Stranger on the Third Floor
1940
Action / Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Music / Mystery / Romance / Thriller

Stranger on the Third Floor
1940
Action / Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Music / Mystery / Romance / Thriller
Plot summary
Newspaper reporter Michael Ward plunges into a nightmare of guilt, fearing that his "evidence" has sentenced the wrong man to death.
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
"What difference does it make? There's too many people in the world anyway."
"What difference does it make? There's too many people in the world anyway."
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.