Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Reporter Michael Ward (John McGuire) gives testimony at trial that helps convict an innocent man of murder. Now Ward finds himself in a similar situation, accused of a murder he didn't commit. His girlfriend Jane (Margaret Tallichet) sets out to find a creepy stranger (Peter Lorre) seen lurking about on the night of the murder.Despite being top-billed, Peter Lorre is not in this much. But when he is in it, he's really creepy and weird in that Lorre way we all love. Also, I loved Elijah Cook as the poor sap wrongly convicted at the start of the movie. Often cited as the first film noir, this is a very cool murder mystery that effectively uses flashbacks and dream sequences. It has a lot of style for a B movie that barely runs an hour. Just goes to show you don't need 2 1/2 hours to make a good movie, something today's filmmakers should learn.

This film is widely considered to be the very first American noir film. It's a B movie to be sure, with B list actors outside of star Peter Lorre. While he gets top billing, he's not the lead and barely has that much screen time. That is unfortunate because he is excellent in his performance. The plot is so thin and so simple yet the demure-in-stature 64-minute film packs so much into it. This was the director's debut and he only made two more films after this; he was not exactly a well-regarded part of the Hollywood machine... but he had vision, that's for sure -- there's a dream sequence that is very Hitchcockian, with use of shadows that's simply outstanding, separating this from all standard movie fare at the time. If you're a fan of film noir, this gem is not to be missed.--A Kat Pirate Screener

For only a few minutes work in this B picture Peter Lorre got top billing playing a bug eyed character who escaped from an asylum and has taken root in the lives of John McGuire and Margaret Tallichet a pair of 20 somethings young and in love and looking to get married.The Stranger On The Third Floor opens with reporter McGuire giving testimony at a murder trial of Elisha Cook, Jr. who is accused of murdering and robbing a store owner in a gruesome fashion. McGuire found him standing over the body, but Cook swears he didn't do the deed.Nevertheless Cook's pleas of innocence shake the star witness McGuire. Later on he spots Peter Lorre coming out of his fellow boardinghouse roomer Charles Halton with whom McGuire had quarreled with earlier. When Halton who is a nasty little sort is similarly gruesomely dispatched the cops are thinking that McGuire might have done both the crimes.It's up to Tallichet to find a guy who looks like Peter Lorre and clear the boyfriend.The Stranger On The Third Floor is a neat and economical thriller taken from a radio play. Lorre is his usual menacing self and Tallichet proves to be a regular Nancy Drew in tracking down the culprit. Note another nice performance by Ethel Griffies as the landlady for McGuire and Halton. They make a really great matched pair of creeps.Check this one out if you like Peter Lorre.

Boris Ingster's Stranger on the Third Floor is an incredible drama film that has you always trying to question and figure out who might be the killer, keeping you interested in the movie. The film takes place with a newlywed couple Michael and Jade who are grabbing breakfast before the trial of Joe Briggs. At the end of Joe's trial, the movie starts building in suspense by having Michael second guessing weather Joe's trial was innocent or guilty, later throughout the night Michael starts to have nightmares that he is actually in Joe's place. Once Michael finds himself seeing an unfamiliar face walking out of a neighbor's house, they find another person has been murdered, this time instead of Joe becoming blamed for the crimes in the murder; it is place in Michael's hands. The cops think that Michael is the man behind this murder accusing him of killing the innocent. Finally, the true killer is found, and Michael and Joe will both be allowed to be released from going to jail for crimes in which neither one of the two committed. This movie brings in a lot of suspense and has the viewer trying to spot which person might actually be telling the truth and who might have actually been the killer, until you find out the killer was actually a total stranger, which unlike most movie's where it's either of the two, this movie brought in a whole separate character who wasn't even a suspect for being the murderer.