The Ferris Wheel Scene from THE THIRD MAN

The ever-famous Ferris Wheel scene from my personal favorite movie, The Third Man. Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles in their prime. While Orson Welles did not direct the movie, it was always rumored he insisted on direct control of everything in this scene, especially the dialogue. I’ve attached the script lines in regular text after the video. Enjoy. “The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.”

HARRY
Hello, old man. How are you?

MARTINS
Hello, Harry.

HARRY
Well, well, they seem to’ve been giving you quite some busy time.

MARTINS
Listen…

HARRY
Yes.

MARTINS
I want to talk to you.

HARRY
Talk to me?…Of course…Come on…

(They move towards the big wheel. The girl attendant of the wheel enters)

HARRY
Kids used to ride this thing a lot in the old days. They haven’t got the money nowadays, poor little devils.

(Harry gets the tickets from the girl.)

GIRL
Zwei steck.

HARRY
Geht in ordung.

(They enter the carriage of the wheel.)

GIRL
Vielen danke.

(Girl attendant closes the door and starts the wheel in motion.)

MARTINS
Listen, Harry – I didn’t believe that…

HARRY
It’s good to see you, Holly.

MARTINS
I was at your funeral.

HARRY
It was pretty smart, wasn’t it? Oh, the same old indigestion.

(takes a tablet)

Holly…these are the only things that help – these tablets. These are the last. Can’t get them anywhere in Europe any more.

MARTINS
Do you know what’s happened to your girl?

HARRY
Hmm.

MARTINS
She’s been arrested.

HARRY
Tough…tough…Don’t worry, old man, they won’t hurt her.

MARTINS
They are handing her over to the Russians.

HARRY
What can I do, old man, I’m dead, aren’t I?

MARTINS
You can help her.

HARRY
Holly…

(Harry looks out of the window, then at Martins)

HARRY
…exactly who did you tell about me? Hmm?

MARTINS
I told the police.

(Harry looks out of the window.)

HARRY
Unwise, Holly…

MARTINS
And – Anna…

HARRY
Did the police believe you?

MARTINS
You don’t care anything at all about Anna, do you?

(He laughs.)

HARRY
Well, I’ve got quite a lot on my mind.

MARTINS
You wouldn’t do anything.

(Harry looks at Martins.)

HARRY
What do you want me to do?

MARTINS
(overlap)
You can get somebody else…

HARRY
Do you expect me to give myself up?

MARTINS
Why not?

HARRY
It’s far better thing that I do… Holly, you and I aren’t heroes, the world doesn’t make any heroes…

MARTINS
You’ve got plenty of contacts.

HARRY
Outside of your stories…I’ve got to be careful.
I’m only safe in the Russian Zone…
I’m safe as long as they can use me…

MARTINS
As long as they can use you?

HARRY
I wish I could get rid of this thing.

MARTINS
Oh, so that’s how they found out about Anna…
You told them, didn’t you?

HARRY
Don’t try to be a policeman, old man.

MARTINS
What did you expect me to be – part of your…

HARRY
Part? You can have any part you want, so long as you don’t interfere…I have never cut you out of anything yet.

MARTINS
I remember when they raided the gambling joint – you knew a safe way out…

HARRY
Sure…

MARTINS
Yes, safe for you…not safe for me.

HARRY
Old man – you never should have gone to the police. You know you ought to leave this thing alone.

MARTINS
Have you ever seen any of your victims?

HARRY
Do you know, I don’t ever feel comfortable on these sort of things…Victims?

(He opens the door of the carriage.)

Don’t be melodramatic. Look down there…

(Long shot from Martins’ eye line of the fairground far below and the people now on it.)

Would you feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever?
If I offered you £20,000 for every dot that stopped – would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money? Or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man……free of income tax.
It’s the only way to save money nowadays.

MARTINS
Lot of good your money will do you in jail.

HARRY
That jail is in another zone…
There’s no proof against me, beside you.

MARTINS
I should be pretty easy to get rid of.

HARRY
Pretty easy…

MARTINS
I wouldn’t be too sure.

HARRY
I carry a gun…I don’t think they’d look for a bullet wound after you’d hit that ground…

MARTINS
They dug up your coffin.

HARRY
And found Harbin? Hmm, pity.
Oh, Holly, what fools we are, talking to each other this way…
As though I would do anything to – or you to me.

(Harry closes the door of the carriage.)

You’re just a little mixed up about things…in general. Nobody thinks in terms…of human beings. Governments don’t, so why should we? They talk about the people, and the Proletariat… I talk about the suckers and the mugs…
It’s the same thing. They have their five-year plan, and so have I.

MARTINS
You used to believe in God.

HARRY
I still do believe in God, old man… I believe in God and Mercy and all that… The dead are happier dead. They don’t miss much here…

(Harry starts to idly write on the window at his side – he has drawn on the steamed-up window a heart with an arrow through it. He is writing the word ANNA above it.)

…poor devils.

What do you believe in?

(We see they are now on ground level, through the window.)

Well, if you ever get Anna out of mess, be kind to her.

(He opens the door and Martins starts to go through.)

You’ll find she’s worth it.

(Martins comes out of the carriage of the big wheel, followed by Harry. They stop just outside)

I wish I had asked you to bring me some of these tablets from home…
Holly, I would like to cut you in, old man. Nobody left in Vienna I can really trust – and we have always done everything together. When you make up your mind, send me a message… I’ll meet you any place, any time. And when we do meet, old man, it is you I want to see, not the police. Remember that, won’t you?

(Martins moves away but Harry bars his way on the steps. Music starts.)

HARRY
Don’t be so gloomy…After all, it’s not that awful. Remember what the fellow said…in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michaelangelo – Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance…In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce?…The cuckoo clock.

So long, Holly.

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