Excellent but underrated film

best movie i've ever seen.

A Masterpiece!

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

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.

If IMDb.com would allow it, I would summarize this movie in two words, Peter Lorre, and leave it at that. This movie is driven by the Lorre's presence, which is both menacing and endearing. What a wonderful actor and he proves it in this movie. This movie, although only 64 minutes long, has it all: suspense, romance, crisp cinematography, emotive music and a great story. The rest of cast, which includes John McGuire, also is excellent. The film noir style perfectly sets the mood and the dialog is snappy, upbeat and and comprehensible. The movie tells a story and tells it well, with no frills and no distractions and when the movie ends, the audience can feel that it was time well spent.

This is a very good film noir but TCM airs it so often that it is becoming a nuisance to me. Same goes for 'Shop Around The Corner' which is set in Budapest but most of the cast speaks an American version of English, especially Margaret Sullivan and James Stewart, neither of which could ever employ a foreign accent nor act their way out of a paper bag.William Wyler was married to Margaret Sullivan before Margaret Tallichet. He has the same preferences as myself; endeared to wholesome, but good looking actresses. Sullivan and Tallichet do not resemble each other but they both look like the 'girl next store.' As 'actresses,' they didn't have stunning careers and one can see why. Tallichet's career was cut short, but her marriage to Wyler was long.My review is not as much about the film as it is Ms. Tallichet. It may be the script she was given (certainly not her acting) but I couldn't take my eyes off her because she is so cute.The screenplay is good, especially the dream scene. Peter Lorre just goes through the motions, while Elijah Cook, Jr. is excellent as he is in all of the 'thousands' of films in which he had character roles. Did he ever play a leading man? I wouldn't place this film in my top 1,000 but it is interesting as a one-time view. I think TCM should be more diversified. They should air 'Montenegro' which is #1 on my list of best movies, all time.

Boris Ingster's Stranger on the Third floor is a powerful drama that keeps you thinking on who is the killer in this remarkable film. The start of the film is with newly engaged couple of Michael and Jane are getting breakfast at a diner before the trial of Joe Briggs that Michael is in. This movie creates suspense when after the trial Michael is second-guessing himself whether Joe is truly guilty or not, and this bothers him all night. He keeps thinking what if he was in Joe's place, and starts getting nightmares. He then see's an unfamiliar face walk out of his nosy neighbor's place and finds that his neighbor is dead and goes on another twist because now the police thinks Michael is the killer since he discovered both of the murders. Shows all of what he thinks will happen and finally Jane finds the murderer and goes on the where both Joe and Michael are set free because the murderer was found and apprehended. This film is a hard to figure out until you figure out who is the stranger then, everything becomes predictable. The one thing that lowered the film in my view was how the murderer admits to the cops that he's the murderer and it just kept me wondering why the director would have that since I doubt anyone would admit to a crime, especially one this bold. This film could have been better, but the predictability as well as the title of the film gives the outcome of the film away. A lot of adjustments need to be made to make this film a huge success, because most of the movie's problems are predictability as well as cheesy lines and so on. Overall this film was entertaining a bit, but the fact that I could tell what happens next ruined the fun of figuring it out.