I Watch Films: The Third Man
The Third Man Holly Martins, an American pulp writer, arrives in occupied Vienna. His old friend Harry Lime has offered him a job. However he learns that Lime was killed by a car while crossing the road. At the funeral he meets Sergeant Paine and Major Calloway, who are amongst the British Army contingent of the police force (a different set of four officers from the four occupying powers make occasional, slightly odd, appearances). Paine is a fan of Martins books; Calloway suggests he leave as soon as possible. Martins doesn’t leave, being invited to give a talk at a book club. He meets Lime’s friend Kurtz, who tells him about the accident, that he and another friend Popescu saw it and carried Lime to the roadside where before dying he asked them to look after both Martins and Lime’s girlfriend, an actress named Anna Schmidt. Martins talks to Anna and others and finds different versions of Lime’s death, whether he was able to speak, and a porter says that in addition to Ku...
