Mystery Street

1950

Crime / Drama / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller

9
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 68% · 5 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 68% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 3740 3.7K

boston, massachusetts blackmail harvard university film noir murder police detective

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Plot summary

When a young woman's skeletal remains turn up on a Massachusetts beach, Barnstable cop Peter Moralas teams with Boston police and uses forensics, with the help of a Harvard professor, to determine the woman's identity, how she died, and who killed her.

Director

John Sturges Photo
John Sturges

Top cast

King Donovan Photo
King Donovan as Reporter at Beach House
Ralph Dumke Photo
Ralph Dumke as A Tattooist
Ricardo Montalban Photo
Ricardo Montalban as Peter Moralas
Elsa Lanchester Photo
Elsa Lanchester as Mrs. Smerrling
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
855.52 MB
1280*934
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 26
1.55 GB
1480*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 33 min
Seeds 48

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Lechuguilla 7 / 10

Atmospheric Noir Visuals

Though the script is B-grade, the terrific cast and cinematography make "Mystery Street" a fun movie to watch. The story lacks depth and substantive twists, and the fractured plot suggests a weak structure. Focus oscillates back and forth among a number of characters. As a result, viewers come away with a sense that the film is an ensemble piece when in fact it isn't.Jan Sterling is well cast as Vivian, a young, blonde hussy who is in trouble with the wrong people. The great Elsa Lanchester provides grotesque comic relief as the dithering but nervy Mrs. Smerrling, Vivian's smarmy, slithery landlady who's very fond of money. And Ricardo Montalban is surprisingly good as Morales, a novice Boston detective trying to solve a murder. Part of the plot provides a good account of then-current forensic science, as Morales pieces together detailed biological clues.Gorgeous B&W photography makes this film quite atmospheric. Off-kilter angles in some scenes, shadows, silhouettes, a forced perspective, along with Gothic set decoration render interesting visuals. I especially liked those scenes that contain mostly blackness punctuated with bits of light. The look and feel is very 1940s, with scenes at a seedy rooming house, a tawdry bar called the Grass Skirt, and sleazy music to match.The main reason I chose to watch this film is because of the mystery genre and the casting of wonderful Elsa Lanchester. The "mystery" was a tad disappointing, but Elsa was sheer delight."Mystery Street" contains a story that is acceptable if not first rate. But the cast and B&W noir visuals are terrific, making this an above-average film, one I would recommend.
Reviewed by kinolieber

compact police procedural with extraordinary cinematography

See it for the Boston locations, for an early gritty performance by Montalban before he became a Latin heartthrob joke, for the intricate plot, vivid characterizations and snappy editing, but see it most of all for the extraordinary cinematography of John Alton. What he does with composition, deep focus and lighting is amazing. That he often does it on locations where he did not have the control of a soundstage is astonishing.
Reviewed by ccthemovieman-1 7 / 10

Nice To See Noirs Like This Out Now On DVD

This film gets some notoriety because it introduced audiences to forensic science long before "Quincy" and "CSI" became hit shows on television. But don't be misled: forensic science is only a part of this film; it is not like watching a CSI episode. It's mainly simply a crime story where we meet a bunch of characters responsible for a killing that took place.I thought the leading characters, played by Ricardo Montalban and Bruce Bennett, were upstaged by a couple of ladies, namely Elsa Lanchester and Jan Sterling, although the latter is killed off quickly. Too bad; I always found Sterling a fascinating actress and someone well-suited for film noir. Don't get me wrong: Montalban is a solid actor, a lot more than the "Love Boat" guy people remember him for. The same goes for Bennett, but neither has a lot of spark in here. By the way, if you liked Montalban in this kind of movie, check out "Border Incident," a noir he starred in the previous year.This particular story won't keep on edge because we know early on who is the murderer. Like a "Columbo" TV episode, the fun is seeing how the cops figure it out. "Lt. Morales" (Montalban) gets valuable help from "Dr. McAdoo" (Bennett) is piecing the case together.It's "Mrs. Smerling" (Lanchester) who is the most fun to watch in this film. I think most viewers would agree with that.The movie certainly gives a lot of favorable publicity to the Harvard Medical School. I remember watching this and thinking the school must have bankrolled the movie, it's gets so much positive air time.Finally, it's nice to see this on DVD. If it hadn't been included in this "Film Nor Classics collection Vol. 4" set I probably never would have seen this film. The transfer is fine, highlighting the wonderful black and white cinematography we film noir fans so enjoy. Kudos to photographer John Alton and director John Sturges for that. Alton was behind the camera on a number of beautifully-shot film noirs of the late '40s
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