Corrected entry: At the beginning of the film, when Baron Kurtz is explaining Harry Lime's death, he says he doesn't know the name of Harry's girl. But later on at the Cassanova Club, Kurtz walks straight up to Anna and Holly and says "Hello, Miss Schmit."

The Third Man (1949)
1 corrected entry
Directed by: Carol Reed
Starring: Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, Orson Welles, Alida Valli
Continuity mistake: When the butler tells of Harry Lime's death, at the start of the conversation he can hardly speak English. As the conversation goes on, his English gets better and better, until at the end it's perfect with just an accent.
Suggested correction: He is reluctant to speak English at the start possibly to avoid trouble but later decides otherwise.
Martins: I'd make comic faces... and stand on my head and grin at you between my legs... and tell all sorts of jokes. I wouldn't stand a chance, would I?
Trivia: Orson Welles' line "...you know what the fellow said... In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." was not in the script. Welles just wanted to say it, so he did, much to the anger of the original author. He thought it was a terrible piece of writing but it has turned out to be the most memorable line in the entire film.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Correction: Although a true observation, it is not quite a mistake. Baron Kurtz obviously knows more then he is willing to tell, to hinder Holly finding out the truth about the third man. Straightforward this is not a mistake by the film but rather a lie by the character Baron Kurtz.