Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
(On Cable TV, July 2022) Often hailed as one of the first true noir films due to its 1940 release date, stylized visuals, urban crime plot and half-nightmarish interludes, Stranger on the Third Floor indeed feels closer to the subgenre than some of the noir films from the post-war era. John McGuire plays a newspaper reporter haunted by the idea that his testimony helping to convict a man of murder may have been erroneous. When he decides to investigate, trouble spirals up. The link between German expressionism and noir is made clear here, and further reinforced by having Peter Lorre play the villain of the film. A touch too much voice-over narration makes the film less self-assured than it could have been, but otherwise Stranger on the Third Floor offers thrills almost custom-made for noir fans. An essential piece of film noir history for those interested in the genre—and a decent thriller for everyone else.