“Three men helped to carry your friend to the statue.”
Why it's great
The whole mystery turns on one number: three men, not two, carried the body.
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Four volunteers helped to carry the boxes upstairs.
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Martins Learns About the Third Man, Explained
The Third Man · 1949
Chapter 6 of 17 · 3'40"
In Anna's flat, Martins presses the porter about how Lime died and learns there were three men at the accident: Kurtz, the Romanian, and "a third man" nobody can identify. Karl refuses to be drawn in — "I have no evidence. I saw nothing, I said nothing." — and everyone tells Martins to drop it.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 0:53–1:37
There Was a Third Man
44s - 2:02–2:40
Make It Your Business
37s
Martins Learns About the Third Man, explained
What happens
At Anna Schmidt's flat, Holly Martins questions the porter Karl about the night Lime died. Karl lets slip that three men carried the body — Baron Kurtz, a Romanian, and a third man he never identified. He insists he saw nothing and gives no evidence, while Anna and Karl both urge Martins to leave Vienna.
What's really going on
The scene is the hinge of the film: a private chat that turns a death into a mystery. Martins cannot let a detail go — "how could he have talked about me and this lady here after he was dead?" — and his persistence works, because Karl's careful account cracks and produces the line the whole film is named for: a third man carried the body, and nobody saw his face. Karl's refusal — "I have no evidence. I saw nothing, I said nothing." — is the ordinary person's survival strategy in a city where knowing too much is dangerous, and the scene sets it against Martins' stubborn curiosity. The offhand description of the stranger as "just anybody" is quietly the point: evil here has no distinguishing features.
Key lines & what they mean
- “Three men helped to carry your friend to the statue.”
- The detail that creates the mystery: the body was carried by three men, not the two the official account admits, and one of them is the third man.
- “I should have listened to my wife.”
- Karl's regret, and a side-light on his marriage: his wife warned him that helping Martins would only bring trouble.
- “It's nonsense! It is all nonsense! It was an accident.”
- Karl's panicky denial: he insists the death was a simple accident, repeating the word to shut down Martins' questions.
- “I have no evidence. I saw nothing, I said nothing.”
- The refusal to testify in one breath: he claims to know nothing and to have said nothing, which is how people stay safe in this city.
- “You only saw a dead man with three men carrying him.”
- Martins' point restated: the porter has no proof, only an impression of a body and the men around it.
- “If he was killed at once, how could he have talked about me and this lady here after he was dead?”
- Martins' central puzzle: if Lime died instantly, how could he have spoken about Martins and Anna afterwards, which means the story cannot be true.
Theme
- Secrets — A careless phrase — a third man nobody can describe — cracks the official story open and sets the whole search in motion.
- Trust — Karl will not trust the police or Martins with what he saw, choosing silence because getting involved is what ruins people here.
What this chapter teaches
Teaching points
Review right after watchingMy level4/7
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
Language points
Click a card to jump to its moment in the videoGolden lines
A great line in its own right — why and how to use it“I should have listened to my wife.”
Why it's great
A single line of regret shows the fear and hindsight of a man who knew better.
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I should have listened to my doctor years ago.
“It's nonsense! It is all nonsense! It was an accident.”
Why it's great
Repetition and escalation make the denial sound like panic, not certainty.
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Informal
Use it yourself
That's nonsense, and everyone here knows it.
“I have no evidence. I saw nothing, I said nothing.”
Why it's great
Three flat negatives make a self-defence out of saying nothing at all.
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Informal
Use it yourself
I saw nothing and I said nothing to anyone.
“You only saw a dead man with three men carrying him.”
Why it's great
It deflates the witness by reducing everything he saw to one bare image.
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Neutral
Use it yourself
You only saw the ending, not the years that led to it.
“If he was killed at once, how could he have talked about me and this lady here after he was dead?”
Why it's great
A single impossible question exposes the hole in the whole official story.
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Use it yourself
If the shop was closed, how could he have bought anything there?
Up next · 07get to the bottom ofThe scene: Calloway Confiscates Anna's PapersTakeaways
What you walk away with- A porter's fear is louder than his words.
- Three carriers become a mystery in one sentence.
- The excuse 'not my business' gets turned against him.
- A death inquiry is not the same as a trial.
People also search
Questions, then the linesWhat is the third man's significance?
He is the witness nobody can identify. Two men carried Lime's body and Kurtz was nearby, but a third man was there too, and his existence suggests the death was not an accident.
Why does Karl refuse to talk to the police?
Because he is afraid of getting involved. He says it is better not to be mixed up in such things, and that he saw and said nothing, which is how he survives in occupied Vienna.
What does "inquest" mean?
An inquest is an official inquiry into a death. Martins asks Karl why he did not tell his story at the inquest, since his account would have changed the verdict.
Why does Martins suspect the death was not an accident?
Because he was told Lime did not die at once. If Lime spoke after the crash, someone must have been with him, which fits the report of a third man at the scene.
What do Anna and Karl want Martins to do?
They want him to stop asking questions and leave Vienna. Anna tells him he must not bring the porter again, and Karl tells him to go home before he gets mixed up in it.