Mark those calendars; set the timers on those recorders: STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR airs on TCM this Saturday morning (December 1).
STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR, an audacious 65-minute RKO B picture from 1940, is generally thought to be the first pure noir film. Directed by European emigre Boris Ingster, the film is a mixture of German expressionism and American pulp fiction. It is the story of a man (Elisha Cook, Jr.) who is sentenced to die in the electric chair for a murder he may not have committed. The incriminating witness (John McGuire) has a dream that opens up a world of doubt, guilt and paranoia. This dream sequence is not only jarring for what it says about the judicial system, it introduces a nightmare of disorder within powerful and usually reliable social institutions.
Through Van Nest Polgase's insidious set designs, reality becomes hopelessly similar to dream worlds. The film turns into a vortex of irrational suspicion. STRANGER is a compelling exercise in competing visual and thematic ideas: ordinary human events are transformed into frightening and (within the context of the story) inescapable images.
I hope that fans of noir films who have yet to see it get a chance to catch up with this curiously overlooked classic.
STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR (1940) Sat 12/1
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Mr. Arkadin
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). I must say the dream sequence is incredible here. You can definitely see it's influence on later films. Thanks for the reminder!
Earlier this year, I picked up a VHS copy of STRANGER at Cinevent. It was obviously taped off AMC at least 10 years ago, and this print still had the old C&C Movietime titles at the open and close. So I taped this on Saturday with a little trepidation.
But when I finally watched it yesterday, lo and behold, the original RKO titles had been restored! I was glad, because the orignial credit sequence gives the whole film a different feel, preparing you for what's to come. I love Nicholas Musuraca's photography in this film. It's definitely of a piece with his later work for Val Lewton (I was watching CAT PEOPLE right before I set up the VHS for STRANGER).
Thanks, Dewey! And thank you, TCM, for restoring and airing this early noir gem!
But when I finally watched it yesterday, lo and behold, the original RKO titles had been restored! I was glad, because the orignial credit sequence gives the whole film a different feel, preparing you for what's to come. I love Nicholas Musuraca's photography in this film. It's definitely of a piece with his later work for Val Lewton (I was watching CAT PEOPLE right before I set up the VHS for STRANGER).
Thanks, Dewey! And thank you, TCM, for restoring and airing this early noir gem!
Last edited by CoffeeDan on December 18th, 2007, 2:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
Hi Dan -
Your comparison to the Lewton films, especially CAT PEOPLE, is more than apt. Musuraca's work for RKO was unequalled (with the possible exception of John Alton's contributions) in creating an otherworldly ambience that only noir films seemed to capture. Also of note is his extraordinary work on Tourneur's OUT OF THE PAST. Good point, too, about the opening RKO credits on STRANGER; it does add a little extra texture to the proceedings, doesn't it?
Your comparison to the Lewton films, especially CAT PEOPLE, is more than apt. Musuraca's work for RKO was unequalled (with the possible exception of John Alton's contributions) in creating an otherworldly ambience that only noir films seemed to capture. Also of note is his extraordinary work on Tourneur's OUT OF THE PAST. Good point, too, about the opening RKO credits on STRANGER; it does add a little extra texture to the proceedings, doesn't it?
Stranger on the Third Floor: 35mm print is MIA
I was heartened that TCM screened this film because apparently Warners no longer has a 35mm print available for theatrical exhibition. Stranger on the Third Floor is one of the early noirs or protonoir movies and the work of Boris Ingster and as already pointed out, lenser Nick Musuraca is extraordinary. Musuraca spent his entire career at RKO- started at the old FBO studio in the 20's and worked at Gower & Melrose until Hughes sold the place for the second and final time to a subsidiary of General Tire in 1954. He was extremely influential at establishing the moody noir visual style at RKO.
Sometimes a sole print of a film is shelved if it being prepped for DVD release, sometimes it just gets lost. I am hoping that a 35mm print will turn up soon.
Sometimes a sole print of a film is shelved if it being prepped for DVD release, sometimes it just gets lost. I am hoping that a 35mm print will turn up soon.
