STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR (1940)
Directed by Boris Ingster
Starring: Peter Lorre, John McGuire, Margaret Tallichet
Up-and-coming ace reporter Mike Ward (McGuire) and his up-and-coming finance Jane (Tallichet) are planning to get married! But first, Mike has an important matter to take care of. See, he was the only witness to the gruesome murder of a coffee shop owner. So right after Mike testifies that a stuttering, frightened young man, who of course swears he's innocent (don't they all?) killed said coffee shop guy, thus dooming him to the electric chair, it's off to Albany to get hitched! Jane, however, doubts the squirrely young man's guilt and, sickened by the whole thing, refuses to see Mike. Despondent, Mike goes to his boarding house and sees a stranger (Lorre) slip out of the house, refusing to even say hello, which was required by law in the 40's. Mike begins to notice things are amiss. For one thing, his normally cranky neighbor with the window-rattling snore is absolutely quiet. In a full reel of internal monologue and flashbacks, we are told how Mr. Cranky Neighbor was a thorn in Mike's side from day one, and how Mike made a few off-handed remarks about maybe, possibly killing him, though of course he was just blowing off steam. Mike tries to sleep off his misplaced guilt, but he has an incredibly bizarre nightmare, culminating in his getting the electric chair and being taunted all the while by the Squirrely Young Man. Mike decides to investigate and Mr. Cranky Neighbor is, in fact, dead; his throat cut in the exact same manner as the old Coffee Shop Guy. Though, the police don't seem to notice this, and it takes about another 10 minutes for Mike to bring it up as well. Meanwhile, Jane, out to proves Mike's innocence, even though he hasn't really been accused of anything by anyone, asks around to see if anyone has seen the man Mike was describing. On the way, she meets up with the Stranger who, because he trusts her, pretty much confesses to everything. After all, why would the Whitecoats send a woman? It turns out that all the Stanger wants is to not go back to the nut house, which is a pretty reasonable request, so long as you don't kill anybody. However, after Jane threatens to call the police, the Stranger wises up, and tries to kill her. As she runs away, the Stranger is run over by a truck carrying over 5,000 pounds of deus ex machina. All ends well, as the Squirrely Young Man is released and becomes the Squirrely Young Cab Driver, who gets Mike and Jane to the church on time.
If you survived reading that lengthy synopsis, you already know that this movie is pretty goofy and dated. But it was just a B-movie, and they were rarely taken as seriously as the features. However, there are some pretty innovative things in this picture. Many have credited it as the first true film noir. Heavy use of light and shadow, the troubled soul who tells the story in voice-over, the man wrongly accused of a crime; they're all here. Of course, they'd been in movies before, but never really together, and certainly not in American films, which were more focused on glamour rather than mood. Also, the dream sequence borrows very heavily from German Expressionism, and calls to mind especially The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
But that's not the only thing borrowed from the Germans. Here we have Peter Lorre in one of the many B-movie villain roles he took upon coming to the States from Europe. His big international turn was in Fritz Lang's M, which got him noticed by Alfred Hitchcock, who cast him in the original version of The Man Who Knew Too Much. Lorre's underplayed and downright creepy performance (it is rumored he learned his lines phonetically, as he spoke very little English at the time), is a great contrast to the over-the-top, "Please notice me and how well I'm emoting!" performances of the rest of the cast. It was as if everyone was so desperate to get out of Poverty Row, that they dialed up their performances. But not Lorre. He just did what he did best, with his scratchy voice and horrible teeth, and gives the best performance in the film.
So yeah, it's a goofy ride, but a lot of fun, and pretty innovative for the time. It's definitely worth a look, but don't take it too seriously.
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