There is nothing routine here, and the acting by some comparative strangers is another proof that it does not need leading players to make a good story arresting. The romance of the narrative also has some fresh treatment.

"Stranger on the Third Floor" is another example of the unpretentious pot-boiler achieving the dignity and design of an epic.

The production rates as a novelty and should exert a spell above that of the routine program effort. With it, Boris Ingster accomplishes a promising directorial debut.

The very first film noir? Good luck finding a definitive answer. Yet in recent times, the frontrunner for that title would seem to be Stranger on the Third Floor.