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moira finnie
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Welcome, Moxie! Thanks for the information about Stranger on the Third Floor. Perhaps the apparent profitability of remarketing film noir to modern audiences has led to the shelving of the 35mm print of this film and its deserved presentation on a dvd.Sometimes a sole print of a film is shelved if it being prepped for DVD release, sometimes it just gets lost. I am hoping that a 35mm print will turn up soon.~moxie
Like the other posters, when spotting Nicholas Musuraca's name as cinematographer on a movie, that is usually sufficient reason to see a film, even if I've seen it once (or twice) before. I usually see something new about the economical way that a story is told visually or a particularly fine, evocative setup using light and shadow that I'd overlooked previously when Musuraca is behind the camera. Though I realize that his best known work may be Out of the Past and The Spiral Staircase, his moody, sometimes bare-bones photography in Deadline at Dawn (1946), The Locket (1946), and Blood on the Moon (1948) are three visual and psychological favorites of mine.
Wouldn't it be delightful if TCM could feature Musuraca's films one month, as they did James Wong Howe's work in the recent past?
Last edited by moira finnie on December 17th, 2007, 9:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
thanks for the welcome
Thanks for the welcome and I hope you are correct about Stranger on the Third Floor on DVD. Another noteworthy Musuraca noir is Roadblock (1951) starring the redoubtable Charles McGraw.-a really overlooked film IMHO.
I share your enthusiasm for Blood on the Moon; a great movie. If there is such a thing as a noir Western, that worthy title fills the bill!
I would love to program a Musaraca-fest. A lot to choose from a career ranging from On the Banks of the Wabash (1923) to The Lawbreakers (1960)!
I share your enthusiasm for Blood on the Moon; a great movie. If there is such a thing as a noir Western, that worthy title fills the bill!
I would love to program a Musaraca-fest. A lot to choose from a career ranging from On the Banks of the Wabash (1923) to The Lawbreakers (1960)!
"First is First and second is nobody"
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Mr. Arkadin
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Roadblock
We screened it at Noir City in San Francisco last year as part of a McGraw double feature with THE THREAT and it was very well received. Let me know what you think.
"First is First and second is nobody"
Hi Moxie, nice to have you aboard. Regarding STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR, I think it's safe to say that at least one good, serviceable print exists; as a former film programmer I've booked the film several times from Warner Bros theatrical without a problem. More importantly, the film negative seems to be safe in storage at Warner's. I think it's really just a matter of time before this film finds a home on DVD. And yes, I agree, a TCM tribute to the brilliant Nicholas Musuraca would be a wonderful thing!
"Missing" Prints
Dewey, thanks.
What you related about Stranger on the Third Floor is exactly what I find perplexing at times concerning the booking of vintage films. A print will be available for rental, is exhibited, and then when another programmer tries to book it later in the same year, the response is, "We don't have it..."
I've discovered that some of the studios do lock down their best prints when the home entertainment arms are preparing a DVD set, and I also know that venues have to have the appropriate reel-to-reel change out systems (NOT a table projector) for these films, but there continue to be instances of discontinuity in the availability of these films. I don't think there is just a single answer to this.
What is your take?
What you related about Stranger on the Third Floor is exactly what I find perplexing at times concerning the booking of vintage films. A print will be available for rental, is exhibited, and then when another programmer tries to book it later in the same year, the response is, "We don't have it..."
I've discovered that some of the studios do lock down their best prints when the home entertainment arms are preparing a DVD set, and I also know that venues have to have the appropriate reel-to-reel change out systems (NOT a table projector) for these films, but there continue to be instances of discontinuity in the availability of these films. I don't think there is just a single answer to this.
What is your take?
"First is First and second is nobody"
Hi again, Moxie -
My take on this situation? Film bookers (employed by the studios) seem to be a capricious lot. I've had fellow programmers around the country tell me that they tried to book a particular film immediately after I've shown it only to be told that prints no longer exist. Six months later prints have mysteriously reappeared. I think a lot of it has to do with how the studio feels personally about the venue and the person booking the film. Apart from the important aspects you mentioned (namely a double system projector to avoid having archive prints ruined on a platter) something as insignificant as the cut of someone's jib is enough to turn a studio film booker ice cold. Over the years I managed to cultivate good relationships with all of the studio bookers I worked with. On the other side of that, I've known certain programmers who, intentionally or otherwise, said or did something to annoy their booker---and suddenly the well goes dry.
