Newspaper reporter Michael Ward plunges into a nightmare of guilt, fearing that his "evidence" has sentenced the wrong man to death.
Cinematography
Expressionist shadows that literally invented noir's visual language.
Acting
Elisha Cook Jr. breaks your heart in ten minutes of screen time.
Direction
Ingster's nightmare sequences still feel genuinely unhinged.
Director
Boris Ingster
Peter Lorre
The Stranger
John McGuire
Michael Ward
Margaret Tallichet
Jane
Elisha Cook Jr.
Joe Briggs
Charles Halton
Albert Meng
Ethel Griffies
Mrs. Kane
Cliff Clark
Martin
Oscar O'Shea
The Judge
Alec Craig
Briggs' Defense Attorney
Otto Hoffman
Charles Evans
Bobby Barber
Giuseppe, the Italian Grocer (uncredited)
Lee Bonnell
Reporter (uncredited)
Harry C. Bradley
Court Clerk (uncredited)
Lynton Brent
Cabdriver at Nick's (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This is widely considered the first true film noir — beating The Maltese Falcon by a year and establishing the visual vocabulary of urban dread.
Peter Lorre's 'Stranger' appears so briefly he doesn't even speak until the final minutes, yet his presence haunts the entire runtime.
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