masercot Okay, this was an interesting movie; but, despite having top billing, Peter Lorre barely shows up in this very short flick. He definitely doesn't stick around long enough to have a performance.The story revolves around a news reporter who has to testify in a trial, and a secretary, who is the man's fiancée. The woman has doubts about the trial's verdict and blames the reporter. The reporter feels no guilt about the situation. Circumstances seem to prove the defendants guilt.Until he ends up in exactly the same situation as the defendant. A mysterious stranger is the murderer, but no one will believe the reporter.A short movie. Definitely not the best of Peter Lorre's films.

kevin olzak 1940's "Stranger on the Third Floor" finds top billed Peter Lorre returning to his psychotic roots after eight Moto adventures and before his tenure with Bogart and Sidney Greenstreet at Warners, doing a number of low budget B's that paid the bills for various studios- Columbia, Republic, and in this case RKO. Underrated and little-seen for many years, this picture has been receiving its due in recent years, most often popping up on late night television. John McGuire's reporter is an eyewitness to a murder, the accused (Elisha Cook Jr.) an ex-con who was heard threatening the victim's life. The noir elements come into sharper focus when our hero is tormented by monologues conveying his thoughts to the audience, a common radio device rarely used in movies at the time. The sight of a mysterious stranger prowling the neighborhood, identified by his long white scarf, coincides with a second murder identical to the first; in an ironic twist, it's the nosy neighbor who has been threatened by the reporter himself. Lorre's brief but mesmerizing performance proves 'there are no small parts, only small actors,' for despite the fact we fear his homicidal tendencies, he's still able to garner a measure of sympathy (or perhaps pity), much like he did nine years before in "M." John McGuire is best remembered for playing twin brothers opposite Bela Lugosi in 1941's "Invisible Ghost," while lovely Margaret Tallichet gave up a promising career for marriage with famed director William Wyler ("Jezebel," "Roman Holiday," "Ben-Hur"). Considering the results, it's really a shame that director Boris Ingster only made two more features, proof that this gem was indeed overlooked in its day.

PWNYCNY 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.

wadih_ws 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.