I just saw the remastered version of this classic-it is amazingly good! Anyhow, I never read the book,so I have a few questions:
-Harry Lime told Holly that he lives in the Russian sector-how did he get past the guards? Did he bribe them?
-Major Calloway wants to arrest Harry Lime…because of the penicillin racket. Why doesn’the have his Russian friends nab Lime?
-Lime’s girfriend is a czech national, living (illegally) in Vienna on a forged passport-why are the Russians so adamant about deporting her?
-Are the sewers of Vienna really that big?
-Vienna is depicted as having major war damage-was it bombed by the Allies? Or was most of the damage caused by the Russians?
-Dr. Winkel (“Vinkle!” lives with the other guy…what did they do for Harry Lime?
How long after the war was Vienna occupiedby the four powers? It must have been fun serving there-eevrybody had to go out together to make an arrest!
Finally: how OLD is the ferris wheel in Vienna? Is it still there?
Great flick-one of the best ever made! I urge you to see the DVD remastered version! (And I LOVE that zither music!) 
Carol Reed, not Orson Welles. Welles did dominate the film, and wrote much of his own dialog, but he didn’t direct.
- Not Russian friends. The center of the city is begrudgingly shared by the four Allied powers, and each district is independently controlled. Not only do the four powers have the most difficult time communicating in a common language, but they also have no jurisdiction in one another’s zones. It’s a very flawed marraige of convenience.
- Yes, the sewers are that big. I assume you’re talking about the Criterion DVD. Take a look at a featurette called something like “The Sewers of Vienna.” It shows documentary footage of the sewer patrol police in the actual sewers. (Interesting digression: Orson Welles refused to film in the sewers, so any time you see him, it’s on a soundstage built to look identically like the sewers. At the end, when you see Lime’s fingers feebly reaching through the sewer grate, the shot from the street is actually of director Reed’s fingers.)
- Russians were part of the allied force. I assume you meant Axis. And probably a little of both forces bombed and fought for position in Vienna. It was a great strategic location for both armies.
- Well, Winkel was a real doctor, and as such could provide medical care. But the real advantage of both men was that they were the hiding Lime’s contact with what was going on in the rest of Vienna. Even though he was “dead,” Lime was still running his racket, it seems to be implied.
Don’t know which did more, but both the Americans and the Russians carried out bombing raids over the city.
Until 1955.
I find it hard to watch that movie, I get a crick in my neck from all those damn angles.
… and then the zither music pops in my head and doesn’t pop out for hours.
You can still ride on the ferris wheel . If you are feeling generous one of the cars has been fitted out as a small dining room. You can rent it and enjoy a different kind of meal.
I was in Vienna last summer on vacation and we went on a Third Man walking tour. Yes, they are that big!