Stranger On the Third Floor

Surreal little noir movie

I had never seen this or heard of this until its recent release. It moves along at quite a pace and I gather by its short length, this was more of a B picture, but don’t let that put you off. RKO has delivered some exceptional b grade movies and I would regard this as one of them. Highly stylised, it is visually impressive, with its use of shadows and expressionistic imagery, it is captivating to look at. And this Blu ray release does the visuals justice. I also enjoyed the inclusion of the WB spot-gag cartoon, Wacky Wildlife. A great bonus.

Maybe the first film Noir?

Stranger on the First Floor (RKO 1940) is considered by many to be one of the first Noir offerings. Running a brief 64 minutes, this blu-ray transfer is well up to the usual Warner Archive standard and has been remastered directly from 4K scans of the original nitrate camera negatives. Peter Lorre, Margaret Tallichet, John Mc Guire and Charles Waldron star in this shadow-drenched mystery in the German Expressionist style. Well worth watching!

Hello Noir!

Gotta give this one 5 stars - it's been kicking around for years, and looks better than ever on this release. An odd little 1940 melodrama that just happens to feature Peter Lorre and Elisha Cook Jr., both essential noir players. The film's reputation as the first actual, recognizable noir rests on its striking expressionistic touches. Many agree that noir is defined as much by style than anything else.