Anton Karas asked a stunned Karas if he would compose the music for the film. Karas protested, saying he had never actually written music. As Karas later told the story, the director insisted and invited Karas to England. The Austrian became homesick and asked to be allowed to return. Reed told him he could—as soon as he had written the music. Under this pressure Karas wrote his Harry Lime theme. The film—with the music a contributing factor—was a gigantic success, and Karas' life was changed drastically. As a result, he toured all over the world and performed for many celebrities, among them
Alexander Korda three other films, "Bonnie Prince Charlie" (1948), "The Winslow Boy" (1948) and "The Fallen Idol" (1948). "The Winslow Boy" and "Fallen Idol" were hits. "An Ideal Husband" and "Anna Karenina" had some acclaim but lost money at the box-office. "Bonnie Prince Charlie" was a fiasco. Korda was also badly hurt by the trade war between the British and American film industries in the late 1940s. Korda did recover, in part due to a £3 million loan British Lion received from the National Film Finance Corporation. In 1948 Korda signed a co-production deal with David O. Selznick. This resulted in "The