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I concur with MoviemanCin. It's similar to explaining why a joke is funny to someone who didn't laugh at it the first time. A panel of British film critics several years ago rated "The Third Man" the greatest British film ever made. To me this film has everything going for it, and it's not even necessary to know the historical backdrop, though it naturally would deepen the experience. The story, acting, dialogue, directing, cinematography, music, the whole package is absolutely top tier. And rare for a dark, suspenseful movie, this one also has a lot of humor. But like most great works of art, one can't absorb it all in one or even a few viewings. In the world of classical music, for example, I love Beethoven, yet some of my favorite pieces of his I didn't start to fully appreciate until I'd listened to it five or six times. Give this movie a chance and more than likely it will grow on you.

If you feel the need to ask that question I don't think anyone is going to be able to answer you.
Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, and / or doesn't.

The Third Man
is fantastic on many levels. The acting, soundtrack, direction and mise en scene all come together to create a highly suspenseful film noir.
I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.

The gritty atmosphere, the way it was filmed in postwar, bombed out Vienna just lends so much authenticity. This movie has everything, a great story, great acting, cinematography, music, action, and an iconic ending. What's not to like?
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

That's funny, because I just saw it today at the Film Forum (is that where you saw it). I'm 24 and there were plenty of other younger people there too. And the film got a big round of applause at the end. How can we account for that?

I just saw the restoration on the big screen yesterday.
I'm 58 and was easily the youngest guy there - perhaps 30 moviegoers, all at least 75. They have reserved space in the back row for wheelchairs and that filled up fast. Other patrons with canes and walkers also filled out the back - and had a terrible time getting into the cramped seats, but I digress I assumed that I was surrounded by fellow TTM lovers. However, when the lights came on at the end, some of the comments were scathing:
"I was confused the entire time."
"I don't know what I just saw."
"The music was terrible."
"I think its boring - and its gets more boring every time I see it." (said by an elderly woman to her husband, who must make her watch it with him)
I really like this movie for reasons that were more eloquently stated by other posters, so it is a bit of a shock to hear other people dislike something that you enjoy so much. I'm disappointed that they can't see it the same way I do. But I guess that's where personal taste comes in. There's plenty of movies I don't like that others cherish, so I just accept that not everyone appreciates everything in the same way.

I don't know. I have always loved it. There I something so haunting about the atmosphere and the music. Lovely film. And I am a fan of joseph Cotton.

I honestly didn't like the music at first, but it grew on me the more I realized that it sets the tone for the movie with some of it's humorous undertones. At the beginning when the main character arrives to Vienna and finds that his friend was murdered, the whole situation is actually quite comical how it plays out, as is a lot of other moments in the movie. In the end this is a great mystery thriller with a neat twist, and an epic sewer chase sequence at the end. Need not to say more, this movie is a masterpiece.
Without mercy, man is like a beast.
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=33163288

In short, it's a great film in every aspect - nearly flawless. However, I wouldn't say I love it that much I just really like it.
Hey there, Johnny Boy, I hope you fry!

The cockatoo and the cat. Both act true to their nature. Observe them, then look to the humanswhat do you know, so do they.

I'm NOT just 13! I justed TURNED 14! That's Why I TYPE like THIS.
And in my 14 YEARS of oh so CINEMATIC life, I still HAVEN'T realized that IF I DIDN'T like a film, I probably WON'T like it AFTER SOMEONE explains it to me EITHER. But WHO cares, as long as I keep TROLLING.
Never be complete.

I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and it's absolutely superb on many levels.
1)Holly Martins as the Outsider. He arrives in Vienna because his friend wants to help him with work. Martins is ping-ponged around from Anna to the housekeeper to Calloway to the police to others. You get the impression they all know something and don't want him to know.
2)Harry as the mysterious proganist. We know he's an entrepreneur, we find out he's in the black market, later that he smuggled drugs. We never see him until that fated shot of a spotlight on his shoes then a pan to Welles' face, iconic shot. Then we find out more about him, despicably charming.
3)The camera work is excellent. The shaded view of the underground, the isolated shots of the balloon merchant, the child, Anna. The feeling of isolation in Vienna, all great stuff.
4)The story is convoluted. It goes from a murder to an impersonation to a criminal hunt to
Just a very deep movie, you leave it wondering who was really telling the truth.