My take on this situation? Film bookers (employed by the studios) seem to be a capricious lot. I've had fellow programmers around the country tell me that they tried to book a particular film immediately after I've shown it only to be told that prints no longer exist. Six months later prints have mysteriously reappeared. I think a lot of it has to do with how the studio feels personally about the venue and the person booking the film. Apart from the important aspects you mentioned (namely a double system projector to avoid having archive prints ruined on a platter) something as insignificant as the cut of someone's jib is enough to turn a studio film booker ice cold. Over the years I managed to cultivate good relationships with all of the studio bookers I worked with. On the other side of that, I've known certain programmers who, intentionally or otherwise, said or did something to annoy their booker---and suddenly the well goes dry.
Thanks for confirming an aspect of the booking process with archival prints that is probably the most important of all. We probably both have heard a lot of stories along these lines.
As Sydney Greenstreet might have put it, cultivating important working relationships is a matter of "nice judgment".
As Sydney Greenstreet might have put it, cultivating important working relationships is a matter of "nice judgment".
"First is First and second is nobody"
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jdb1
Well. I finally got to see this movie in its entirety last night for Peter Lorre's SUTS entry, or as I like to think of it, Laszlo Day.
I really enjoyed it. I thought it was very entertaining, and I certainly did see the seeds of noir in it. However, I also thought that the makers, although they threw in a lot of noir elements, didn't really really know where to go with them, and wasted a lot of plot points and cinematic effects. The movie reminded me a lot of Val Lewton's The Seventh Victim, although compared to Stranger, Victim is a masterpiece.
RO explained before the movie started that Lorre was only on the set for two days, for contractual obligation purposes. I found his intercut lurking scenes pretty funny, but not derisively funny; more like affectionately funny. If only the film makers had known what to do with him, and had more time to do it. And how interesting to see him so slim after having seen his younger, very plump self in The Man Who Knew Too Much earlier in the evening.
I'm now in the process of re-reading the William Wyler biography "A Talent for Trouble," and I was most interested to see Wyler's wife, Margaret Tallichet (called "Talli") in this movie. She wasn't exactly Katherine Cornell, was she? She did have a very nice face though, which was a sort of amalgam of the faces of many other screen actresses - at various times and from various angles she reminded me of so many others. She and John Maguire's little scene in his boarding house room, where they came in out of the rain and he proceeded, seemingly innocently, to get her to start taking her wet clothes off, might have had a lot more impact in a B or A movie with better actors, but was wasted here, even if the landlady and a neighbor hadn't burst in to object to the behavior. Imagine if Tallichet had done that scene with Lorre!
I really enjoyed it. I thought it was very entertaining, and I certainly did see the seeds of noir in it. However, I also thought that the makers, although they threw in a lot of noir elements, didn't really really know where to go with them, and wasted a lot of plot points and cinematic effects. The movie reminded me a lot of Val Lewton's The Seventh Victim, although compared to Stranger, Victim is a masterpiece.
RO explained before the movie started that Lorre was only on the set for two days, for contractual obligation purposes. I found his intercut lurking scenes pretty funny, but not derisively funny; more like affectionately funny. If only the film makers had known what to do with him, and had more time to do it. And how interesting to see him so slim after having seen his younger, very plump self in The Man Who Knew Too Much earlier in the evening.
I'm now in the process of re-reading the William Wyler biography "A Talent for Trouble," and I was most interested to see Wyler's wife, Margaret Tallichet (called "Talli") in this movie. She wasn't exactly Katherine Cornell, was she? She did have a very nice face though, which was a sort of amalgam of the faces of many other screen actresses - at various times and from various angles she reminded me of so many others. She and John Maguire's little scene in his boarding house room, where they came in out of the rain and he proceeded, seemingly innocently, to get her to start taking her wet clothes off, might have had a lot more impact in a B or A movie with better actors, but was wasted here, even if the landlady and a neighbor hadn't burst in to object to the behavior. Imagine if Tallichet had done that scene with Lorre!