GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #56

HARRY LIME

Harry Lime made his debut in the 1949 film noir "The Third Man", directed by Carol Reed and played by Orson Welles.  Graham Greene wrote the screenplay, based on a novella that he wrote in preparation for the film.  The film centers on an American writer (Joseph Cotten) who arrives in Vienna to accept a job with his friend Harry Lime, only to learn that Lime has died.  He finds the circumstances around Lime's death to be suspicious and stays in Vienna to investigate the matter.  It turns out that Lime is alive, having faked his death to allude the police.  Lime has been stealing penicillin, diluting it, and selling it on the black market, resulting in the death and severe health problems of many.  In the end, Lime is gunned down in the sewers of Vienna.  Critics hailed the film as a masterpiece, and it won an Oscar for cinematography.

In the film, Harry Lime is a charming, totally amoral character - a sociopath who only cares about himself.  In the radio series "The Lives of Harry Lime", that came out after the film, he is a charming adventurer of dubious reputation who is not as amoral as people think he is.  In the TV series "Third Man" Harry is a rather conservative businessman whose reputation seems to have been a case of mistaken identity.  The TV Harry had little in common with the film and radio versions.  Still, Harry Lime became an anti-hero in pop culture whether he was perceived as a cold-blooded opportunist or an affable scoundrel.  His charm, especially as portrayed by Welles, won people over.  Harry rationalizes his crimes by saying, "In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed.  But they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance.  In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had 500 years of democracy and peace - and what did that produce?  The cuckoo clock."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"The Third Man" by Graham Greene (American Magazine March 1949).  The novella was the basis for the screenplay, also by Greene, and a later expanded version published by Bantam paperbacks as a novel in April 1950.

"The Lives of Harry Lime" was published by Pocketbooks in 1952.  15 episodes of the radio show were adapted into short story format and collected in this volume.  The book was credited to Orson Welles and others.  The 15 stories and authors:

"It's in the Bag" Orson Welles /  "The Golden Fleece" Orson Welles /  "Art is Long and Lime is Fleeting" Sigmund Miller /  "Love Affair" Sigmund Miller /  "See Naples and Live" Sigmund Miller /  "Every Frame Has a Silver Lining" Robert Cenedella /  "Paris is Not the Same" Joseph Cochran /  "Five Thousand Pengoes and a Kiss" Carl Jampal /  "The Hand of Glory" Jonquil Anthony /  "The Hyacinth Patrol" Virginia Cooke /  "Horseplay" Peter Lyon /  "Work of Art" Bud Lesser /  "Rogue's Holiday" Peter Lyon /  "A Ticket to Tangier" Orson Welles /  "An Old Moorish Custom" Irvan Ashkinazy.

FILM

"The Third Man" Korda-Selznick, 1949.  Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee, Wilfrid Hyde-White.  Director: Carol Reed.  A gripping and beautifully structured film, "The Third Man" is a tour de force about the enigmatic Harry Lime.  The legendary ingredients of this stellar film noir jarred the public and critics alike, who lavished justifiable praise on the movie.  Welles performance is riveting and the very embodiment of suavity and evil.

RADIO

"Theatre Guild on the Air" NBC, did an adaptation of "The Third Man" on January 7, 1951, with Joseph Cotten, Signe Hasso, and Anthony Ireland.

"Lux Radio Theatre" NBC, did two adaptations of "The Third Man".  The first was on April 9, 1951, with Joseph Cotten, Evelyn Keyes, and Ted de Corsia as Harry Lime.  The second version aired February 8, 1954, with Ray Milland and Ruth Roman.

"The Lives of Harry Lime" was a British produced drama that aired in the United States.  It was created as a prequel to the film and focused on Lime's adventures prior to his end in Vienna.  Orson Welles reprised his role on the radio version for 52 episodes that aired from August 3, 1951, to July 25, 1952.  In this version Harry is a charming, somewhat less nefarious anti-hero, but still a con man.  The show would begin with the zither theme of "The Third Man" which was then abruptly cut off by an echoing gunshot.  Then Welles would speak - "That was the shot that killed Harry Lime.  He died in a sewer beneath Vienna, as those of you know who saw the movie 'The Third Man'.  yes, that was the end of Harry Lime...but it was not the beginning.  Harry Lime had many lives...and I can recount all of them.  How do I know?  Very simple.  Because my name is Harry Lime."

Welles wrote several of the episodes for the radio show.  One of them, "Man of Mystery", was expanded by Welles to become the novel "Mr. Arkadin" which he later made into a movie that he both directed and starred in.  Another episode, "Horseplay", was based on the 1940 book "The Big Con" by David W. Maurer and was the basis for the 1973 film "The Sting" with Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

COMICS

Harry Lime appeared in the fourth issue of Super Detective Library, a British comic book series.

TELEVISION

"Third Man" was a TV series based on the Harry Lime character and portrayed by Michael Rennie.  Being television, and the time period, Lime could no longer be a villain who gets away with conning people for personal profit.  So in this adaptation Harry makes money as an art dealer and solves crimes to save his life.  The show was popular enough to last for five seasons, resulting in 77 episodes that aired from January 23, 1959, until August 27, 1965.