Stranger on the Third Floor is often cited as the first true film noir. With that and the fact that it stars Peter Lorre, I find myself getting all kinds of excited when I think about watching it. I’ve seen it three or four times now, and every time I’m disappointed. It is really rather uninteresting.
Buy Stranger on the Third Floor Blu-ray from MovieZyngNewspaper man Mike Ward (John McGuire) is thrilled to finally have gotten a big break. He’s written a front-page story, which garnered him a raise. That will give him enough money to move out of his run-down apartment, buy a house, and finally marry his fiancée, Jane (Margaret Tallichet).
His big break comes from the fact that he witnessed a murder. Well, not quite a murder, as he got there just after the fact. One night, he walked into his favorite diner and found Bill (Elisa Cook, Jr.) standing over the diner’s owner, whose throat had been cut. The moment Bill sees Mike, he makes a run for it. The police catch him later packing a bag. Mike testifies for the prosecutor and also notes that he had seen Bill arguing with the diner’s owner a few nights prior, at which time he threatened to kill the owner.
The film lets us know this is an open-and-shut case. The judge looks bored, and one of the jury members falls asleep. Bill is convicted and sentenced to die. Case closed. But Jane isn’t so sure. She watches Bill cry out in fear over the conviction, screaming he is innocent, and believes him. She’s so upset she runs home.
That night Mike sees a strange man (Peter Lorre) hiding in the shadows near his third-floor apartment. When Mike approaches the man, he runs. Mike chases him but loses him in the city streets. When Mike goes back to his room, he notices that the annoying next-door neighbor isn’t making any noise. Normally, he snores at this hour, which can be heard through the flat’s paper-thin walls.
His mind immediately thinks the neighbor is dead. Voice-over narration indicates he is in a heightened state of mind. He wonders if the neighbor was murdered and if he was will the police think he did it? After a few drinks, he falls asleep and has a nightmare.
The nightmare is the one interesting thing about the film. It is filmed with noir lighting and expressionistic camera angles. The shadows grow long and menacing, and the sets are exaggerated. He finds himself on trial for the murder of the neighbor and is found guilty. He wakes up in a jolt.
Now he’s paranoid. The neighbor still isn’t snoring. He knocks on the door and pushes himself in. The neighbor is dead. Will his dream come true? He thinks back to all the times he got into arguments with him. How he once told his friend that he hated the neighbor, how he wished he was dead. Another time his landlady overheard them fighting, and Mike threatened to kill the man.
But his conscience gets the better of him, and he reports the death to the police. His nightmare comes true, and he is arrested for it. He tells them about the strange man lurking in the shadows, but they don’t believe him. It will be up to Jane to find him. But can she find him before it is too late?
Peter Lorre gets top billing, but he’s in the film for less than ten minutes. He’s great in those few minutes, but there isn’t nearly enough of him. McGuire and Tallichet are fine, but they are no Peter Lorre. And the story never gives us enough to make us care about any of it. With a runtime just over 60 minutes, it feels like double that. Outside the dream sequence and Lorre being on screen, everything else just drags.
I’m not even sure of the claim that it is the first film noir. There are other films like Rebecca and They Drive by Night that could easily stake that claim. It is definitely an early film noir, and it may be the first film to put all those elements – urban setting, dark shadows, expressionistic angles, an innocent man falsely accused of a crime – together in one package. For that, it is worth watching, but keep your expectations low.
Buy Stranger on the Third Floor Blu-ray from AmazonWarner Archive presents Stranger on the Third Floor with a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative, and it looks quite nice.
Extras include:
- Three episodes of Peter Lorre starring in the classic radio series Mystery of the Air
- Classic cartoons Calling Hero and Wacky Wildlife.
