harry Lime, who interestingly is never given a nationality or any other real identity other than his criminal enterprise and connection to Martins, is this universal representative of what remains in the aftermath of the war. He is the prototypical anti-hero, a man Nietzscheof whom would be proud, with the force of his persona counterbalanced against the sadness of his situation. He is not the villain in this tale because we identify with his inner contradiction--he at once seems to transcend his surroundings with his aloof spirit and slick talk but is firmly a product of the toxic milieu in which he prowls.