STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR (1940)

WORLD PREMIERE RESTORATION

Often cited as the birth of film noir, this low-budget feature is considered the first to take the tools of German Expressionism and apply them to the crime genre. The story follows a reporter (John McGuire) who witnesses one murder and finds himself charged with another. A dream sequence in which he’s tried and executed features distorted sets and heavy shadows to nightmarish effect. Among the talents involved are Russian director Boris Ingster, who had worked with the great Sergei Eisenstein, acclaimed American novelist Nathaniel West (uncredited), Italian-born cinematographer Nicolas Musuraca, RKO’s resident art director, Van Nest Polglase, and turning up sporadically as a creepy suspect is another foreign import, Peter Lorre. Ingster never did anything like this again, though Musuraca would become one of film noir’s greatest cinematographers, with pictures like OUT OF THE PAST (1947) and The Hitch-Hiker (1953).

d. Boris Ingster, 64m, DCP

Restoration by Warner Bros. Discovery.