Every so often, I happen across a movie that is so obviously superior to most movies that the difference is startling. That happened here. The atmosphere, the acting, the pacing, the lighting … everything combined to put me on the edge of my seat (the couch, in this case).

The movie takes place in Vienna shortly after WWII. Many of the buildings are damaged, and rubble fills the streets. An international police force (American, British, French and Russian) uneasily cooperates to keep the peace. The mood is dark and sinister.

Holly Martins is an American who travels to Vienna to work with his friend, Harry Lime. He arrives just in time for Lime’s funeral, but when he tries to find out what happened to his friend, things don’t add up. He begins his own investigation, with the reluctant help of Harry’s girlfriend, and instantly runs into trouble with the police.

I rated it an 8. An added bit of fun was seeing Bernard Lee, best known as “M” from the early James Bond films, as a British policeman. And the theme song, played on the zither, is hard to forget.