Wellesnet: The Orson Welles Web Resource

Milan Records will release a digitally remastered edition of the score for Carol Reed's "The Third Man" starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles on February 5.

According the label, “The pioneering original musical score, composed by Viennese musician Anton Karas, was only performed on the zither. The harrowing sound perfectly complementing this dark classic.”

Karas' "The Harry Lime Theme" sold 500,000 copies upon its release in 1949, a staggering amount for that era. The tune became closely associated with Welles. (more...)

The East Village's latest bar is the kind of watering hole where would-be Holly Martins can order up a Harry Lime while zither music plays in their head.

Located at 116 Avenue C near 7th Street in the Big Apple, The Third Man takes its name from the classic 1949 Carol Reed thriller starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten.

The Third Man boasts cocktails and appetizers from Austrian-native chefs Eduard Frauneder and (more...)

David Stewart White recently penned a splendid travel feature for The Washington Post on the Third Man Museum in Vienna.

The diminutive museum is tucked away on a residential side street in Vienna’s Margareten neighborhood.

It boasts some 2,000 artifacts across 13 rooms. The museum is a consuming passion of Gerhard Strassgschwandtner, who is still collecting (more...)

The Criterion Collection, purveyors of high class DVDs, today announced that they were entering the Blu-ray field with a spate of fall releases, one of which is Carol Reed's classic The Third Man, featuring Welles in one of his most iconic roles as Harry Lime. This was announced via their newsletter, and it doesn't appear to be on their site yet, but visit any decent DVD forum and people will no doubt be frothing with excitement about it, as well they should. Now, how long until we get F FOR FAKE and MR. ARKADIN on Blu?

In other DVD news, Universal is releasing a 50th anniversary edition of TOUCH OF EVIL this summer, but no details have been announced. Rumor has it that this release will see all three versions of the film included, but that remains speculative at this point. We can live in hope. Also announced was Image Entertainment's release of DON QUIXOTE, which will almost certainly be the Franco abomination rather than anything more worthwhile (and frankly, a blank disc might be a better option).

THE THIRD MAN (1949)  Presented by ALEXANDER KORDA and DAVID O. SELZNICK. Produced & Directed by CAROL REED. Screenplay by GRAHAM GREENE. Associate Producer: HUGH PERCEVAL. Assistant Director: GUY HAMILTON. Unit Production Manager: T. S. LYNDON-HAYNES. Lighting Cameraman: ROBERT KRASKER. Art Director: VINCENT KORDA. Zither Music arranged and played by ANTON KARAS. Film Editor: OSWALD HAFENRICHTER. Make-up: GEORGE FROST. Wardrobe Supervisor: IVY BAKER. Second Unit Photography: JOHN WILCOX and STAN PAVEY. Set Dresser: DARIO SIMONI. Camera Operators: EDWARD SCAIFE and DENYS COOP. Austrian Advisor: ELIZABETH MONTAGU. Sound Supervisor: JOHN COX. Sound Editor: JACK DRAKE.  

CAST: Joseph Cotten (Holly Martins); Alida Valli (Anna Schmidt); Orson Welles (Harry Lime); Trevor Howard (Major Galloway); Bernard Lee (Sgt. Paine); Ernst Deutsch (Baron Kurtz); Erich Ponto (Dr. Winkel); Siegfried Breuer (Popesco); Wilfrid Hyde-White (Crabbin); Paul Hoerbiger (Porter); Annie Rosar (Porter’s wife); Hedwig Bleibtreu (Anna's Landlady); Frederick Schreicker (Hansl's Father); Herbert Halbik (Hansl); Jenny Werner (Winkel's Maid); Nelly Arno (Kurtz' Mother); Alexis Chesnakov (Col. Brodsky); Leo Bieber (Barman at the Casanova); Geoffrey Keen (British MP); Otto Schusser (Stand-in for Orson Welles). 

The superb new Criterion edition of The Third Man, to quote from their press release, features a “luminous new transfer of the film, with digitally restored image and sound.” And, indeed, this transfer is an absolute joy, sparkling like diamonds, which assistant director Guy Hamilton might quip, “are forever.”  It certainly surpasses all previous versions of the film that have been available.  A note from Martin Bigham, which follows the Carol Reed interview, below, explains why: The original nitrate negative was found at Pinewood studios and used to make new prints in 1996, at London’s Soho laboratories, who are specialists in the lost art of black and white printing.

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I saw this on another site, and can't vouch for its quality or lack thereof yet, but here is a link to a film noir podcast series, this particular episode focusing on Carol Reed's The Third Man. It's a free download, so give it a shot if you like.