VIENNA (AP).-
Sachertorte. Magnificent palaces. Splendid museums. When Phillip
Kalantirsky had his fill of Vienna the Opulent, he stayed on for a taste of
Vienna Noir — in a walking tour built around the cult film “The Third Man.” “I’m
obsessed with the movie,” the 37-year-old lawyer from New York said on a recent
afternoon as he and his wife waited for the tour to start. “Most old films are
very dated, you don’t buy into them. ‘The Third Man’ is different.”
Kalantirsky’s fascination with the film — set and partly shot in postwar Vienna
— is shared by many. Six decades after “The Third Man” premiered in London in
September 1949, tourists from around the world pound the Austrian capital’s
pavements — and even slip into its sewers — to see where the much-acclaimed
motion picture was set. Fans can choose from the walking tour or the underground
tour, visit a museum devoted to the movie, or even watch it in a theater.