DVD Review: Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

(Released: 2010 by the Warner Archive Collection)  

Another looong DVD Review by Joe Torcivia

 

Summary:  You heard of “The First Noel”, but could this be “The First Noir”? 

Perhaps so, if the text on Warner Archives’ packaging is to be believed!  Let’s take a look, shall we?    

“‘Stranger on the Third Floor’ is the little B-Picture that launched one of the greatest movements in cinema history: ‘Film Noir’”.

“The highlight:  A suspense-and-sweat-drenched dream sequence that jolted 1940 audiences into an exciting new way of looking at the movies.” 

Quite a claim, and all the more interesting as this was NOT a Warner Bros. picture, but rather an RKO Radio Pictures production merely packaged for DVD release by Warner Archives.  RKO being the studio that gave us such classics as “Citizen Kane”, “KingKong”, “Gunga Din”, the Val Lewton produced series of horror films, and so much more. 

They even gave us (would you believe) John Wayne as Genghis Khan in "The Conqueror", with Agnes (Endora)  Moorehead and William (Cannon) Conrad thrown in for good measure! 

 

Don't look here for a snarky comment, folks! 
I actually kinda liked this one, it's casting absurdity aside!
 

For all I know, by now, the vast Time Warner media empire may even encompass what was once RKO. Anyway, that dream sequence was “jolting” enough, I’ll sure give ‘em that!  More on it to come…

“Did you ever want to kill a man?”

“My son, there’s murder in every intelligent man’s heart!” 

These are exciting times for New York City newspaper reporter Michael Ward.  He and his lovely fiancée Jane are apartment hunting, in anticipation of the big day soon to come...

...and Ward’s paper is about to give him a big raise for his personal account of a particular story that he has become personally involved in. 

Oh, yes… the story.  Ward’s testimony will send a down-on-his-luck schlub with a minor criminal record, “Joe Briggs” (movingly played by Elisha Cook, Jr.), to the electric chair for the murder of “Nick”, a neighborhood diner owner.   Ward did not witness the ACTUAL killing, but found Briggs, alone in the diner, standing over the body of the throat-slit dead man – for what looks to be some pretty damning circumstantial evidence. 

Is Briggs to be "Cook-ed"? 

Briggs is convicted and sentenced to death.  He emotionally maintains his innocence, calling out to Ward, who once lent him money for a meal in that very same diner.  Jane, in the courtroom and hearing Briggs’ cries, is quite naturally upset, and begins to distance herself from Ward.   

Cooks... that is *LOOKS* like it!

A highly effective scene depicts Ward on what seems to be an endless walk home after the trial.  He suffers pangs of conscience, as he makes his way through crowded New York City sidewalks.  Though surrounded by fellow citizens, he is completely “alone”, haunted by his vacillating thoughts:

“What if she’s [Jane’s] right?  After all, I didn’t actually SEE Briggs kill Nick.  All of the rest of the evidence was circumstantial too.

“So what?  That doesn’t make it any less reliable.  If the courts had an eyewitness for everything, nobody’d ever be convicted. 

“Sometimes, they DO get the wrong man!  Why did he have to have a criminal record?  Now, they’ll have to give him the chair.  He’ll die, and I’ll never know for sure!” 

As he reaches his dumpy apartment building, Ward’s thoughts are interrupted by the sight of an odd-looking man on the building steps.  An furtive little fellow with darting eyes, played by the great Peter Lorre, later described in the film as: “A strange looking man [ with ] big, bulgy eyes, thick lips, and he wears a long white scarf”. 

Hmmm... Fits the bill? 

He later finds Lorre’s stranger skulking around inside the building and confronts him.  The stranger flees and immediately disappears, as if into thin air. 

Turns out Ward’s prissy and nasty neighbor in the adjoining apartment, Mr. Maine, is found dead with his throat slit in the same manner as was Nick.  Maine frequently had words with Ward, and (in the type of anger born of frustration and exasperation) Ward is known to have publicly threatened to (at least figuratively) kill him.  

Ironically, Ward is taken into police custody on the same type of circumstantial evidence upon which Briggs was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. 

How's it feel, Mike? 

Before his arrest, however, we are treated to Ward’s amazing dream sequence referenced above. 

In it, Ward is interrogated by six look-alike, cigar-chomping detectives with dark suits and derby hats.  The dream continues to unfold with amazing cartoonish exaggeration. 

Jane screams in horror over Ward’s murder conviction, hemmed-in by sharply tall, drawn skyscrapers.  Fellow reporters cackle over three-foot high headlines of “MURDER!”, as Ward drowns in a swirling vortex of such newspapers.  

