Howard was reunited with Lean for The Passionate Friends (1949), but the film was not a success. However The Third Man (1949), which Howard starred in alongside Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten for Carol Reed from a story by Graham Greene, was a huge international success, and became the film of which Howard was most proud. During filming in Vienna, Howard was keen to get to his favourite bar for a drink as soon as filming had finished for the evening. On one occasion, Howard was in too much of a hurry to change out of his uniform as a British Army major. After a few drinks, he got into an argument and attracted the attention of a real major, who ordered the Military Police to arrest Howard as an impostor. Howard was forced to apologise and was summoned to appear before the British commanding general, Sir Alexander Galloway.