The Third Man, 1949

Feb. 15 2022 | MICHELLE SCHULTHEIS

This movie starts off with Mr. Holly Martins, a writer, finding out that his friend, Harry Lime, died. It is said that Harry was hit by a vehicle, but the writer has his suspicions. Mr. Martins then begins talking to Harry’s lover, Mrs. Anna Schmidt who believes his death wasn’t an accident. Mr. Martins wants to take matters into his own hands, so he begins conducting his own investigation. Dr. Vinkel and Mr. Martins meet. Later, the porter dies and Mr. Martins is framed. Later he is at a book meeting where he shares that he is starting a new ”book” based off of a murder. This triggers some of the characters and he get chased by police.

Later on, it is made known that Harry Lime is indeed alive. Joseph Harbin was found to be in Lime’s coffin and Lime took credit for killing him (it seems like it’s his profession). Holly meets with him to discuss certain matters, including his visit to the police. He finds that Lime doesn’t care for Anna, but rather for the money he gets and for just living for himself. Eventually, the police find Lime and Holly kills him. At the end, Holly doesn’t leave, but rather waits for Anna in hopes of being with her.

This entire movie relates to the idea of virtue ethics because we see how two different people are living in just v. unjust ways. Martins wants justice for Lime when he believes he was murdered and does everything in his power to unravel the mystery, even if it means getting held by police or going headfirst into danger. On the other hand, we have Lime who doesn’t care for anyone except himself. He does unjust things in hopes of getting money, which he believes makes him happy. He doesn’t even care that Anna is in danger with the police at what point… All in all, we see at the end how Martins is still trying to do the right thing. When he discovers how many people Lime has hurt, he prepares to help “get rid of” him. And rather than turning himself in or helping anyone, Lime nearly shoots Martins at a café and then runs away from the police. I guess we could say that the “middle ground” was somewhat found when Lime gives Martins the “okay” to shoot him, since he knows that there is nothing else to be done. And Martins had virtue throughout the entire film… he never let his emotions take over completely, but rather, used them to fight for the right thing.

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Feb. 15 2022 | MICHELLE SCHULTHEIS

Oliver Lane, Why We Should Use 'The Third Man' When Teaching Ethics Classes.

This article discusses why The Third Man should be used when teaching virtue ethics. This is because of all of the different moral views within the movie and how no one character is completely bad or good, “The Third Man presents a much more realistic depiction of the truth, which is that each of us ultimately has great moral ambiguity and that actions in the real world are never absolutely and completely either good or bad.” This movie goes into depth with discovering the ways in which these characters think as well as what their own values are. It holds characters to a place where their own virtue may be put into question. Additionally, students can have the ability to ask more philosophical and self-reflective questions like, “What would I do in this situation? How would I feel” in order to allow them to branch deeper into the world of virtue ethics and discover who they truly are inside as well. Overall, this article gives a summary of the film and speaks to how and why this film is a great example to use in an ethical class.