We move to a surreal courtroom scene – quite unusual for a 1940 picture – consisting of a very sparse, open set containing only what is necessary to convey the bizarre visual.  [ JOE’S NOTE:  If you’ve ever seen the Western sets for both LOST IN SPACE’s “West of Mars” (1966) or STAR TREK’s “Spectre of the Gun” (1968) you will have some idea of the sparse, almost dreamlike sense of set decoration employed here. ]

 

Peter Lorre’s stranger appears as a spectator in this quasi-courtroom, amid literally endless rows of otherwise empty seats that seemingly stretch to infinity.   The judge stands and makes his pronouncement: 

“It is the judgment of this court that you be taken to the state prison – and be there PUT TO DEATH in the manner prescribed by law… and may God have mercy on your soul!”

And, lowering his gavel, the judge instantly morphs into the Statue of Justice!  The heavy shadows of IRON BARS are cast upon the blank walls, entombing Ward. 

As he is prepared to take the final walk to the electric chair, we cut over to a cell containing Briggs, the very same man who was convicted on Ward’s testimony.  [ JOE’S NOTE:  Don’t ask why Ward is taken to be fried before Briggs.  It’s just a dream! ]  

Briggs laughs maniacally:  “HA-HA!  Now, YOU’RE looking for somebody to believe YOU!  To say YOU ain’t done it!

“Why should they?  Did YOU believe ME?  Would YOU tell ME you didn’t think *I* done it?  No!  HA-HA!  Okay, kid… Go and DIE!”

A silhouette of the electric chair looms – about EIGHT FEET TALL! 

Past the dream sequence, Ward is convinced the killer is Peter Lorre’s creepy stranger, but is believed by no one but Jane – who begins to scour the town for any evidence of the existence the bug-eyed man with the long white scarf.   

We’ll stop here in the interest of avoiding Major Spoilers, but suffice it to say that “Stranger on the Third Floor” suddenly eschews its surrealist sensibilities and, at the 00:52:22 mark of the 01:03:59 abruptly turns unexpectedly creepy and exciting for its final 5-6 minutes! 

Now, I’m not sure that 1940’s “Stranger on the Third Floor” was the single film that led American cinema (not to mention both Peter Lorre and Elisha Cook, Jr. along with director John Huston, actors Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet) directly to “The Maltese Falcon” (1941), but enough of the primary building blocks of Film Noir (at least as *I* understand the term) are there for Warner Archives to make the case.  

The Maltese Falcon: Bogart gives Greenstreet "The Bird"!

…And, you’ve GOT to give it some points for creativity and its vibe of general weirdness. 

As is our custom in these reviews, we’ll break it into CONS and PROS.  

Also, by now, we’ve gone over the general debits and credits of The Warner Archive Collection in great length in other such posts.  Suffice it to say these are general “No-Frills” releases, pressed in the DVD-R format, which will not play on a computer. 

No Extra Features, save a Theatrical Trailer – and even that is not always guaranteed.  No subtitles, alternate language tracks, or other expected amenities of the DVD viewing experience.

 

The CONS:

No Theatrical Trailer:  This is unusual, but not completely uncommon, for Warner Archives sets.  As you know from previous reviews, I love movie trailers of this vintage, so this is a definite “CON”.  

 

The PROS:

Logical Chapter Skips:  This category is a literal “toss up”, when it comes to Warner Archive Collection product.  The earliest WAC DVDs (and occasionally those released thereafter) came with fixed 10-minute interval Chapter Skips – regardless of where that put viewers logically within the film.  Later WAC releases, (though, inexplicably, not all) offer Chapter Skips that work more logically with the film. “Stranger on the Third Floor” offers Logical Chapter Skips.  I’ll take that as a “PRO” and run!   

The Cast:

·         Peter Lorre as “The Stranger”.  (Scarfs are Scary)

  

·         John McGuire as “Michael Ward”. (Tormented Protagonist)

·         Margaret Tallichet as “Jane”.  (Fiancée turned Detective)

·         Elisha Cook, Jr. as “Briggs”.  (Did He, or Didn’t He?)

OVERALL:

Is it really the beginning of Film Noir?  I’m not qualified to say, but it IS an interesting – and offbeat (in the “good” sense of the word) product of Golden Age Hollywood – and I liked it a lot! 

“Stranger on the Third Floor” is highly recommended for fans of Peter Lorre, Golden Age Hollywood murder mysteries, exaggerated and nightmarish imagery… and (let’s go for broke) Film Noir!