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Because you can watch a movie repeatedly and enjoy quotes in context, video and DVD is a great way to enjoy films with famous movie lines. Here are some of my favorite movie quotes from "The Third Man."

Although the film was scripted by Graham Greene, Orson Welles himself wrote and delivers the most famous lines in the movie:

In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed—but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.

Here are more terrific quotes from the film:

Introductory Voice-Over Narration (Delivered by Director Carol Reed in the UK Version and by Joseph Cotten in the American Version)

I never knew the old Vienna before the war, with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm ...

Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten)

I guess nobody really knew Harry like he did ... like I did ... back in school. I was never so lonesome in my life till he showed up. He was the best friend I ever had.

That sounds like a cheap novelette.

Well, I write cheap novelettes.

Major Calloway (Trevor Howard)

Go home, Martins, like a sensible chap. You don't know what you're mixing in. Get the next plane.

Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten)

As soon as I get to the bottom of this, I'll get the next plane.

Major Calloway (Trevor Howard)

Death's at the bottom of everything, Martins. Leave death to the professionals.

Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten)

Mind if I use that line in my next western?

Next time we'll use a foolproof coffin.

For more famous movie quotes, take a look at "The Third Man" on video/DVD.

I hope you enjoyed the quotes. If you have some favorite movies lines you enjoy—or a quote you have a question about—post a message the to the About Home Video/DVD Forum. And be sure to stop by the About Home Video/DVD resource page for Movie Quotes.

~ Ivana Redwine

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