The Stiff Acting and an Inconsistent Attempt at Cynical Humor do Weigh This One Down Somewhat. What Remains Though are Some Really Downbeat NYC Locations Captured by the Unfettered Realistic Camera.Film-Noir by Definition Brought to the Screen Sleazy Locations Like Greasy Spoons, Tattoo Parlors, and Things Mostly Abandoned by Hollywood's More Glossy and Friendly Output. This One has More than its Share of Norish Subtext.The Visit to the Tattoo Artist, the Subterranean Chase, and the Closing in a Cemetery Add Gravitas to the Movie that the Sometimes Witty but Mostly Sophomoric Second Rate Writing and Truly Bad Acting Can't Hide.Overall, Hampered by Amateurish Thespians and a Forced Light-Hearted Approach the Film Still Manages to be More than Acceptable Because of its Better, More Sustained Grit.

THE TATTOOED STRANGER – 1950This is a low budget programmer from RKO that rises above its humble origins.The body of a woman is found murdered in a stolen car parked in Central Park. There is no identification on the woman so no way to trace the girl. From the fact the woman had been killed in a blast from a shotgun, suggests she was killed elsewhere and then loaded in the car for disposal.Detectives John Miles and Walter Kinsella draw the case. The lab boys are already at the site doing the fingerprint work and such. The body is then taken by the medical examiner for a closer look and an autopsy. Now things start hopping when a well-known skid row type hits the morgue, then starts to carve up the dead woman's arm. The Police shoot the man dead. The Detectives wonder why the man was going after the body. The medical examiner shows them a tattoo the woman had on her arm. They had taken the photo before the man had mangled the arm.OK, a clue, they search out all the local tattoo joints while wondering who had paid the bum to mutilate the arm. They show a photo of the dead woman and her tattoo around. This finally leads to the man who did the tattoos. He tells the detectives that he believes the woman works in a hash joint up the street. They soon track down the dead woman's apartment. They collect her mail for a look. There are a few G.I. insurance checks going to the address under several names. It seems the woman had a collection of dead husbands.The Detectives fail to notice that they are being followed by a large man with a paper covered package, and with his hat pulled low. The viewer sees that the man has the same tattoo as the dead woman. The boys at the lab have now come up with something odd in the car. There is a clump of non-local grass in the car. Miles makes a quick trip to a botany type, Patricia White to see if it can be identified. It seems it only grows in a small area in the Bronx. That helps to narrow down the area where the woman was most likely killed.From the letters etc found at the dead woman's apartment, they come up with a possible suspect. This soon leads the boys on a wild chase through the back lanes and rundown buildings of the area. Their man manages though to escape into the dark alleys etc.Next is a visit to the rock quarry the man works at. Miles and the shotgun armed suspect, end up exchanging rounds in a yard full of grave monuments. Miles catches a load of shot in his thigh but manages to put down the suspect.It turns out the man had been one of the so-called dead husbands the dead woman was collecting on. He had returned for a cut of the action. The "negotiations" had went south fast and the woman lost.While the acting of the mostly unknown types takes the odd stumble, the film is quite enjoyable. Seldom does one get to see the squalid tenements etc that populated NY at the time. This is great on location shooting. Great stuff.Look close and you will see in an unbilled bit, future television star, Jack Lord (Hawaii 5-0) as a forensics detective.The director here is Edward Montague. Montague was a long time TV man whose claim to big screen fame, was as a producer of a string of Don Knotts' staring vehicles like, HOW TO FRAME A FIGG, THE GHOST AND MR CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT and THE LOVE GOD.

A woman's dead body turns up in New York's Central Park. Two detectives with help from a lab technician track down the killer, using a tattoo and a blade of grass as telltale clues.A few years later and this 60-minutes would be an episode on the TV series Naked City (1958- 63). It's got all the earmarks, including heavy police procedure, location filming, and an elusive killer. One thing the movie is not is noir, contrary to the Film Noir encyclopedia. For example, there're no dark atmospherics, moral ambiguities, or conflicted protagonist. Instead, the narrative amounts to a garden-variety crime drama, likely influenced by 1948's docu- drama The Naked City.Despite the RKO pedigree, the New York filming is clearly done on a shoestring. It's best feature amounts to a good look at tenement areas, circa 1949. Unfortunately, John Miles is shaky in the lead role of rookie detective, and I can see why it was his last film. On the other hand, there's the de-glamorized Patricia Barry (billed as White here), an actress who would later prove so expert at being coy and seductive. But as a lab technician, there's none of that here. Then too, the narrative has gaps, especially the killer's stalking of Tobin (Miles). Nonetheless, some of the staging is imaginative, especially the shoot-out among gravestones, plus the opening sequence in Central Park. But on the whole, the movie's better suited to TV than the theatre.

A short, low budget production. Most of the acting was a bit wooden,but the dialog had it's moments. A police procedural much like the first half of a "Law and Order" episode. NO hunches or lucky coincidences, just good old-fashioned police work - both forensics and leg work solves the case. A well-structured chain of evidence leads detectives to their murder suspect. Watch for brief appearances of a very young Jack Lord as a police lab assistant.All-in-all a pretty good movie.