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It's a classic opening for a classic film: “I never knew the old Vienna before the war, with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm...” When the British writer Graham Greene went to Vienna in February 1948 to research a new film for Hungarian-born producer Alexander Korda, he could not have known that his efforts would contribute to one of the film classics of all time. He had worked with Korda and director Carol Reed before, but Fallen Idol (1948), their previous above-average cinematic joint project, is almost forgotten, while The Third Man, due in part to its many Citizen Kane elements (common actors, look and style), has become a true film classic.
Like another film classic, 1942's Casablanca, The Third Man, made seven years later, was an international effort with a very international cast and crew. But unlike the earlier Warner Brothers classic, The Third Man was shot largely on location. Carol Reed's film noir is set in the actual Vienna of 1948 when it was still an occupied, divided city in an occupied country at the start of the Cold War. (Vienna and Austria only gained full independence in 1955, six years after divided Berlin and Germany.) Co-producer David O. Selznick in Hollywood added an American element that included stars Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles, who had previously worked together in Citizen Kane (1941), and were also involved in the Mercury Theater together with John Houseman.
This international flavor, plus several other factors, make The Third Man ideally suited for use in the German classroom. The authentic locales and the use of German in The Third Man offer an opportunity to teach both language and culture. Reed's use of native Austrian actors (often speaking German) together with American, British, German and Italian talent helped create a film that reveals a fairly authentic snapshot of Austrian and world history. This combined with Greene's interesting, rather Hitchcockian story and Robert Krasker's award-winning cinematography makes The Third Man a very enjoyable way for students to learn more about the language and culture of a vital part of the German-speaking world.
Although some of the scenes in The Third Man were filmed on a soundstage in London (including the famous Prater Riesenrad/ferris wheel interior scene with Cotten and Welles), most of the beautiful cinematography by Robert Krasker and his three separate film crews (night, day and sewer) was shot on and beneath the streets of Vienna in 1948. At that time, Vienna was still a city occupied and controlled the Four Powers - a history lesson well taught by the film's story line and authentic locations.
In this section we'll concentrate on WHAT students can learn from The Third Man. In Part 2 we'll look at the details of what can be taught with the film. Here are some suggested learning categories for using the film in the classroom:
- Language (including Austrian dialect)
- Austrian Culture and Geography
- European and U.S. History
- Cinema History and Trivia
NEXT > Part 2: Teaching Topics | Worksheets
MORE > Third Man Vienna Tour
MORE > Review: Third Man DVD
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