The Lives of Harry Lime

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The Lives of Harry Lime (also known as The Adventures of Harry Lime) was a Radio Drama produced in England in 1951 and 1952.

Orson Welles reprised his role of Harry Lime from the celebrated 1949 film The Third Man. The radio series is a "prequel" to the film, and depicts the many misadventures of con artist Lime in a somewhat lighter tone than the character's villainy in the film.

Most episodes would begin by playing "The Third Man Theme", abruptly cut off by an echoing gunshot. Then Welles would intone: "That was the shot that killed Harry Lime. He died in a sewer beneath Vienna, as those of you know who saw the movie The Third Man. Yes, that was the end of Harry Lime ... but it was not the beginning. Harry Lime had many lives ... and I can recount all of them. How do I know? Very simple. Because my name is Harry Lime."

Tropes used in The Lives of Harry Lime include:

• The Con
• Delayed Wire: "Horse Play"
• Loveable Rogue: Harry Lime
• Perpetual Poverty: If Harry every succeeded in one of his get rich quick schemes, he would lose all of the money by the end of the episode.
• Staged Shooting: Used in the episode "Horse Play". This episode uses almost exactly the same plot as The Sting but predates it by 20 years.
• Themed Aliases/This Is My Name on Foreign: One episode has Harry sent after a con woman whose aliases all mean Brown in various languages: Braun, Brunelle, etc.