Hunted by men...Sought by WOMEN!

Starring: Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Orson Welles, Paul Hörbiger, Ernst Deutsch, Erich Ponto, Siegfried Breuer, Hedwig Bleibtreu, Bernard Lee, Wilfrid Hyde-White

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ - perfect

"If you want to sell your services, I'm not willing to be the price. I loved him. You loved him. What good have we done him? Love. Look at yourself. They have a name for faces like that." – Anna Schmidt

Why watch this? The cinematography alone... and its impact on the noir, seedy films that followed.

Plot Summary: Pulp fiction writer Holly Martins travels to post-war Vienna at the invitation of his old friend, Harry Lime, only to discover upon arrival that Lime has died under mysterious circumstances. Martins becomes obsessed with investigating his friend's purported death and uncovers a conspiracy involving a dangerous black market ring, all while navigating the shadowy streets and sectors of occupied Vienna. As he delves deeper into the investigation, Martins finds himself entangled with Lime's enigmatic lover, Anna, secrets about his friend's life.

Dad's Preview: Orson Welles is a figure who, like him or not, left his imprint on cinema. This film noir masterpiece, though directed by Carol Reed, simply oozes Welles' filmmaking techniques. It's the slanting camera angles, the use of shadows, the shine of water on concrete, music that seems out of place. All this genius is crammed into each frame; there are countless examples here. It is film art 101. If "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", then filmmakers have been flattering this dark, moody, classic mystery for decades.  

London Films; Selznick Releasing Organization