The Third Man/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Complete Monster: Calloway certainly thinks Lime is this; Anna doesn't, or at least doesn't care; and Martins is caught between the two.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Harry Lime turned out to be so popular that he got his own radio drama starring Orson Welles himself. Of course, in the radio drama he was more of a Lovable Rogue than a Magnificent Bastard. And besides, Orson Welles, so Evil Is Sexy
    • Even more so in the 1950's television adaptation, where Michael "|Klaatu" Rennie played him as an urbane English hero!
  • Ear Worm: That music...
  • Evil Is Sexy: You got a Draco in Leather Pants, of course people are into him.
  • It Was His Sled: Come on, even the posters spoil it.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Harry Lime, natch.
  • Misaimed Fandom: There are people who root for Lime.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Lime faked his death to avoid being accused of selling watered-down penicillin that resulted in mass death and illness.
  • Older Than They Think: Only not that much older. The "cuckoo clock" speech quoted at the top is the most famous line from the movie. What most people don't realize (even though it's lampshaded) is that Harry Lime is actually quoting someone. "As the fella says..." Who's the "fella"? Winston Churchill. (Yeah, not one of Churchill's more inspiring quotes.)
  • Tear Jerker: The children's hospital.
  • The Woobie: Anna Schmidt is so sad and pathetic that even the sad and pathetic Holly Martins can't stop himself from falling in love with her. It's noteworthy that her theme is the only piece of music in the movie that ISN'T Soundtrack Dissonance. It's full on SAD.