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

Luis Deltell Escolar

doi:10.31921/doxacom.n39a2115

Authors

Luis Deltell Escolar University Complutense of Madrid, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5230-1409

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31921/doxacom.n39a2115

Keywords:

Film noir, Boris Ingster, journalist, film, press

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.

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Author Biography

Luis Deltell Escolar, University Complutense of Madrid, Spain

Codirector of research group ESCINE (Grupo Complutense de Estudios Cinematográficos). He is a filmmaker and professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). He has been the coordinator of the degree in Audiovisual Communication and the Doctorate in Audiovisual Communication, Advertising and Public Relations at the UCM. Deltell was a visiting scholar at Berkeley, the University of California, Stanford University, Universidade de São Paulo, and the University of El Cairo. In addition, he has obtained thirty international awards for his audiovisual Works and various recognitions for his research, such as the Premio Dragos and the Premio Joven de Comunicación UCM. He is the co-director of the documentary No escribiré arte con mayúscula (2015) and a the Valcárcel Medina´s experimental short film Un diálogo circunstancial (2020).

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