97
Metascore
30 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertOf all the movies I have seen, this one most completely embodies the romance of going to the movies.
- Throughout the film the sense of Vienna as a frazzled echo of its glorious past is underpinned by Reed's greatest trouvaille – the discovery of Anton Karas's zither melodies, used as the only musical accompaniment. Half-jaunty, half-melancholic, they epitomise, like the film itself, a world gone sadly to seed.
- 100EmpireWilliam ThomasEmpireWilliam ThomasThis will haunt you. The style, the plot, the character and of course ...that tune...
- 100A noir classic.
- 100Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsChicago TribuneMichael PhillipsA triumph of disparate tones, colors and intentions. Like many, I have loved this thriller of conscience and betrayal most of my moviegoing life...Its brand of romantic fatalism is particularly seductive to teenage males, I think, and those who never fully recover from that moviegoing state of being.
- 100The New York TimesBosley CrowtherThe New York TimesBosley CrowtherMr. Reed has brilliantly packaged the whole bad of his cinematic tricks, his whole range of inventive genius for making the camera expound. His eminent gifts for compressing a wealth of suggestion in single shots, for building up agonized tension and popping surprises are fully exercised. His devilishly mischievous humor also runs lightly through the film, touching the darker depressions with little glints of the gay or macabre. [3 Feb 1950, p.29]
- 100Portland OregonianJeff BakerPortland OregonianJeff BakerIt's an exciting experience, dazzling and entertaining and thought-provoking. I saw it at Cinema 21 last week and immediately wanted to see it again. I couldn't, so I started researching and read everything I could about it. It's truly great.
- 100EmpireIan NathanEmpireIan NathanThe Third Man finally endures because it offers a simple thing that so many modern films neglect: the power of story...Revolutionary film noir with a clutch of stunning central turns.
- 100SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirWhat has perhaps been lost over the years, however, is the cultural freshness and vitality of Reed’s masterpiece...The Third Man is important not just because of its technique but because of its theme.