Criterion's The Third Man DVD is quite a package, a real treat for lovers of Carol Reed's infinitely re-watchable film. The transfer is, while not perfect, quite good (apparently there were something like 22,000 artifacts on the print that had to be gotten rid of), and it's nice to be able to hear Anton Karas's wicked zither score so crisp and clear.

As is par for the course with Criterion, the disc's got a bunch of extras. You can watch a little videotaped intro by Peter Bogdanovich, if that's your thing; he has a few interesting things to say, much of them gleaned from conversations from his pal Orson Welles. There's a couple of newsreel tracks, one of Anton Karas playing the zither in a classy London café for some society types (most amusing for the nonplussed looks on the society matrons' faces as they sip their tea), another of Vienna's white-clad sewer police; a look at producer David O. Selznick's alternate opening for the U.S. version; and an alternate audio track of an actor reading Graham Greene's original treatment. Most interesting though, are two complete radio shows, one an episode of Orson Welles's The Lives of Harry Lime series and the Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film.

--Matthew Hays