Mystery Street (1950)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

John Sturges

Writers:

Sydney Boehm (screenplay) and
Richard Brooks (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 July 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Plot:

A small town policeman is assisted by a Harvard professor when the skeletal remains of a pregnant prostitute turn up on a Massachusetts beach.

Plot Keywords:

B Girl | Skeleton | Boston | Prostitute | Harvard University

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Ricardo Montalban	...	Peter Moralas
Sally Forrest	...	Grace Shanway
Bruce Bennett	...	Dr. McAdoo
Elsa Lanchester	...	Mrs. Smerrling
Marshall Thompson	...	Henry Shanway
Jan Sterling	...	Vivian Heldon
Edmon Ryan	...	James Joshua Harkley
Betsy Blair	...	Jackie Elcott
Wally Maher	...	Tim Sharkey
Ralph Dumke	...	A Tattooist
Willard Waterman	...	A Mortician
Walter Burke	...	An Ornithologist
Don Shelton	...	A District Attorney

Also Known As:

Murder at Harvard

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #14285) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Joseph Losey and later Harold Kress were announced to direct before John Sturges was ultimately assigned.

Goofs:

Continuity: Length of the chain connecting phone book to wall phone in boarding house varies from scene to scene.

Quotes:

Lieutenant Peter Morales: [to Dr. McAdoo] Professors work with their heads. Cops work with their feet.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Mystery Street: Murder at Harvard (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Easy to Love

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