La figura del periodista en el nacimiento del film noir. Stranger on the Third Floor (1940, Boris Ingster)

Abstract

This article summarises the results of an investigation into the figure of the journalist and the importance of journalism in early film noir in the United States. To this end, we analyse the film Stranger on the Third floor (1940, Boris Ingster), a low budget feature (a so-called B-movie) produced by RKO. This film should be considered the first full-blown example of the US film noir genre and in it, the press and the carácter of the journalist are key to understanding its plot, internal narrative, and even the structure of the film. Here, we propose a three-fold análisis encompassing the historical context, plot, and form of the film to examine how Boris Ingster and the RKO cinematic production team succeeded in making Stanger on the Third Floor into a stylistic model for US film noire in which journalism plays a key role.