Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
Ever think about seeing Peter Lorre and Elisha Cook, Jr. in the same movie? Well, here you can. One is a psychotic murderer, the other is the man falsely accused.
In a story not dissimilar to Hitchcock’s later film, The Wrong Man (1956), a newspaper reporter witnesses a cab driver standing over the dead body of a murdered hash house owner. His subsequent scoop for his paper results in a rise up the totem pole, along with a weekly pay raise. But after his girlfriend hears the accused in court pleading that he is innocent, she emotionally believes that the cabbie may not be the murderer. This puts a nagging doubt in the mind of the reporter, who eventually learns the truth.
At 64 minutes the picture barely qualifies as a feature film. But there’s a lot packed into its short running time, chiefly the impressive chiaroscuro photography of the greatNicholas Musuraca (Out of the Past, Clash by Night). His shadows, lighting, and unusual camera angles would soon be staples of noir.
Many point to this picture as the first film noir, but there were two earlier films from 1940 that might qualify as well: Rebecca, and They Drive by Night. Also there were isolated films all the way back into the silent era that one could argue were noir. “Stranger” is more pure German expressionism, along the lines of M (1931), or Nosferatu (1922).
Lorre turns in an ultra creepy performance of a man who we later learn was likely an escapee from a mental institution. The key role of the girlfriend is played by the lovely Margaret Tallichet, who only made 4-5 pictures before she married director William Wyler (The Best Years of Our Lives, Ben-Hur), and retired to raise a family. The newspaper reported is played by John McGuire (Where the Sidewalk Ends), who earlier in his career played leading men, but later had mostly shifted to character roles.
My guess is that, although this film is interesting today, it did not get much notice, and therefore was not really influential in starting the noir movement in Hollywood. That distinction goes to The Maltese Falcon (1941).
Available on YouTube.
Doc’s rating: 6/10