60 years - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2009 - 65 Euro Cent

"The Third Man" (original title "The Third Man") is a British feature film by Carol Reed and dates from 1949. The basis of the strip is a collaboration between Reed and the writer Graham Greene, who wrote a narrative for which they wrote a screenplay together. Later Greene worked out the material for the novel of the same name, which appeared in 1950. Only a few scenes were adapted for the film, but the story remained unchanged in its essence. The main roles are filled with Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and the unforgettable Orson Welles. The legendary "Harry Lime theme" contributed to the celebrity of this film: Anton Karas composed the well-known melody and played it on the Zither - an idea, which according to Graham Greene is entirely due to Carol Reed. Remarkably remarkable are the expressionist camera perspectives, for which Robert Krasker was awarded the highest film prize, an Oscar. The action takes place in Vienna after the Second World War. Vienna is divided into five zones of the four occupying powers USA, Soviet Union, France and the United Kingdom and is administered by them. An international zone is administered jointly by all. The black market is flourishing - and those who oppose the gangs land in the Danube. One of the most famous scenes of this thrilling and surprising thriller is undoubtedly the impressively staged chase by the widely ramified (and all four sectors of Vienna comprehensive) channel system in which Lime is shot and ultimately shot, trapped in an exit shaft. Undisputed star of the film is one of the giants of Hollywood at the time: Orson Welles. His appearance with the ride in the Ferris wheel takes less than five minutes, and in the later persecution scene in the Vienna sewers, he is little more than a silhouette - "yet he is one of the unforgettable moments in the iconography of this medium" (Süddeutsche Zeitung). The world premiere of the "Third Man" took place on 2 September 1949 in the London "Plaza Theater". Just a few days later, on 17 September, the film was awarded the prestigious Golden Palm in Cannes. On 2 February 1950 celebrated in New York's "Victoria Theater" the acclaimed US premiere, on 9 March 1950, the "The Third Man" finally finally for the first time in Austria, in the Apollo cinema in Vienna, shown. In 1999, the British Film Institute voted the Best British Film of All Time.