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 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