Anton Karas Anton Karas Anton Karas (7 July 1906 – 10 January 1985) was a Viennese zither player and composer, best known for his internationally famous 1948 soundtrack to Carol Reed's "The Third Man", which came about as a result of a chance meeting. Born in Vienna, one of five children of a factory worker, Anton Karas was already keen on music as a child. He wanted to become a band leader, which because of the family's financial situation was impossible. However, he was allowed to learn to play an instrument, as were his two brothers and two sisters. He later reported
Alexander Korda Vienna to make "Everybody's Woman" (1924). While there, he began work on his next film, the historical "Tragedy in the House of Habsburg" (1924), which portrayed the Mayerling Incident. It earned back around half of its production cost. He followed this with "Dancing Mad" (1925), another melodrama. Korda had frequent problems with money, and often had to receive support from friends and business associates. Korda had cast his wife Maria Corda as the female lead in all his German-language films and to a large degree, his productions depended on her star power. Korda cast her again in "A Modern Dubarry"