In some ways rating this film an 8 out 10 is generous. It's a B film and throughout it feels like a B film. Outside of Peter Lorre who gets top billing even though he is only in the film for a short time the rest of the cast are unknowns who largely stayed that way. Okay Elisha Cook Jr. has a key supporting role as well and he went on to a long film career often appearing in noir films. The film was made apparently for around $175,000. The film has all the elements of noir. The wrongly accused man, voice over, paranoia, lots of heavy shadows, those low camera angles up the stairs, the Brooklyn setting but the pièce de résistance was the dream sequence that has to be seen to be believed.If any complaints the couple played by John McGuire and Margaret Tallichet were a bit cutesy and the happy ending was a bit schmaltzy. But it doesn't take away from the overall effects of the film. Peter Lorre is downright creepy as the stranger and Elisha Cook Jr. is his usual wide eyed self as a wrongly accused. McGuire did his best to channel that later B actor Tom Neal of Detour (1945). Well since McGuire came first maybe it was Tom Neal channelling McGuire. As to Tallichet who had a brief film career and went on to marry the director William Wyler (Ben Hur amongst others) well she was that lovely girl next door you always fall in love with. The rest of the cast is peppered with fine character actors especially the landlady and the pain in the neck neighbour of McGuire. The film is compact and tidy coming in at a swift 64 minutes giving it a TV film feel. Overall a nifty if jagged little film. So remember 'They put you in a shirt with long sleeves, and they pour ice water on you'

The testimony of reporter John McGuire (Mike) is key to the conviction of Elisha Cook Jr (Joe) for murder and his subsequent death penalty sentence. McGuire's girlfriend Margaret Tallichet (Jane) is uneasy with the circumstantial evidence and gets McGuire to doubt his testimony. McGuire's conscience comes into play and he also suspects that his nosey neighbour Charles Halton (Meng) could also have been murdered that night. He has stopped snoring and McGuire had previously spotted a stranger creeping around the apartment. The paranoia gets to him and he goes to check…………what do you think?.....The film has an interesting story and zips along at a good pace. Peter Lorre is suitably creepy as the elusive stranger, but I'm afraid the film is plagued by bad acting. When McGuire first appears at a café, he is really annoying and I found myself looking to other characters for someone to identify with. Well, after witnessing the always awful Elisha Cook Jr demonstrating some unconvincing histrionics in an early courtroom scene, and Margaret Tallichet just generally being so laughably bad on every occasion that she appears, I had nowhere to go. McGuire became the best in the cast. Shocking.Anyway, the film is OK – let down by the cast, so it loses points. There are some interesting shots involving Lorre and McGuire on a staircase – it's a good scene with some tension. There are also predictable moments – eg, when Tallichet goes looking for Lorre, you can tell what is going to happen. Well, I could. It's still a good sequence, though. Unfortunately, things are wrapped up quite conveniently and we get a cringeworthy happy final shot with a pipsqueak.

I title my review "Pass/Fail", because in some ways the film passes some tests of what makes a good film, and in other ways it fails some tests of what makes a good film.Let's begin with the biggest "fail" -- the acting. Now that might surprise you when you consider the fame of the two lead actors -- John McGuire and Margaret Tallichet. Okay, I'm being sarcastic. McGuire went from being a lead in "B" pictures to bit parts...and in this film you can see why. Tallichet's biggest successes in Hollywood were being screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara and becoming the wife of director William Wyler. Neither McGuire or Tallichet have significant Hollywood resumes, and here their acting is -- at best -- awkward, and certainly amateurish. That's not to say they are totally unpleasant on screen; at least they try hard.And then we come to Peter Lorre. I have come to appreciate Lorre's early screen appearances. There was something very unique about him. But here, he has almost no actual dialog until the end of the film. He is pretty much relegated to being seen, in order to become the leading suspect. Lorre was not exactly new to Hollywood at this point, but his most famous roles were yet to come. I wondered if his teeth were that bad, or if they were doctored up here to make him look more menacing.Probably the best acting here is from Elisha Cook Jr. -- the little creep -- who is probably wrongly convicted of murder...thus the basis of the plot. Cook wasn't a very diverse actor, but he was damned good at what he did. This was his sixth film, and like Lorre, his best work was coming up, not long after this film. BTW, at the very end of the film you get to see him with a huge smile on his face! A rarity! So, what's the "pass" part. Films that are somewhat unique get bonus points from me. And, this film is pretty unique. First, it may have been the first American noir film made (though not released first). But there is plenty of interesting imagery here that you rarely see in old films, and are well worth noting.I must admit wondering if this was a throw-away pic for RKO Pictures. After all, they assigned directorial responsibilities to that finest of directors -- Boris Ingster. Okay, my sarcasm is showing through, again.All things considered, I'm glad to have watched this film, but will never do so again. Pass.Fail, but mostly fail...yet still somewhat intriguing.

After discovering a dead man with his throat slit, reporter Mike Ward (John McGuire) proves to be the key witness in the murder trial, putting away the accused to face the death penalty. His fiancée Jane (Margaret Tillachet) harbours doubts about the man's guilt, causing Ward to question himself and what he really saw. Returning to his apartment, he has a brief encounter with a strange man (Peter Lorre) who he sees lurking around the building, and after finding his neighbour murdered in the same way, he cowers into a paranoid and disillusioned state. When Ward is arrested on suspicion of the murder, Jane wanders the streets searching for this strange man with bulging eyes, thick lips, and a white scarf.Although it wasn't released until after similar films of the genre, Stranger on the Third Floor is considered to be the first 'true' film noir. The classic tale of an innocent man out to prove his innocence is given a slight spin with a short central section depicting Ward's descent into panic. This is punctured with a quite strange dream sequence that is filmed quite nicely given the obvious budget limitations. These limitations tend to damage the film's potential impact, with McGuire's quite outlandish performance making it disappointing that director Boris Ingster couldn't afford a better lead. With very literal narration, he flails around as if locked in an operatic Russian silent, feeling it important to inform the audience "I'm tired," after yawning and stretching.The extremely dull first two-thirds of the film spend most of the time tip-toeing around the strongest plot thread, which is Jane's search for Peter Lorre's creepy stranger. Lorre saves the film, having been a veteran of German Expressionism, is perfectly suited to the film's overwrought, dramatic style. His soft voice and small stature make him barely imposing, but subtly unnerving. Running at just over an hour, Stranger was never intended to be challenging, but a simple thriller, and that's exactly what it is. But it's also frightfully pedestrian, offering none of the sleaze or sweat I usually love from B-grade noirs. It certainly had a key role to play in the development of one of the most successful genres in American cinema history, but this, combined with Lorre's memorable but sadly brief appearance, are the only reasons why this film is fleetingly remembered.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com