The Third Man is set in Vienna, a city divided into occupation zones after World War II.
Carol Reed’s 1949 British film follows writer Holly Martins, who arrives in Vienna to meet his friend Harry Lime. Martins discovers that Lime has supposedly died, then encounters conflicting accounts about what happened. The investigation unfolds across a damaged city administered by the American, British, French and Soviet powers.
Vienna’s divided geography is not just background scenery: it shapes the film’s atmosphere of distrust, shifting loyalties and black-market activity. The climactic pursuit through the city’s sewer system is one of cinema’s most famous chase sequences. The screenplay was written by Graham Greene, who also published a novella version, while Orson Welles played Harry Lime and Joseph Cotten played Martins.