Take A Drive Down MYSTERY STREET

MYSTERY STREET (Blu-ray)

1950 / 93 min

From Warner Archive

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Paws😺

During my formative years, Ricardo Montalban was Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island and Star Trek’s greatest bad guy. Those two roles alone showcased his range, but it wasn’t until much later that I was aware of his previous film & TV career. Quite a long one, actually, in both Mexico and the U.S.

1950’s Mystery Street gave Montalban an early lead role in an American film, playing Boston detective Peter Moralas, investigating the death of B-girl Vivian (Jan Sterling). Before that, however, we see Vivian coerce a drunk young stranger to take her to Cape Cod, where she plans to confront a man who got her "in trouble" (knocked up). But when they meet, the man shoots and kills her.

Vivian’s body is discovered three months later, but Moralas only has her skeletal remains to go on, and this is where the story gets really interesting. Through thorough investigative work and the aid of a Harvard forensic specialist, Dr. McAdoo (Bruce Bennet), not only is Moralas eventually able to identify her, he nabs who he believes to be the killer…Henry Shanway (Marshall Thompson), the poor drunk rube who met Vivian that night.

"Guys...could you stop playing with that?"

Of course, the only thing Henry is guilty of is bad judgment, drowning his sorrows in the bar after his wife, Grace (Sally Forrest), miscarried. The real killer is among the names in Vivian’s book of clients, which her conniving landlord, Mrs. Smerrling (Elsa Lanchester), learns the hard way when she tries to blackmail him. Meanwhile, Grace still insists Henry is innocent, and eventually, Moralas himself begins to have doubts about his own case.

Though initially a mystery with a film noir aesthetic, it’s the police procedural aspects that make the movie crackle. I don’t recall another film of this era where science plays such a major role in the investigation. How they identify the victim and piece together what happened to her is fascinating. Moralas isn’t a particularly dynamic character, but his detail-driven dedication is engaging, which Montalban conveys with authority. However, the film is briefly stolen a few times by Lanchester, who’s a real hoot.

As an admirer of John Sturges, I always enjoy discovering the films of his I haven’t seen yet. Mystery Street is an early one and he’s obviously more of a director-for-hire here, but he keeps things fast-paced and fun, aided by a smart screenplay, moody John Alton cinematography, and of course, an early turn by the guy I once knew simply as Khan. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTE - Murder at Harvard is a short retrospective appreciation of the film.

2 TOM & JERRY CARTOONS - Little Quacker and Tom & Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl.

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward.

TRAILER