Blu-ray Review: Stranger On the Third Floor [Warner Archive]

Synopsis: Peter Lorre plays the eerie title role in this once-neglected gem about a reporter (John McGuire) whose testimony sentences a small-time loser (Elisha Cook, Jr.) to the electric chair for murder. When the reporter himself is fingered in a second murder, he realizes both crimes are the work of a furtive stranger – but will anyone believe him? All the shadowy, shivery, angled angst of German expressionism is here, married to the hard-boiled ambiguity that marks the genre. The highlight: a suspense-and-sweat-drenched dream sequence that jolted 1940 audiences into an exciting new way of looking at the movies.

Main Feature: Nothing better than noir with Peter Lorre. Especially when it's one of the earliest entries to the famed classic genre, Stranger on the Third Floor. This film remains a seminal, vital entry to film noir. With Lorre barely in it's already short hour-and-change running time, the rest of the cast and story fill out the work nicely. The short runtime only adds tot he lean, mean and kinetic pace the story needs to thrive on. And the beautiful 4K scan of the negative looks glorious on the Warner Archive Blu-ray review. Methinks a UHD release could be in the not-so-distant future. All-around beautiful presentation.

Bonus Features: Some vintage cartoon and radio reels are all that populate the single disc set. As with most of (if not all) Warner Archive titles, no digital code insert. 

Final Call: While the full set is lacking substantial extras (Criterion, Arrow Video: your move), Stranger on the Third Floor is definitive resident that many imposters live in the shadow of. 

Grade: A-