The Third Man Theme The Third Man Theme "The Third Man Theme" (also known as "The Harry Lime Theme") is an instrumental written and performed by Anton Karas for the soundtrack to the 1949 film "The Third Man". "The Third Man" is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed. One night after a long day of filming "The Third Man" on location in Vienna, Reed and cast members Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Orson Welles had dinner and retired to a wine cellar. In the bistro, which retained the atmosphere of the pre-war days, they heard the zither music of Anton Karas,
Alexander Korda were both nautical-set adventures based on Hungarian novels. By that stage, Korda had grown irritated with Kolowrat's interference with his work and left Sascha to make an independent film, "Samson and Delilah" (1922), set in the world of opera. The film was made on a lavish scale, with large crowd scenes. The lengthy shooting schedule lasted 160 working days. The film was unsuccessful. Unable to find further backing for his film projects, Korda left Vienna and travelled to Germany. Korda raised funding for the melodrama "The Unknown Tomorrow" (1923). With backing from Germany's biggest film company, UFA, Korda returned to