'The Third Man' (Reed, 1949) set in post war Vienna and highlights the crumbling morality of the time. This political noir is established as being under rule of WW2 allies (Britain, France, America and Russia) following the geo-political history well though the political context is used mainly as an atmospheric backdrop; it does shade the film’s characterisations, and to my understanding is a fairly accurate depiction of post war Vienna.
An American writer of pulp western novels, Holly Martins, arrives in Vienna on a work offer from an old school friend Harry Lime. Once there he learns that Lime was killed in a car accident. Unconvinced by official accounts, he remains in Vienna to explore the strange circumstances behind Lime’s death. Once their he meets Harry's ex-girlfriend Anna Schmidt who is living in Vienna using illegal papers Harry supplied her with. Continuing on with the film Holly learns the truth about Harry's life. At first sceptical, he slowly comes to accept the harsh truth of Harry Lime as a ruthless black marketer involved in the underground trafficking of stolen, diluted penicillin (that caused the death of many sick children). The film concludes with a mercy killing from Holly to Harry, after Harry realised their was no escaping.
'The Third Man' is a fine example of British film noir. Reed uses gothic visual touches such as subtly canted low/high camera angles, ominous shadows, and dank, fog-filled streets to depict Vienna as a sinister maze.