Post-war Vienna, all ruins and shadows, feels like as much of a character as anyone in it. The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and an Oscar for its cinematography, and Anton Karas’s zither theme became a hit on its own.
Its most famous scene is on the Wiener Riesenrad, where Harry Lime looks down at the people below and gives his speech about the Borgias and the cuckoo clock.