THE THIRD MAN (1949) Lime pit

Although Orson Welles doesn’t make his stunning first appearance as the amoral Harry Lime until halfway through THE THIRD MAN, and goes on to log only 10 or 15 minutes in total screen time, his presence hangs over every frame. Carol Reed directed, but Welles’ influence shows up both in direction and scripting. Holly Martins, played by Joseph Cotton (who also narrates the American version; Reed narrates the British one), is an American pulp fiction writer offered a job by his old friend Lime. But upon arriving in Vienna, he learns that Lime is a black market racketeer trafficking phony penicillin and that just that week he was hit and killed by an auto. As Martins is drawn deeper and deeper into a Lime pit of intrigue and deception, he also learns the surprising identity of the third man who reportedly carried the dead Lime away. A brilliant film, considered by many to be Reed's and British cinema's finest. (Trivia notes: The fingers seen emerging from a manhole cover, presumably Welles/Lime's, are actually Reed's. A few years later, Lime's evil nature was dramatically softened by Welles for radio, later TV.)