Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

An aspiring reporter is the key witness at the murder trial of a young man accused of cutting a café owner's throat and is soon accused of a similar crime himself.

Director:

Boris Ingster

Writer:

Frank Partos (story)

Stars:

Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Peter Lorre	...	The Stranger
John McGuire	...	Michael 'Mike' Ward
Margaret Tallichet	...	Jane
Charles Waldron	...	District Attorney
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Joe Briggs
Charles Halton	...	Albert Meng
Ethel Griffies	...	Mrs. Kane, Michael's Landlady
Cliff Clark	...	Martin
Oscar O'Shea	...	The Judge
Alec Craig	...	Briggs' Defense Attorney
Otto Hoffman	...	Charles Evans, the Police Surgeon

Storyline

Rising reporter Michael Ward is a key witness in the murder trial of young Joe Briggs, who is convicted on circumstantial evidence while swearing innocence. Mike's girl Jane believes in Joe and blames Mike, who (in a remarkable sequence) dreams he is himself convicted of murdering his nosy neighbor. Will his dream come true before Jane can find the real murderer?

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Plot Keywords:

trial | reporter | murder | murder trial | dream | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 August 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

El desconegut del tercer pis

Box Office

Budget:

$171,200 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

64 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peter Lorre owed RKO two days on his contract and was given this role with few scenes and few lines, but received top billing.

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Goofs

on the rainy night when Ward and Jane for the first time go to the room he's renting we may notice different water stains on his coat in consequent shots. The left sleeve is dry before they enter the room, once they get inside coat's sleeves are wet.

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Quotes

Martin: [Referring to Joe Briggs' attorney] I wouldn't let him defend me if it was for stealing an apple.

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Connections

Featured in The Rules of Film Noir (2009)

User Reviews

may be the first film noir.

The Stranger On the Third Floor may be the first film noir. It's certainly one of the earliest American pictures that can be defined as such. The story revolves around a young reporter who is responsible for the conviction of an ex-con who, as things turn out, seems not to be a murderer after all. As the film develops the reporter himself becomes a suspect for the murder of a particularly obnoxious neighbor with whom he'd had a number of confrontations. The reporter's girl-friend becomes his savior, and she traps the real killer, Peter Lorre (who else?) and saves the day. The movie is splendidly dark and foreboding, deliberately unrealistic, like an experimental play, and it has a full-scale nightmare, very well-done, in the bargain. It is thematically similar to mostly much later and somewhat more elaborate films of the forties by Siodmak, Lang, Dmytryk and Dassin, and in its modest way it can hold its own with the best of them.