Stranger on the Third Floor
Rising newspaper reporter Michael Ward (John McGuire) is the key witness at the trial of Joe Briggs (Elisha Cook Jr.) where he testifies that he saw the unfortunate Briggs fleeing the scene of a murde…
Stranger on the Third Floor
Rising newspaper reporter Michael Ward (John McGuire) is the key witness at the trial of Joe Briggs (Elisha Cook Jr.) where he testifies that he saw the unfortunate Briggs fleeing the scene of a murder and previously heard him verbally threaten the victim, coffee shop owner Nick (Charles Judels). Based primarily on the circumstantial evidence of Michael's testimony, Briggs is convicted and sentenced to die in the electric chair. Shaken by the verdict and by his fiancée Jane's (Margaret Tallichet) intuition about Briggs's innocence, Michael returns to his room, where he begins to brood about the events that led up to Briggs' arrest. Lost in his thoughts, Michael recalls his first meeting with Albert Meng (Charles Halton), his loathsome neighbor, when he notices a sinister stranger lurking in the hallway and chases him from the rooming house. After returning to his room, Michael detects that Meng's snoring has ceased, and begins to fantasize that his neighbor has been murdered and that he will be convicted of the crime on circumstantial evidence. Michael's paranoia continues in his dreams, and he awakens to find that his nightmare has come true and that Meng's throat has been slit. Michael notes the similarities between the murder of Meng and Nick and surmises that the same person must have committed both, which would exonerate the currently jailed Briggs. Jane convinces him to report the murder to the police, but the district attorney (Charles Waldron) finds Michael's presence at the scene of both murders suspicious and he is taken into custody. Realizing that the only way to prove Michael's innocence is to find the stranger, Jane begins to search for the man. She finds him feeding a stray dog and learns that he has escaped from an insane asylum. Thinking that Jane has come to take him back, the stranger begins to chase her across the street but is hit by an oncoming truck before he can harm her. Before dying, the stranger confesses to the murders, thus exonerating both Michael and Briggs of the crimes.
Stranger on the Third Floor
Crime,Drama,Film-Noir
Film Details
Rising newspaper reporter Michael Ward (John McGuire) is the key witness at the trial of Joe Briggs (Elisha Cook Jr.) where he testifies that he saw the unfortunate Briggs fleeing the scene of a murder and previously heard him verbally threaten the victim, coffee shop owner Nick (Charles Judels). Based primarily on the circumstantial evidence of Michael's testimony, Briggs is convicted and sentenced to die in the electric chair. Shaken by the verdict and by his fiancée Jane's (Margaret Tallichet) intuition about Briggs's innocence, Michael returns to his room, where he begins to brood about the events that led up to Briggs' arrest.
Lost in his thoughts, Michael recalls his first meeting with Albert Meng (Charles Halton), his loathsome neighbor, when he notices a sinister stranger lurking in the hallway and chases him from the rooming house. After returning to his room, Michael detects that Meng's snoring has ceased, and begins to fantasize that his neighbor has been murdered and that he will be convicted of the crime on circumstantial evidence. Michael's paranoia continues in his dreams, and he awakens to find that his nightmare has come true and that Meng's throat has been slit.
Michael notes the similarities between the murder of Meng and Nick and surmises that the same person must have committed both, which would exonerate the currently jailed Briggs. Jane convinces him to report the murder to the police, but the district attorney (Charles Waldron) finds Michael's presence at the scene of both murders suspicious and he is taken into custody. Realizing that the only way to prove Michael's innocence is to find the stranger, Jane begins to search for the man.
She finds him feeding a stray dog and learns that he has escaped from an insane asylum. Thinking that Jane has come to take him back, the stranger begins to chase her across the street but is hit by an oncoming truck before he can harm her. Before dying, the stranger confesses to the murders, thus exonerating both Michael and Briggs of the crimes..