The climactic sewer chase scene in The Third Man is a masterpiece of sound and picture editing. There is very little dialogue, at least in English, to guide the viewer through the complex maze of tunnels and the intricate action. In the hands of a novice, the whole chase sequence could end up as a confusing mess, but in the hands of editor Oswald Hafenrichter, sound and picture are carefully assembled to help create a visual map for the viewer, excite suspense and drive the story forward.
It starts off with Harry Lime (Orson Welles) opening the flaps of a sewer grate and hurrying down into the catacomb-like sewers of Vienna. Cut to an Austrian police officer running down an alley, then cut back to the same shot of the sewer grate. The officer followed by members of the British police and Harry’s best friend, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton), hurry down after Harry. By using the same angle, the viewer can recognize this is Harry’s original gateway to the sewer. The viewer is being taught the first geographic point of interest in the sewer through visual repetition. Cutting back to the same angle also gives the viewer a feel of the time and space between chaser and chasee.
Cut to Harry running across a bridge in the sewer. Cut to the Austrian officer and British Police running down a set of spiral steps. Cut back to the bridge shot. The police scurry across. Harry’s shadow is clearly projected on the wall in the foreground of this shot. His shadow combined with the eye-lines of the police allow the viewer to instantly figure out Harry’s exact position in the tunnel without ever seeing him directly.
Cut to Harry standing in a doorway of a tunnel looking upward. His eye-line and the visual information of the previous shot help the viewer to realize he’s staring up at the police. Harry runs away. Cut back to the shot of the bridge. Harry’s shadow grows as he escapes. Once again the shadow provides the viewer a visual compass as to Harry’s location. It allows the editor to outline much of the visual map for this sequence with one shot alone.
Cut to Harry at the edge of a cavernous tunnel. He glances back where he came from. Cut to his POV: the police are right behind him. Cut back to Harry darting into the darkness of the large tunnel. Next we have a close up of the Brit Officers and Holly Martins slowly walking through a narrow passageway. Cut back to the shot of the big tunnel. Harry is now a tiny figure in the distance. Like in any chase sequence much of the suspense is created by cutting between chaser and chasee and increasing and decreasing the gap between them. The most suspenseful times are when the chaser draws near and the chasee narrowly evades capture. Cutting back and forth also helps an editor to control time. It allows him or her an opportunity to trim the shots of chaser and chasee and raise the scene’s adrenaline level.
Cut to a reverse of a Brit Officer, Sgt. Paine (Bernard Lee), peering into the big tunnel trying to figure out Harry’s position. There are gunshots in the darkness. The gunfire is an auditory marker for Harry’s position. It’s an efficient use of sound in that the editor doesn’t actually have to cut to a shot of Harry to signal where he is. As well having a gun blasting character lurking somewhere in the shadows creates tension and loud noises like gunshots in themselves are jarring. Cut to Holly trudging toward the gunfire across the wet sewer floor. Cut to the Brit Officer Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) pleading with Holly to come back. Cut back to the shot of Holly marching ahead defiantly.
Cut to a special detachment of “sewer police” opening another sewer grate at street level. Cut to the police spiraling down the staircase. The editor compressed time here by not showing all the business of the flaps opening up and the police marching down one by one. Cut to a group of helmeted Austrian officers looking down the open sewer grate. Having a mix of different police uniforms and using actors with striking features helps to keep the viewer from getting confused about who is chasing whom.
Cut to the police searching the cavernous tunnel. This shot is photographed from the reverse angle from the one where Harry disappeared. This is an important shot. The viewer realizes Harry is sandwiched between the Brits and this new team of police officers. Cut to a POV of an officer as he pans a spotlight along the walls looking for Harry. Cut to the officer panning the light. He flashes the camera with his light. This is a kind of simple flash frame transition into the next shot where the viewer sees Harry running in the distance. He’s somewhere in the big tunnel between the two sets of police.
Cut to a close up of Harry pressed against a wall. He weighs his options momentarily and runs away. There are voices in the distance. This sound cue reminds the viewer the police are closing in. Cut to a close up of the British police speeding towards Harry. Cut back to the wide of tunnel. Harry is running in the distance and the Brit police enter frame running after him. Seeing the chaser and chasee in the same frame lets the viewer know the gap is closing and thus creates suspense.
Cut to Harry running through a narrow passageway and into an side chamber. Cut to his POV. The police are in hot pursuit, charging from the way he came. They shout at him. Cut back to Harry in the side chamber. An Austrian officer spots him from the upper deck as Harry runs through a doorway. Again seeing the chaser and chasee together creates suspense.
Cut to Harry approaching a ladder leading to street level. Cut to Harry looking up and listening. Cut to the police above getting ready to open the sewer grate. Cut to Harry scurrying away to a short passageway. At this point it’s uncertain where Harry is exactly. Cut to the police opening the grate above.
Close up of Harry staring intently. His POV is of the police walking down a series of steps. This shot helps the viewer to figure out where he managed to hide himself in relation to the police. The geography of the sewers is quite confusing and perhaps this shot is a kind of cheat, meaning there is no convenient place where he could have escaped to in reality. They director may have simply found an appropriate place somewhere else in the sewer for Harry to hide himself and used editing to help sew all the locations together. When a viewer sees an actor staring in one direction, he or she will usually assume the next shot will be of what the actor was looking at. This is a basic bit of editing grammar everyone in the western world is re-taught each time they watch a film.
Cut to the police searching for Harry. Cut to an officer’s POV: He sees his shadow on the wall in the distance. Cut back to the officer. Cut back to Harry’s POV: The police are now in the distance. This is an important shot because the audience realizes Harry now has an opportunity to escape. Cut back to Harry’s CU. He runs away.
The next sequence is a series of POV shots of various characters. Namely Harry and members of the police. As each police officer takes his post and the audience sees the section he’s guarding there is a greater sense that the net is closing in on Harry; that all the tunnels are covered and there is nowhere left to run.
Cut to officers climbing down a ladder. There is the sound of scurrying like rats running over the wet cobblestones. Cut to their POV of a dark tunnel. Cut to close ups of them listening. Cut back to the dark tunnel. The creepy audio and the mystery of darkness is creating suspense as the viewer wonders what or who is down there. Here the editor is letting the viewer’s imagination run wild. Cut back to the officers. Though they aren’t speaking in English it’s obvious they are about to switch on the spotlight. Cut to the dark tunnel. The light goes on. Harry is lit up and he freezes in his tracks. Cut to a reverse shot behind Harry. Going to a closer shot here puts the viewer in Harry’s shoes. They feel Harry’s shock of having been discovered.
Next there are three quick shots of officers leaving their posts. It’s as if everyone knows where Harry is. The hounds have been released and the fox is on the run.
