How does 'The Third Man' use film noir conventions?

Film Noir was discovered by French film critics who noticed the trend of how 'dark', downbeat and black the looks and themes were of many American  thrillers following the war, such as  The Maltese Falcon. It is a term to describe the 'bleak' American films produced after the war.  A wide range of the films reflected the tension, bleakness and insecurities of the time period or post war. Bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and isolation are evident in the film noir thrillers, reflecting the war period. The criminal, violent or greedy perspectives of anti-heroes in film noir were a metaphors of society's evils, with a strong undercurrent of moral conflict, purposelessness and sense of injustice. There were rarely happy or optimistic endings in noirs.

'The Third Man' is a very good example of the film noir conventions. The lighting and sound, mise en scene, shots and angles, the characters and the corruption of the city all represent the tension and isolation that the city of Vienna has post war. The montage at the start of the film reflects the mood of bleakness, fear and destruction that has happened throughout the war. The image to the left is from the montage and it shows the distruction of the city.The cobblestone street setting which is constantly wet and the lighting shines on them and the British officers seeking to create law and order in a city which is divided where the British Americans and Russians are in charge which contrasts with the characters and the underworld that is below the city are all features of film noir. The setting of the film usually has either bombed out buildings and a lot of rubble around, it shows the corruption of the city and symbolises right from wrong. The same as the world on the surface of Vienna where Holly is contrasting with the underworld underneath the surface were Harry is.

When Holly Martins is running away from the police he runs up a spiral staircase. This convention is used in alot of films that use film noir such as 'M' by Fritz Lang. This is because it creates a distance for the chase and makes the audience feel disorientated and it also creates mystery.  Aswell as the spiral staircase causing disorientation, the sewers in the big chase at the end also do. It is such a complex structure with barely any light and so many exits and entrances that it causes confusion as to what way to go. The sewers also shows the other side of the city, it contrasts to what people can see. There islolation in the sewers and for Harry Lime, also known as a rat, there is no escape. The water down there can infect the whole city, so Harry being down there and using it as a way of getting around, is infecting the good side of the city and it symbolises the corruption.

The lighting used in 'The Third Man' creates a lot of tension, especially when Harry Lime is revealed for the first time. It is night time so there is complete darkness, the only light source is from a street lamp, and all you can see from that is a cat. Holly Martins starts shouting at someone he thinks is following him when suddenly a women opens a window. This reveals Harry because there is strong key lighting shining straight onto his face. The lighting highlights the shadows on the walls which creates tension as we know something is always coming, especially when Holly is waiting for Harry to arrive at the cafe and the way we are expecting Harry to arrive comes a shadow of a man. This leads the audience to believe it is Harry but instead it is a man selling balloons who blows Calloways cover. Throughout the film there is barely any natural light which creates mystery and also shows the despair of the city after the war because of the darkness.

The characters in 'The Third Man' face a moral conflict, involved in crime and they have an ambiguous side to their character. Harry Lime is like a rat infecting the whole city with his medicine that made people ill and we know all this because of the evidence that Calloway shows Holly. Although Holly and Harry are best friends and have been for a long while, Holly feels that morally he has to do right and the only way he can do that is by turning him into the police. All these evidence shows that there is no escape for Harry and at some point he is bound to get caught. The signs of no escape such as the evidence and Harrys fingers through the grills in the drain when he is trying to get out of the sewers link to the Film Noir convention of there never being a happy ending because even if Harry is caught or killed then his love or best friend will not be happy.

A convention of film noir that is in 'The Third Man' but slightly different is the use of the femme fatale. The femme fatale is a women who presents ambiguity in their character, they are usually always attractive which mans they lead the men to act against their better judgement and they are usually deceptive. They represent a threat and are often seem as much a victim as they are a villan. In 'The Third Man' Anna is the femme fatale, she is beautiful, Holly falls in love with her and she has moral ambiguity. Anna challenges the values of right and wrong. After what she has learnt about Harry she 'feels sorry for Harry' and instead of them hunting him down she wishes 'he were dead'. With the corruption of the city, Anna is seen as a victim feeling uncertain about her life saying 'I don't know anything anymore'. She is adrift and only has Holly Martins to protect her against the corruption that is happening, she rejects help from anyone and she is admired by Calloway for her bravery.

Overall 'The third man' is a good demonstration of the conventions of film noir which brings us a fantastic thriller with all the elements needed to build suspense and tension.