Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Stranger on the Third Floor
Directed by Boris Ingster
Written by Frank Partos
1940/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
First viewing/Streaming on Amazon Instant Video (free to Prime members)

The Stranger: I want a couple of hamburgers… and I’d like them raw.

This odd little “B” movie may have very well have been the very first film noir.  I found it interesting if not great.

Reporter Mike Ward scored a coup and earned a raise by being the eye-witness to a murder, or at least its aftermath.  He had seen Joe Briggs (Elisha Cook Jr.) in a heated argument with the victim and later saw him standing over the body.  He is elated because the extra money will allow him to marry sweetheart Jane.  But when Jane attends the trial at which Mike testifies she cannot believe that the young defendent could have committed the crime and he loudly protests his innocence.

Mike returns home to his bachelor quarters in a rooming house and is deeply troubled.  He sees a stranger (Peter Lorre) creeping through the house and chases him when he runs. He is then disturbed that he does not hear the usual snoring through the walls.  Mike sinks into a nightmare in which he sees himself framed for the murder of Albert Meng, his highly unpleasant, meddling next-door neighbor.  Naturally, this is just what happens.  Mike discovers Meng’s body with its throat slashed just as the other victim’s had been.  Mike is now convinced that both were murdered by the mysterious stranger.  His task is to convince the authorities.   Jane’s is to track down the stranger.

This has some really interesting “German Expressionist” chiaroscuro lighting and camera angles, particularly in the dream sequences.  Lorre’s performance is reminiscent of his work in M.  Although there is no first-person narration, there is a long (and faintly ridiculous) interior monologue.  It is easy to see why critics might have singled out this fairly obscure little picture as the first film noir. It certainly fits in with noir’s “B” roots.  Most of the acting, dialogue, and general histrionic flavor are strictly “B” stuff.  The movie is fun even if the plot makes little sense.

Ingster directed only 3 films but went on to some success as a film and TV producer. He hailed from Latvia and had worked with Sergei Eisenstein in Russia.  Lorre appeared in three of the films prominently mentioned as the “first” film noir: this one, M, and The Maltese Falcon.

I notice that the complete film is currently available on YouTube.

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