Holly Martens, played by Joseph Cotten, gets asked by his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) to come work for him in postwar Vienna. Upon arrival, he discovers Lime has died and each person Holly speaks with offers a conflicting account. As someone who writes pulp fiction, Holly assumes he can figure out what happened. However, this is based on a story by Graham Greene, so the central question isn’t simply “who did it,” but an examination of wickedness itself. While becoming involved with a group that profits from illegal trade in a city devastated by war and rife with corruption, Holly learns he's gotten himself into something far bigger than he anticipated. The film incorporates several distinctive elements. The camera angles are stylized to heighten the sense of unease. Rather than a full orchestra, there’s just one musician playing an unsettling melody on a zither. In some instances, dialogue is presented in Austrian-German without subtitles, which leaves viewers feeling as lost as Holly does when he attempts to converse with people. There's humor in Holly’s clumsy investigation, despite the gravity of the situation. It stands out as one of the finest examples of noir filmmaking.

Source on TMDB