Question about movie "The Third Man"

January 14, 2024 8:05 AM

In the move “The Third Man," some time after Holly Martins goes to the funeral of his friend Harry Lime, Martins is contacted by Kurtz. The conversation between Martins and Kurtz seems to set in motion Martins trying to investigate the death of Lime. If Martins hadn’t been contacted by Kurtz, it seems like Martins would have flown back to the USA the next day. But it seems like Kurtz had no reason to contact Martins. It seems like for Kurtz to contact Martins is a flaw in the story. Or is there a rationale that I missed?
posted by NotLost to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

I think most investigators would want to talk to friends of the "victim" even if they aren't a suspect. For background. Additionally, given Martins status as an American, that could make him a person of interest in a black market ring.
posted by brookeb at 8:24 AM on January 14

One of my favorite, if not my favorite, movie.

But, I haven't seen it in a while though. I always thought Kurtz knew something was shifty, and was trying to put Martins on the track to do the investigation he could not legally do. Next watch, I will ponder this.
posted by Windopaene at 8:26 AM on January 14

Response by poster: I thought Kurtz was an ally of Lime's, that he had helped fake Lime's death.
posted by NotLost at 8:30 AM on January 14

Could well be the case. It''s been a decade since I watched it. That would be a flaw in the logic. Wish I could find a place that streams it.
posted by Windopaene at 8:33 AM on January 14

Kurtz and Dr. Winkel see Martins at Lime's first funeral while arranging the wreath on the grave. They're concerned about who it might be (Kurtz asks Winkel, "Wer ist das?"/"Who is that?"). Kurtz clearly reports back to Lime, because they find out who he is. Martins is a loose end and might cause trouble, so Kurtz meets with him to encourage him to go home ("You shouldn't speak to her, it would only cause her pain...You do better to think of yourself"). Would Martins have gone home without the meeting with Kurtz and the convenient offer of sponsorship by the oblivious Krabbin? Possibly, but as we see later, Lime makes some real mistakes in judging Martins's character.
posted by praemunire at 9:00 AM on January 14 [7 favorites]

In the book, as far as Lime knows, Martins has arrived in Vienna at his invitation with no money. Kurtz says that Lime asked him after the accident to contact Martins when he arrived "to see you were all right and that you got your plane back" - which I guess works regardless of whether Kurtz is in on the deception at that point.
posted by offog at 9:13 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]

Wish I could find a place that streams it.

Criterion Channel and sometimes Kanopy.
posted by dobbs at 9:50 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]

The doorway reveal. The Ferris wheel. The zither music...

What a great film...
posted by Windopaene at 11:30 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]

Best answer: First off, half of the movie is people unsuccessful telling Holly Martins to leave Vienna. Calloway, Anna, Kurtz, Popescu, even Anna’s cat would rather he not be around. Martins is the wild card in a game that’s already underway. Arguably Lime’s attempts to control Martins are what ultimately leads to Lime’s demise.

If I’m remembering correctly, the sequence of events is Martins arrives at Lime’s house and the porter tells him Lime was killed (instantly) by a car. Then, Martins goes to Lime’s (fake) funeral and briefly talks to Major Calloway. As mentioned above, Lime’s associates Kurtz and Popescu are at the funeral. Afterwards, Major Calloway confronts Martins in a bar and tells him Lime was involved in criminal activity. Martins takes offense at Calloway’s accusations about his friend. Sgt Paine, who is with Calloway, intervenes and recognizes Martins as a pulp writer. Paine escorts Martins to the Hotel Sacher, where Paine introduces Martins to Mr. Crabbins. Crabbins then invites Martins to lecture at the book club in a few days. Martins wants to prove Calloway is wrong about Lime, so Mr. Crabbins’ invite is an excuse to stay in Vienna.

Now, Lime knows the police have talked to Martins and that Martins is sticking around for a few days. (There’s a later scene at Martins’ book club lecture where Mr. Crabbins says he knows Popescu as a patron of the hospital.) Again, Martins is a wild card, so Lime want to get him out of the picture. Lime has Kurtz arrange a meeting to give the ostensibly penniless Martins money for a ticket out of Vienna. (Lime doesn’t know that Calloway also gave Martins money to leave). Martins agrees to meet because he wants to prove Calloway is wrong about Lime and he’s also interested In finding out about Anna, who was also at the funeral.

But, Kurtz bungles it by mentioning that Lime’s last words were to take care of Martins and Anna. This was supposed to be a pretext for giving Martins the money to leave, but Kurtz is unaware of the conversation Martins had with the Porter. Kurtz also pushes Martins towards Anna. Lime has set his own fate in motion.
posted by chrisulonic at 12:02 PM on January 14 [4 favorites]

Martins, Paine, and Crabbin are in the hotel lobby. Martins has (sensible) doubts about accepting Crabbin's offer, but is considering it. Then their conversation is interrupted by a mysterious phone call from the mysterious Baron Kurtz ("I was a friend of Harry Lime"), so, intrigued, he tells Crabbin he'll stay and Paine that he plans to expose Calloway's negligence/corruption in not investigating Lime's death further. Then he meets with Kurtz. Having noticed the contradiction in Kurtz's story, he comes dashing in to the hotel lobby, tells Paine he won't be needing the ticket home Paine offers him or the ride to the airport, and then points to Crabbin and tells him he's been offered the hospitality of the "HQBMT." (10:17 and then 17:20 here) To me, it's doubtful he would ultimately have accepted Crabbin's offer and stayed if he hadn't been handed a "lead" in the form of Kurtz's phone call and then Kurtz's questionable story. He doesn't speak any German, and can barely communicate on the simplest matters with the porter at Harry's place. He doesn't know who Anna is (Kurtz tells him where she works). No one has any particular desire to talk to him. What's he going to do?

One cannot overstate the unreliability Kurtz radiates in the meeting with Martins, but if Harry's other choices of emissary were Popescu and Dr. Winkel, needs must, I guess.
posted by praemunire at 12:34 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]

(Does Harry feel lightly guilty about stranding Martins in Vienna without any money, which was not his original intention? Maybe. But considering how little he did for Anna, I think his main concern was just to tidy up by getting Martins out of Vienna.)
posted by praemunire at 12:41 PM on January 14

Wish I could find a place that streams it.

Criterion Channel.

Tubi. Crackle. (with ads)

Amazon Prime, AppleTV+, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, DirectTV (for rent, $3.79 - $3.99).
posted by lhauser at 12:45 PM on January 14 [3 favorites]

I am on a bunch of those, but haven't seen it, so thanks. Will check again.

So good...
posted by Windopaene at 9:13 PM on January 14

(The entire movie seems to be on YT if you do a search, too...)
posted by maxwelton at 10:19 PM on January 15