Ed-Shullivan The blackmail scam has been done ad nauseam but not quite like actress Jan Sterling who plays Vivian Heldon the sexpot who seemed to have too many dates until her last scheme went sideways on her. She ends up as the murder victim. The poor sap who was last seen with Vivian (the victim) alive was Henry Shanway (played by Marshall Thompson) who just happened to be at the wrong place, and at the wrong time. Henry happened to be seen in the company of the murder victim Vivian Heldon leaving a bar. Vivian was reported missing six months earlier by another boarder who resided in the same rooming house where Vivian was known to use the landlord's downstair hallway phone regularly to call her male companions.As this film was released in 1950 I was more than impressed with the manner in which the lead detective Peter Moralas (played by a young looking Ricardo Montalban) teamed up with Harvard University doctor/scientist named Dr. McAdoo (played by Bruce Bennett. We are witness to one of the first times that the use of forensic science is used in the murder investigation process within a film.In 1950, this new forensic procedure(s) must have been quite impressive to the general movie audience witnessing it for the very first time. The new police investigative procedures used must have also been even more scarier for any yet to be discovered and unknown murderers. Murderers who had yet to be captured in 1950 were most likely perspiring quite heavily after watching how the detective and scientist had teamed up and meticulously gathered scientific evidence. Their evidence was used to determine who the murdered person was, whose bones were discovered buried in the sand by the evening tide after washing ashore, how she had died exactly, and by what type of weapon.I also liked that unlike many of the crime TV series of the era and that have been released over the past five (5) decades, in this film, the lead detective Peter Moralas who was eager to make an arrest based on the existing evidence leads to an innocent man being arrested and tried for the murder. The film has excellent depth and the audience can see how Detective Moralas may have prematurely come to his conclusion on the murderer but both his conscience and his most qualified medical/scientist Dr. McAdoo convince him to keep digging just in case someone else is guilty and is covering up who the actual murderer may be. The film is a very good crime/drama/mystery with good acting and an intriguing plot filled with sex, greed, suspicion, blackmail, assault, and of course the earliest signs of how forensic science has assisted in determining the W5, who, what, why, when and where of a murder victim.This is a movie well worth seeing.

Scott LeBrun Accurately described by many as "C.S.I. style noir", the mystery-procedural "Mystery Street" is cracking entertainment for devotees of the noir genre. It's also ahead of its time for its approach to solving a case of murder. It bears some of the trademarks of the genre, such as the extremely moody and effective black & white lighting by John Alton.Ever charming Ricardo Montalban stars as Boston detective Pete Morales, working an interesting case. A skeleton is found buried under beach sand, and Morales must first find out who the person is. So he calls upon Harvard forensic specialist Dr. McAdoo (Bruce Bennett), who determines that the person was a woman named Vivian Heldon (Jan Sterling), who as we saw from the prologue, met a bad end while desperately trying to get in touch with a particular man."Mystery Street" is quotable and enjoyable, and snappily paced. It gets points for its casting of Montalban in the lead role, and he's highly watchable as our hero. It also gives fine showcases to its supporting cast: Bennett, a fun Elsa Lanchester in an amusing turn as an eccentric landlady, Marshall Thompson as an unfortunate sap who falls under suspicion due to his circumstances, Sally Forrest as the saps' agitated wife, Edmon Ryan as an upper class type, and Betsy Blair as an associate of the murder victim. Lanchester ends up walking away with the film.John Sturges directed, and he's in fine form, working from a script by Sydney Boehm and Richard Brooks. This is the kind of story where savvy viewers pretty much figure it all out early on, and thus wait for our hero to play catch-up. At least, he's a reasonably smart guy, if somewhat stubbornly fixated on his red herring, so one doesn't much mind.Well made and engrossing for an hour and a half.Eight out of 10.

LeonLouisRicci 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.

Spikeopath Mystery Street is a police procedural film noir mystery directed by John Sturges with cinematography by legendary lensman John Alton. It stars Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Bruce Bennett, Elsa Lanchester, Marshall Thompson & Jan Sterling. It's shot on location in Boston and Cape Cod with both Harvard Medical School in Roxbury, Massachusetts and Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, also featured.Tho a bit too aware of the vogue for semi-documentary stylings, Mystery Street is a solid mystery thriller that is expertly shot and acted with subtlety by the cast. The plot sees Sterling's blonde "bar worker" shot and killed on the roadside by a cloaked in darkness assailant. The police, led by Montalban's Hispanic detective, Pete Morales, think they have their man when it emerges that she was seen leaving the Grass Skirt bar with a drunk Henry Shanway (Thompson). However, aided by Dr. McAdoo at Harvard Medical School (Bennett), Morales starts to unravel the mystery and identity of the killer.Not the classic film noir piece that some DVD marketers want you to believe it is (strip away Alton's brilliant shades and shadow work and it's just a forensic based who done it), the film however triumphs on account of its wrong man premise and the interesting characters woven into the plot (Lanchester walks away with the movie as a devious and batty landlady). The procedural aspect of the story is given weight by the forensic angle used (the CSI film noir tag that comes with the film is an apt one), while some social awareness is deftly slotted in via Morales' immigrant background.Good writing, visually impressive and paced with no little skill, Mystery Street is recommended to the mystery thriller fan. 7/10