The Ending (spoilers)
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Third Man
DanMetsFan — 11 years ago(March 11, 2015 09:47 PM)
The final shot of Anna walking towards the camera and ignoring Holly might just be my favorite ending in cinema history. I can't even explain why, but that scene is just absolutely amazing.
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fcalderp — 10 years ago(April 21, 2015 11:35 AM)
The ending is beautiful but we know she's not going to stop! She hates the man. By the way, there's a phrase in the movie that should not be there: When Alida Vali explain to Joseph Cotton that the driver of the truck that killed Harry Lime was "Harry's chauffer." This makes absolutely no sense. Had the driver been Harry's Chauffer, that driver would have been the "third man." There would have been no mystery at all. Besides, nobody mentions the chauffer again. The entire film is played as if Harry's death was a hit-and-run by a truck. Why would Harry's chauffer be driving a truck? Had this chauffer existed, he would have been the key element in the story, the man with all the answers. How come Joseph Cotton never tries to contact him? I don't know why that line is there. Why wo0uld Harry have a chauffer?
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crulie — 10 years ago(June 10, 2015 03:05 PM)
You can shoot this down if you want, as I have only just watched it for the first time.
But could Harry be the driver?
Or else, the incident about Harrys driver could have been made up, as some of the stories didnt match.
Appearently Harrys last words was in one version about Holly and the next about Anna.
Again, you probaly have a lot more knowledge in this movie than me.
But damn, I loved this movie. -
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perbrink — 10 years ago(February 23, 2016 05:21 AM)
I have read somewhere (and can't remember where) that the end was left to the actress who played Anna to decide - should she stop or walk on? When I enquired the IMDb team replied that such an important decision would not be left to chance.But I'm sure that I got the idea from somewhere. Can anyone help?
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DanMetsFan — 10 years ago(February 24, 2016 08:04 PM)
What I have heard is that Carol Reed and Alida Valli (Anna) knew that she would walk by, but Joseph Cotten didn't. When she walked by and out of the shot, he improvised lighting a cigarette and throwing away the match.
It is possible that you heard that Cotten didn't know how the scene would play out and instead thought you had heard that Valli was the one. Just a thought -
alfa — 9 years ago(April 15, 2016 08:56 AM)
There was a disagreement between Reed and Green about the outcome. Green wanted Anna to stop, Reed wanted her to carry on.
Reed won.
There's a lot of answers to questions in this document.
http://www.rialtopictures.com/images_01/Making_of_Third_Man.pdf
In one of the the threads here, there was once a link to a postgrad essay which featured interviews with the production staff. Long gone now and I can no longer find the essay. Notable for having Welles being frank about his contributions in it and details of his time on set. -
CharlesTheBold — 9 years ago(December 30, 2016 08:24 PM)
Selznick and Graham Greene (who wrote the script) argued about it. Greene wanted a happy ending, Selznick convinced him that the unhappy ending ( Anna snubs Holly) would be better. Then both agreed that having her slowly walk up, not showing her decision until the last minute, would be great.