If you only see one thing in Vienna, make it this

Here I am on my second visit to Vienna, and first and foremost on my must-see list is not the Austrian capital’s Schonbrunn Palace, St Stephen’s Cathedral or even the Belvedere Museum but The Third Man.

The Third Man? It’s not a Viennese landmark as such to be ticked off, but the classic film noir set in the rubble-strewn, intrigue-riven aftermath of World War II Vienna. Over the years, the film has topped many exhaustive lists of the greatest ever British movies, including most recently, a top 50 by that nation’s Telegraph newspaper.

“[The Third Man] is pure cinema, into which we sink every time like a beloved armchair,” writes the Telegraph. “The intrigue and depth of [the film] are sensational.”

Nearly eight decades after its release, the film still resonates among movie buffs and visitors, like me, to Vienna, with the local Viennese tourism industry itself continuing to profit handsomely from the movie’s global cult following, including twice-weekly screenings at a central city cinema.

Shot on location in the Austrian capital in the late 1940s, and based on a skilful screenplay by British novelist Graham Greene – it concerns Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), an American pulp fiction writer and his troubled, if not tortured, friendship with black-market trafficker Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Lime invites Martins to join him in Vienna but – spoiler alert – soon after Martins arrives his shadier-than-he-ever-realised chum dies in mysterious circumstances.

Aside from seeing The Third Man on the big screen in the city in which it’s set (more about that later), one of Vienna’s most popular guided tours is themed on the gripping chase scene from the film – sorry, spoiler alert, again – in which Harry Lime is pursued through the capital’s intricate and forbidding early-19th century sewer system.

On the tour – which runs Thursday to Sunday, every hour from 10am to 8pm, May to October – participants, equipped with safety helmets and headlamps, venture seven metres below ground via the original spiral staircase used by Lime in the film.

Further afield is the Viennese fun fair Prater Park, which serves as another key location. It’s there, close to the Danube River, that Martins and Lime conduct a tense, if not chilling, conversation inside a vintage ferris wheel cabin. It comes – yes, another spoiler alert – after the shadowy Lime seemingly rises from the dead.

While the compelling interior sequence on the Ferris wheel was filmed in a London studio, the actual Prater Park and exterior of the ride appear in the movie. That was despite the fact the Hollywood studio that bankrolled the film wanted it to be shot not in Vienna at all, but at the Shepperton and Worton Hall Studios in England.

But, rats, while I came across Prater Park and its Ferris wheel on my previous visit to Vienna, on this occasion I’m in town too briefly to take to its sewers, with the city a stop on a 15-day Intrepid escorted journey between Paris and Istanbul.

However, I do have a free night, time enough to sneak in an actual showing of the film, which screens twice a week at the Burg Kino cinema in the attractive Opernring district of the city.

The movie house is around the corner from the Vienna State Opera House and the capital’s most well-known hot dog stand. And, as luck has it, one of those screening days is when I’m in the city.

While the film is renowned for its memorable performances, its black-and-white, mostly night-time cinematography and its portrayal of postwar Vienna, it’s Anton Karas’ infectious zither theme music that’s alone worth the €10.50 admission price.

Sadly, the modernised Burg Kino is a little prosaic compared with its namesake and still operational Apollo Kino cinema where The Third Man had its Austrian premiere in 1950. But viewing the film on the silver screen in a proper cinema sure beats streaming it back in my hotel room.

After 104 minutes “The End” appears on the big screen, though it’s not the end of my Viennese homage. An essential companion to any screening is a pre- or post-film repast at the historic Cafe Mozart, only a short walk from the cinema.

Cafe Mozart – a classic Viennese coffee house dating to 1899 and renowned for “The Legend”, a Viennese schnitzel served with golden brown parsley potatoes, leaf salad, cranberry jam and lemon wedge – features briefly in a scene from the movie.

Except, that is, it was actually shot at another establishment down the street, though the real Cafe Mozart was a frequent haunt of Orson Welles and Carol Reed, the British director, during filming of what was to become a cinema classic.

Although Cafe Mozart survives in its original grand form, I notice that it rather incongruously shares a kitchen with – wait for it – a garish Australian-themed pub that’s part of the same building. Oh well, not to worry. As I tuck into my order of The Legend, I’m happy to have savoured the screening of The Third Man. All’s Welles that ends well.

THE DETAILS

TOUR

Intrepid’s 15-day small group (up to 12 people), fully guided “Express to the Orient: Paris to Istanbul” from $6995 a person, flights not included. Singapore Airlines operates flights from Sydney and Melbourne via Singapore to Paris and Istanbul. See intrepidtravel.com; singaporeair.com

SEE

Vienna’s Burg Kino screens an English-language version of The Third Man each Sunday; the film screens in English with German subtitles every Tuesday. See burgkino.at; wien.info/en

The writer travelled as a guest of Intrepid and with the assistance of Singapore Airlines.