How does the sewer scene in ‘The Third Man’ reflect the themes of Film Noir and post-war Europe?

 The city of Vienna was bombed 52 times during World War Two which left the city in wrecks. Vienna symbolised division, separation and mistrust. The director of The Third Man cleverly chose Austria's capital for the location of this Film Noir. Vienna was not only perfect because it symbolised darkness but also because it was/is an aesthetically stylish and breath-taking architecture. The darkness that this location portrayed is an obvious parallel to the core concept of film noir but even more importantly the beautiful fallen buildings is a great reflection of the typical anti-hero or femme fatal who show both glamour and gloom. The fallen architecture and rubble from the bombing also represents the destructive nature of humanity. The atmospheric use of black-and-white expressionist cinematography, with harsh lighting and distorted “dutch angle" camera angles, is a key feature of The Third Man. 

 Vienna’s sewers were also cleverly used in The Third Man. The grand sewers reflect the evil underneath Europe and the waste of mankind. The underground sewers are like a labyrinth and the director used geometric composition to create a sense of chaos and disorientation. The director also creates a paranoid atmosphere through the use of echoes in the sewers. When the anti-hero is being chased he can hear the echo of voices of the police coming from every tunnel in the sewer and this left the character disorientated and panicked about where the police were coming from. 

 The Third Man also uses mise en scene, framing and composition techniques and cinematography to create a claustrophobic and paranoid atmosphere. This classic film noir portrays the tension and paranoia in Europe at the time by creating an uncomfortable and trapped tone. The sewer scene especially promotes this, using the sewer setting to illustrate the evil and darkness that enclosed post-war Europe and the people within.   

This shot uses aggressive shadowing and sharp edges to create a German expressionist like composition. These techniques creates connotations of paranoia and claustrophobia and the physical act of the character crawling up an enclosed and narrow staircase create an uncomfortable atmosphere. The light coming from beneath the anti-hero reflect off of the bar of the staircases that symbolise a prison, therefore emphasising the character being trapped, the light illuminates and strengthens the tight and claustrophobic atmosphere created by the shot. The high camera angle of this shot make the character of Harry Lime seem helpless as he is struggles to pull himself upwards and as he looks up directly into the camera it seem like the viewer is the only one that can help him. This makes the audience feel uncomfortable and involves them in the paranoid shot.

Not being able to see the central vanishing point in this shot makes the audience feel uneasy and trapped. The light is symbolic of hope and the figure is blocking the hope and the only way to escape, the tunnel also portrays sense of claustrophobia. The vanishing point being blocked makes the audience look elsewhere and they are forced the look at the darker points in this shot making the viewer’s feel like they are also involved in the dark and evil that the sewer symbolises. The use of intense Key lighting as well as slight backlighting creates a silhouetted figure. The black figure reflects the darkness that mankind went through during the time of war and shows that the effect of the war is still prominent in people at this time. The man is positioned in the centre of the shot making him the main focus and emphasises the unknown vanishing point and the darkness of the man.

All of these points run parallel with the themes of Film Noir maintaining senses of paranoia and aggression, giving it continuity with the scene and the film.

In the upper half of the shot, you can see the police searching for Harry Lime while in the bottom of the shot you can see Harry Lime running away from them. The use of quadrants emphasises the chase and intensifies the tension. By doing this, the audiences is forced to look at both parts of the shot which also intensifies the chase. The police being on the higher level and Lime being on the bottom also creates connotations of good and evil or heaven and hell. There is a hint of German expressionism in this shot as the railing has sharp angles in at the top of the shot, this creates tones of paranoia and aggression which is relevant to the context of the chase. The clear contrast in harsh black and bright white tones in this shot also represent good and bad creating a metaphor of morailty. The chase itself is a metaphor for the fight against evil that Europe was facing at this time