Chapter Commentary of The Third Man - Study Guide by Graham Greene

More interesting still is that Popescu, who was with Kurtz when Harry was killed, is there. Kurtz introduces Martins to him. Martins gives him the usual treatment, questioning him tirelessly over the details - the Third Man, the time of death. He recounts the porter's evidence: that there was a third man and that Harry died immediately. Popescu brushes the questions aside and criticises the porter for not appearing at the inquest: 'You'll never teach these Austrians to be good citizens. It was his duty to give evidence, even though he remembered wrong... ' [46]. Martins also mentions the accusation that Harry was involved in a racket. Popescu, again, brushes it aside with high-minded talk of duty, etc. 'That's quite impossible. He had a great sense of duty.'

In the book, the Popescu character is an American named Cooler. He is certainly a cool player in both book and film but, in the book, he comes across to Martins as very trustworthy. Martins describes his first impressions:

'... a man with tousled grey hair and a worried kindly face and long-sighted eyes, the kind of humanitarian who turns up in a typhus epidemic or a world war or a Chinese famine long before his countrymen have discovered the place in an atlas... ' (57)

Martins tells Calloway a little later when he knows a little more:

'I still can't believe Cooler's concerned. I'd stake anything on his honesty. He's one of those Americans with a real sense of duty.' (85)

Such a character is almost statutory in the sort of Westerns that Martins writes. He is the character that the hero, however wise, trusts mistakenly - the one that gives him the wrong advice, leads him off the trail or into a trap. Here too, in Martins' real life Lone Rider of Santa Fe, is such a character in the form of Cooler. In the film, the feeling is somewhat different. Martins doesn't have the same kind of reaction to Popescu as he does to Cooler in the book. It is certainly a lot less warm and trusting. Popescu leaves him with some chilling advice:

'That's a nice girl, that. But she ought to be careful in a city like this. Everybody ought to be careful in a city like this.'[46]

The next scene is of Popescu making a 'phone call. We hear only the end of it, 'He will meet us at the bridge, good.' This is followed by silent shots of Kurtz, Winkel and Popescu leaving their respective houses at dawn. The next thing we see is Martins outside Lime's house, tracing and retracing Harry's fatal steps. The porter leans out of the window to talk to him:

'PORTER: I am not a bad man, mein Herr. Not a bad man. Is it really so important?

MARTINS: Very important.

PORTER: Come this evening when my wife is out then.'[57]

Popescu is wrong: these Austrians are good citizens. They too, have a 'sense of duty'. The next we see is a look of horror on the Porter's face. Popescu is right: 'everybody ought to be careful in a city like this'.

Martins visits Anna in the early-evening, a 'bad time' - Harry used to visit around six. She asks Martins to tell her about Harry. This, the stage directions say, is the 'everyday Anna', 'All the grace she may have had seems to have been folded up with her dresses and put away for professional use.' [59]. He tells her how he was good at schemes, fixing things up, etc. She agrees. He fixed her papers. More importantly, 'he just made it all seem fun'.

Anna looks to the future but without a great deal of hope, 'Something may happen ... Perhaps there'll be another war or I'll die or the Russians will take me. ' Martins replies 'You'll fall in love again'. If he is trying to reassure her, he fails. She doesn't want to fall in love again, ever. She has just lost the man she loved. As they leave to go and meet the porter, she tells him, 'You know, you ought to find yourself