Oh now I get it. Holly is kind of a satirical character for general western noir films like Casablanca, where things that characters like Rick Blaine do, just do not work where Holly is. His mannerisms. actions, ect.
That ending especially was different than what he imagined. It's like Holly had in his mind that he could play the "Cool" guy till the end, but he just doesn't get it.
I had this whole movies wrong in the beginning. LOL
Wow, that makes me like the film more.

Those are all things that make me love the film! The protagonist (Holly Martins, not Harry Lime) is a nave fool who tries to act like the hero of a western, or a Hollywood movie, but things don't go the way they're supposed to in a Hollywood movie: he makes a fool of himself when he drinks;
when he tries to prove his friend's innocence he gets a man killed and ends up proving just the opposite; he not only can't get the girl but she ends up despising him; he kills his good friend
.
I love the score for the same reason: it's so different from the melodramatic orchestra music you'd expect from a black-and-white film from the forties dealing with death, destruction and corruption. And it's Viennese music in a film where lovely, ravaged Vienna is as much of a star as any of the human characters.

Imagine Schindler's List with a grassroots sountrack played on a banjo or play Blade Runner muted to a Justin Bieber record
Imagine a film set in Vienna with the entire score played on the quintessential Viennese instrument.
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You don't have to. You've seen TTM.

I appreciate the cinematography and the atmosphere, etc, etc. However I can't love this movie, there's so many things putting you off all the time. Cotten's acting is cardboard at best, and he is basically a complete idiot whom the audience can't really relate to. He gives away the name of his informant, who subsequently gets horribly murdered, but no one seems to pay any attention to this detail! Anna's motivations are contradictory to say the least, women were never really put in a good light in 1940s movies, but they went a little too far here, she is a particulary loathsome character. Lastly, the score. Seriously, some people have praised the music in this movie to the skies, how is that possible? How can something so ridiculously out of place not stand out and make you cringe? Imagine Schindler's List with a grassroots sountrack played on a banjo or play Blade Runner muted to a Justin Bieber record. That's how stupidly annoying and off-putting the score of The Third Man is. Summing up, too many reasons not to love this movie.

The reason people love this movie is because they are all insomniacs, and this film is the only thing that can give them the peaceful sleep that their bodies need.

Thats the basic difference between American and European cinema one lets u forget about life the other reminds you
-love that observation!

You know I was thinking compared to Europe, America is only about 5 years old. For sure, Europe has plenty of history for remindin!';-)

Thats the basic difference between American and European cinema one lets u forget about life the other reminds you

Love Joseph Cotten and put this up there as one of his best performances.
Yeah boy he's good here. He nailed Holly M's (American) character. Sometimes when I watch I just focus on him all through the film and I'm probably ready to buy one of his Westerns. And I feel bad that he let that lit society down. One thing about Holly he ain't no Dickens or Jimmy Joyce. He initially only knew the way of the West. No 'grays' for him until he got 'educated' in Vienna, a thousand+ miles away from the tumbleweeds.

Love Joseph Cotten and put this up there as one of his best performances. One of the people that loved the music, though i can admit that the music editing wasn't great and they missed places, but that is just nit picking. The directing is well done, the reveal scene, the Ferris wheel scene, the scenes in the sewers and of course the final shot is one of the best endings of a movie ever. Plus there is some wonderful dialogue, both of the snappy quick type which was classic in that day and the Ferris wheel scene. Orson Welles does a perfect job as Lime, the charm that makes you almost agree with his stance on what he has done, then the sewer scene was just amazing. Plus I really enjoy Trevor Howard as Calloway, it isn't great acting and most times goes under looked against Cotten's and Welles' performances, but to me he was perfect in that role.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?