The Third Man (1949) is now on the Criterion Collection
On December 16, 2008, the Criterion Collection released The Third Man on Blu-ray. Carol Reed directed the film starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Alida Valli.
‘The Third Man’ Criterion Synopsis
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime—and thus begins this legendary tale of love, deception, and murder. Thanks to brilliant performances by Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; Anton Karas’s evocative zither score; Graham Greene’s razor-sharp dialogue; and Robert Krasker’s dramatic use of light and shadow, The Third Man, directed by the inimitable Carol Reed, only grows in stature as the years pass.
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Special Features
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed mono soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich
- Two audio commentaries: one by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy, and one by film scholar Dana Polan
- Shadowing “The Third Man” (2005), a ninety-minute feature documentary on the making of the film
- Abridged recording of Graham Greene’s treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke
- “Graham Greene: The Hunted Man,” an hour-long, 1968 episode of the BBC’s Omnibus series, featuring a rare interview with the novelist
- Who Was the Third Man? (2000), a thirty-minute Austrian documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
- The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 “A Ticket to Tangiers” episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles; and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man
- Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer
- Actor Joseph Cotten’s alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version
- Archival footage of postwar Vienna
- A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Luc Sante (DVD and Blu-ray), Charles Drazin (DVD only) and Philip Kerr (DVD only)
New cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang
Also available on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
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On December 16, 2008, the Criterion Collection released The Third Man on Blu-ray. Carol Reed directed the film starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Alida Valli.