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 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"