My 150 Favorite Movies - #26

The Third Man (1949)

About as Hitchcockian a film as you can get, without actually being directed by Hitchcock, The Third Man, directed by Carol Reed, is based on a Graham Greene novel, about a pulp novelist who travels to postwar Vienna at the invitation of an old friend, only to end up investigating his mysterious death. The production team behind this movie is top shelf, with David O. Selznick and Alexander Korda both serving as producers. The haunting zither music on the film's soundtrack topped international music charts at the time.In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Third Man the best British film of the twentieth century. Starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, with Alida Valli bringing up the rear as the obligatory femme fatale, this classic film is required viewing for all movie lovers.