BEFORE: Joseph Cotten carries over from "The Magnificent Ambersons", as does Orson Welles (as an actor here, not as a director).
THE PLOT: Arriving in Vienna, Holly Martins learns that his friend Harry Lime, who has invited him, recently died in a car accident.
AFTER: Cotten plays a pulp-novel writer here, who gets caught up in foreign intrigue like something out of one of his own stories. He tries to uncover the truth about what his old friend might have been involved with (shades of the reporter digging into the past of Charles Foster Kane?), which might involve black-market trading and thinning down medicine for profit. Tsk tsk.
The end credits say the film was shot at Shepperton Studios in London, but that really does the film a disservice. The exteriors shot in post-war Vienna are just breathtaking, with amazing depth and grays for a black and white film. Even the bombed-out buildings and the underground sewer system look amazing!
I'd go so far to say that Vienna is like the star of the film, both for its beauty and for its importance to the plot. Where else (besides Berlin) would you find a city divided into French, German, English and Russian zones, with an international police force?
I went into it knowing nothing, but appreciating a good, intriguing plot. And you know with a character named Harry Lime, there's going to be a twist, right? Twist of lime? Oh, never mind.
Also starring Trevor Howard, Alida Valli, and Bernard Lee, with a cameo from Wilfrid Hyde-White.
RATING: 6 out of 10 plane tickets
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