'Mystery Street' is a solid drama, with some nice little 'film noir' touches. The script is knowingly cynical. "She called everybody 'honey'. I wonder if that meant she liked them," muses the detective.It's nice to see Montalban so young and in a good early role. Jan Sterling nails 'trashy blonde' down in this role, as she would in the later 'Ace in the Hole' by Billy Wilder.A truly bizarre moment occurs when the killer is caught carrying the lifeless body of the Sterling character out of her car by a passing motorist. For a moment, he must feign making love to the lifeless corpse to allay the onlooker's suspicions. I think even the great Sir Alfred Hitchcock would have appreciated a moment like that.The forensics scenes are quite good for a 1950 movie, and rather graphic. The skull image superimposed over the face of Jan Sterling is unsettling, disturbing. Although never an exact science, the process of facial recognition to a skull goes on today and remains fascinating.This movie is well worth a view.

By 1950 MGM started to think that there might be something to these RKO, etc.,Dark Brooding Crime Movies and there might be a Buck to be made. But never a Studio to go Completely Dark, they attached the also Popular Docu-Style-Scientific/Technological Aspect and here's what Resulted.They had the Advantage of the Best Film-Noir Cinematographer in John Alton an Off-Beat Cast (Montalban, Lanchester, Sterling), and a Cracker-Jack Director in a Young John Sturgess. So the result was an Excellent Film-Noir Hybrid with the Noir Elements Standing Out as Usual. The Opening Third is a Night-Time, Sleazy Club, B-Girl Extravaganza.After that the Movie pretty much settles down quite a bit with some Outstanding Flourishes. The Noir Wavers somewhat but always regains its Center and it all ends up being quite an Enjoyable Movie with much to Recommend. A Fine Job all around.

Mystery Street (1950)There are so many charming and sharply seen moments in this movie, and a plot that's strong and curious, you wonder why it doesn't quite pull together and zoom. Director John Sturges is neither a legend nor as slouch, one of those really competent directors who made some pretty famous films. "Mystery Street" might be revealing as to what makes a Sturges film what it is.I mean, there's the Mexican-American lead male, Ricardo Montalban, who is far more believable than, say, Humphrey Bogart. But we prefer Bogart? Maybe because Montalban is so everyday, not a star, just wonderfully convincing as one of us. (He has a great line, probably added just for him, about being fully an American even though his family has only been in the country for less than a hundred years.) The story starts with a real bang, and with the crisp, edgy acting of Jan Sterling, and a couple of fast twists. It never gets dull, even if it levels out (it makes a potential mistake by letting us know fairly early on who the killer is, and then doesn't make this killer much of the plot until the very end). And there are other great roles, particularly the landlady, played by the incomparable Elsa Lanchester.And check out the locale--not L.A., not even New York, but Boston area location shooting. And some great field work on Cape Cod. The whole feel of the movie is just outside the usual stuff, you know, the escape to the Mexican border or up into the California mountains, it makes it worth watching just for that. The photography is not extroverted, but it's really smart, tightly seen stuff, by John Alton, a Hollywood Veteran who later did the "Big Combo" and "Lonelyhearts."Most of us don't watch films for all the insider stuff, or even just to salivate over the photography, as I tend to do, so we are back to the functional if not quite riveting story, held up by a handful of great performances. Better than CSI.

"Mystery Street" (1950) is an odd title to find on commercial DVD. True, it's an "A"-feature from M-G-M, but it's what we in the trade used to call "a double bill movie." In other words, it's a film that had little selling power and needed strong support, preferably from another "A" attraction. Its New York showcase was the Palace where it ran a pre-set week supporting a live vaudeville bill. The cast list is as long as your arm, but the leads – Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest (top-billed, despite her small role), Bruce Bennett (giving a rather off-hand performance), Elsa Lanchester (at her best!), and the well-cast Marshall Thompson – hardly qualify as box office draws. The movie's one memorable portrait comes from Jan Sterling, who is featured in the trailer, but not by name. Connoisseurs will also enjoy an excellent study by Betsy Blair as an unwilling witness. For DVD sales, the major selling point is that it's a film noir – and photographed by master of the genre, John Alton. Actual on-location lensing adds to the undeniable mood of suspense and helps paper over some really gaping holes in the plot.