Rollo Martins, who is a writer of books, arrives in Vienna. Someone tells him that his friend Harry Lime has been the victim of a car accident and his funeral is on the Central funeral at this day. So he goes to the funeral by taxi and arrives just before it ends. There he meets a police officer called Colonel Calloway, who is English and he is also the storyteller. He invitees Rollo to a bar where he asks him some questions about Lime. The Colonel tells Martins that Harry was involved in various smuggling activities. Calloway's driver takes Rollo to the Hotel Sacher.
At Sachers he is wrongly identified as another writer named Dexter by a man called Crabbin. At Sacher's place a room has been reserved for Dexter. Martin says he is Dexter and takes the room. This man tells him about Lime's girlfriend called Anna Schmidt who is an actress. Later at his hotel room he is phoned by a friend of Lime. Kurtz says that there is something strange about the death of Lime. They both manage to meet in a café on the next day.
In the café they talked about the situation of Lime's car accident. Kurtz says that Lime has died immediately and that there was an other friend of Lime called Cooler. Rollo asks him for the address of Cooler. Kurtz doesn't know anything about any criminal activities.
Rollo visits Anna and gets some more information about the accident. So he knows that the driver of the car was a friend of Lime. In her opinion he has murdered Lime but she also thinks that there is no use to investigate. Anna tells Rollo about his doctor and gives him his address and name.
So Rollo visits Lime's medical doctor in his praxis. It is decorated with antique crucifixes.
It seems that Dr. Winkler doesn't want to give too much information to him.
So after this Rollo wants to collect more information at Lime's flat and so he interviews Lime's neighbour. Mr. Koch is also a witness of the accident. He says that there has been a third man but nobody knows this man. Rollo also goes into Lime's house. It looks bare and he thinks that it looks too bare. He tells Koch about his assumption that Lime has been murdered. Suddenly Koch seems to be afraid and quickly wants to get away. Back at his hotel he finds a note of Crabbin who wants him to hold a lecture about his recent book.
Rollo visits Cooler. He assumes that he is a Colonel. Cooler doesn't want to know anything about a third man and wants to know Rollo's sources. He tells him about the neighbour. Cooler says that he has helped Lime to fix Anna's paper because she is a Hungarian and that it is impossible that Lime is involved in a racket.
Rollo visits Anna again and they have a long talk to each other and Rollo seems to fall in love with her.
He succeeds in convincing her that Lime has been murdered and that Koch has said the truth about the third man. They go to Lime's flat and when they arrives there is crowds in front of it. Rollo gets to know that Koch was murdered too and the police are searching for a foreigner, Rollo is one. He returns to Sacher's where he has to lecture. All think that he is Benjamin Dexter but then the police come and he is found by Paine.
He is interviewed by Colloway and he tells him about the racket of Lime. Lime has sold diluted penicillin, which is useless for many children and other people. Rollo doesn't want to believe that Lime is the boss of such an organisation. So he wants to get on with his searching for the third man.
Rollo gets drunk because he is shocked about the story about Lime and he goes to Anna and tells her about Harry's organisation. But Anna isn't shocked or anything, so he leaves her. He is followed by someone and he stops and recognizes Harry Lime or thinks to recognize Harry Lime.
After he has lost his pursuer he returns to Anna but she is arrested by the Russians. He visits Colloway who already knows about it. He has managed to get her free when the Russians drove through the British zone. Rollo also tells him about Harry Lime but Colloway only thinks that it is a ghost because he thinks that Rollo has been drunk.
While Rollo is by Colloway, Colloway phones an officer to ask him about a man called Harbin. But the officer, who is called Carter, says they have lost him. Colloway is suspicious about Limes death and so he wants Carter to let Lime's body dug out and then he wants Rollo to show him the place where he has seen Lime. Then they find out that Lime has escaped into the sewage system of Vienna. Rollo wants to visit Kurtz who lives in the Russian Zone. He hopes to get in contact with Lime over Kurtz.
He arranges a meeting with Harry in the Prater by the Great Wheel. Harry tells Rollo about his business and Rollo starts to hate him for it because it seems that only money counts for him. Lime offers Rollo a job in his organisations but Rollo refuses. Rollo gets to know that they buried Harbin's body instead of Lime's.
Rollo goes back to Calloway and they talk about Lime. They decide that Rollo has to contact Lime and to tell him that he has to leave the Russian zone. So they could arrest him.
They meet some time after midnight in a café where Rollo waits for Lime. Before they can arrest him he realizes the trap and escapes into the sewage system. But he gets caught because Colloway is there too. Lime shoots a police officer who is down there with Rollo, who also shoots at Lime. Lime is wounded deadly by the shot and so Rollo kills him.
Lime is buried a 2nd time and Rollo and Anna fall in love.
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