When a discussion of the best films arises, I make a standing offer: rent “The Third Man”, and if you don’t think it’s terrific (merely “good” is not enough), I’ll pay you 10 times the price of he rental. About 15 people have taken me up on the offer over the years, and I haven’t had to pay out once. Great screenplay [by Graham Greene]; unusual story with many twists, surprises, and a final irony; terrific cast, not just Welles & Cotton, but unknown Europeans as well; Alida Valli at her most poignant & beautiful; superb music perfectly intertwined with the story; truly distinctive lighting & camera work; superb use of post-war Vienna location shots; and the most sublimely perfect fade-out scene ever filmed —I still get chills watching that scene, & I’ve seen this movie 70+ times. Kane is a grander film with bigger ambitions, but this one is tighter, better disciplined, and that fade-out…..