20 Spy Movies You Must See Before You Die
3. The Third Man (1949)
The Third Man was originally written as novella, which writer Graham Greene - best known for his novel Brighton Rock, perhaps - used as a basis for his screenplay. The resulting film, directed by British legend Carol Reed, emerged as an unabashed masterpiece, packed with more tension, more atmosphere, and more lingering paranoia than you could possibly fit into post-war Vienna.
The Third Man is set in Vienna, of course (itself a character), at a point in time where the city had been divided up between four allied countries. After being offered a job, Holly Martins, played by Joseph Cotten, arrives in search of his friend Harry Lime, who may or may not be missing, or dead, or entangled in a bewildering spy plot that will take Martin through the wringer (and back again).
Like Notorious before it, The Third Man is a noir as much as it is a spy movie, and it's here that these two genres merge like never before. Reed manages to create a sense of constant unease throughout, which is made more tense by way of the eerie black and white photography. And then there the sudden plot twists, that infamous cameo from Orson Welles, and the iconic foot chase in the sewers...
Writing on The Third Man, Roger Ebert once wrote, "Of all the movies that I have seen, this one most completely embodies the romance of going to the movies." If you're yet to see it, what the hell are you waiting for?