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Mystery Theater

Drama: Classic & Period

Hollywood greats star in classic dramas from the golden days of American radio

Mystery Theater: The Third Man: Voodoo

The Third Man: Voodoo

27/12/2016

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Mystery Theater, The Third Man: Voodoo

Con artist Harry Lime recalls a low point arriving in Haiti.

4 Extra Debut. 1951: Con artist Harry Lime recalls a low point arriving in Haiti. Orson Welles reprises his 1949 film role in The Third Man.

Con artist Harry Lime recalls a low point when he arrived in Haiti.

Starring Orson Welles as Harry Lime. 

The films of Orson Welles, such as 'Citizen Kane', 'The Magnificent Ambersons' and 'Touch of Evil' guaranteed his place in the pantheon of silver-screen heroes. 

In the celebrated 1949 film adaptation of Graham Greene's novel 'The Third Man', Harry Lime is introduce as one of cinema's most notorious anti-heroes. Sought in post-war Vienna by pulp writer Holly Martins [Joseph Cotton] and British Army Major Calloway [Trevor Howard], Lime manages to steal the show despite being absent for much of it! 

This radio prequel to the film, 'The Lives of Harry Lime' earned Welles even more acclaim. His distinctive tones had already served him well as the radio voice of 'The Shadow' between 1937 and 1938, where he portrayed the crusader with distinctly questionable means of thwarting crime. 

Stripped of the film cameras, the character of Harry Lime is not ameliorated for this radio outing. He's an out and out rogue. Lime made it to the airwaves thanks to another Harry - Harry Alan Towers, with whom Welles collaborated on 'The Black Museum'. Like its eponymous anti-hero, this series travelled widely, being syndicated across the USA and on Radio Luxembourg. 

The music is by Anton Karas, the zither man. 

Producer: Harry Alan Towers

Syndicated series made in the UK by Towers of London and first broadcast in the USA in 1951.

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