In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died. Martins develops a conspiracy theory after learning of a "third man" present at the time of Harry's death, running into interference from British officer Major Calloway, and falling head-over-heels for Harry's grief-stricken lover, Anna.
Joseph Cotten
Holly Martins
Alida Valli
Anna Schmidt
Trevor Howard
Major Calloway
Orson Welles
Harry Lime
Paul Hörbiger
Karl the Porter
Ernst Deutsch
'Baron' Kurtz
Erich Ponto
Dr. Winkel
Siegfried Breuer
Popescu
Hedwig Bleibtreu
Anna's Landlady
Bernard Lee
Sergeant Paine
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Crabbin
Alexis Chesnakov
Col. Brodsky the Russian Liaison Officer (uncredited)
Thomas Gallagher
Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Herbert Halbik
Hänsel the Little Boy with Ball (uncredited)
Hannah Norbert
Actress at Josefstadt Theater (uncredited)
Eric Pohlmann
Waiter at Smolka's (uncredited)
Carol Reed
UK Version's Opening Narrator (uncredited)
Annie Rosar
The Porter's Wife (uncredited)
Frederick Schrecker
Hansel's Father (uncredited)
Hugo Schuster
Waiter (uncredited)
Karl Stepanek
Actor at Josefstadt Theater (uncredited)
Theodore Gottlieb
Man on Street (uncredited)
Jenny Werner
Dr. Winkel's Maid Hilde (uncredited)
Reed De Rouen
American Military Policeman(uncredited)
Geoffrey Keen
British Military Policeman (uncredited)
Robert Brown
Britush Military Policeman in Sewer Chase (uncredited)