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.”
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!
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Don't look here for a snarky comment, folks!
I actually kinda liked this one, it's casting absurdity aside!
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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”.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
Problem is that, from living underground and in darkness, moles have notoriously POOR EYESIGHT! Jiminy, ever the good-intentioned, well-meaning busybody, takes it upon himself to discourage the mole from transitioning to surface life, lest he inadvertently imperil himself when encountering the many dangers of the forest! 
