Review of The Third Man by Graham Greene
Revisiting a classic thriller
During my youth in the 50s-60s The Third Man was a regular film on our black and white TV and the Harry Lime theme played on a zither was a radio favourite. I watched the Orson Wells classic movie many times but until recently had not read the book. This month I have rectified this omission and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
This is a tale of a lonely man adrift in a divided city there to visit a friend who has died just as he arrives. A story of divided loyalties and shattered friendship told by a military policeman who is relieved to have the chance to close one of his cases.
Why has a writer of third rate Western pulp fiction been invited to give a series of lecturers to literary groups? Why do the accounts of a friend’s violent death not add up? Who was the third man who only one witness seems to have seen. Was the dead man good or a racketeer responsible for the deaths of children?
Set in Vienna split between the four main allies at the end of the Second World War this is a book of its time but far from being dated. Treat yourself to a tour of this grim city, its seedier inhabitants and the complications of ruling powers who have little in common now their enemy has been defeated. A real page turner.
During my youth in the 50s-60s The Third Man was a regular film on our black and white TV and the Harry Lime theme played on a zither was a radio favourite. I watched the Orson Wells classic movie many times but until recently had not read the book. This month I have rectified this omission and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
This is a tale of a lonely man adrift in a divided city there to visit a friend who has died just as he arrives. A story of divided loyalties and shattered friendship told by a military policeman who is relieved to have the chance to close one of his cases.
Why has a writer of third rate Western pulp fiction been invited to give a series of lecturers to literary groups? Why do the accounts of a friend’s violent death not add up? Who was the third man who only one witness seems to have seen. Was the dead man good or a racketeer responsible for the deaths of children?
Set in Vienna split between the four main allies at the end of the Second World War this is a book of its time but far from being dated. Treat yourself to a tour of this grim city, its seedier inhabitants and the complications of ruling powers who have little in common now their enemy has been defeated. A real page turner.
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