MovieChat Forums > The Third Man (1950) Discussion > Possible Plot Hole?

Possible Plot Hole?

posted 8 years ago by ryan8797
3 replies | jump to latest

Why is it that Harry Lime invited Holly to Vienna if he was to fake his own death? If Lime were to offer him a cut in his risky business why was Holly left in the dark looking for clues to his friends death? I feel like Lime's intentions for inviting Holly were unclear, especially since Lime hinted at possibly killing him in the Ferris wheel scene.
Had Lime not invited Holly, he would have remained in hiding, and may have not been killed.
I'm sure I just missed something, but I'm hoping someone can help me out.

[–] alfa-16 8 years ago

Lime invited Holly, probably, to put some sort of front onto his shady trade in drugs or simply to improve his circumstances. Back then, it would have taken Holly at least six weeks to accept Holly's invitation, get a boat across the channel and permits to cross Europe once he arrived. Circumstances change after between the invite and the arrival.

[–] timroth 8 years ago

I think the whole series of events that led to Lime faking his own death happened after Lime issued his invitation to Holly. What happened was that Harbin, who was the orderly who was stealing penicillin for Lime, turned informant for the police, so Lime and his cohorts had him killed. They then most likely improvised the idea of making it look like Lime was killed in order to take the heat off of him. Lime didn’t know that all this was going to happen when he first invited Holly to join his operation.

[–] jd-276 7 years ago

How is this a plot hole?