The smell in the sewers was too bad for Orson Welles, and a butcher had to stand in as his double. The camera equipment didn’t fit into the cabin of the Giant Ferris Wheel, so some scenes were filmed in a London studio. And the cat in the movie was actually three different cats that were not even particularly alike. As with any movie, the making of the film noir classic “The Third Man” included a bit of (more or less successful) trickery. Only Vienna itself was shown with unsparing honesty: in the post-war period the city was just as monochromatic as the movie. In 1951 it won an Oscar for the Best Black-and-White Cinematography. 2019 is the 70th anniversary of the movie’s worldwide premiere in London. The scenes in Vienna’s sewer system, where Harry Lime (played by Orson Welles) flees from his pursuers, are etched into the world’s collective memory. Come with us to visit the original Vienna filming locations of this legendary movie (by pointing the cursor on the numbered pins on your desktop or touching them with your finger on your smartphone).
Thanks to STUDIOCANAL for allowing us to use the film clips. “The Third Man” is now available in a digitally remastered DVD edition, released in 2015.