Movie Review: Mystery Street (1950)

Synopsis: After his wife, Grace, loses their baby during childbirth, a mournful Henry Shanway gets drunk at a Boston tavern. When he is told his yellow Ford is parked illegally, B-girl Vivian Heldon offers to help him move it only to later leave him on the side of the road miles out of town when he sobers up enough to realize she is using his car to drive to the Cape. Six months later, the stolen car and Vivian's skeletal remains are both found, resulting in Shanway being arrested for murder. However, while most people, including Grace, believe he is guilty, Police Lieutenant Peter Morales has doubts and continues to investigate.

Who's in it? The movie stars Ricardo Montalban, Sally Forrest, Elsa Lanchester, Bruce Bennett and Marshall Thompson.

Review: I've had Mystery Street saved to my movie library for a few months but every time I intended to watch it, I would find another movie instead. I finally changed that this morning and, overall, it turned out to be an interesting film.

The plot of the movie was intriguing and entertaining. While it was clear, at least to the audience, Shanway (Thompson) was a victim of circumstance and not a killer, the case against him did make sense from a police point of view. He was the last person seen with the victim, Vivian (Jan Sterling), with plenty of witnesses able to testify to that. Shanway lied about how his car was stolen on a police report and even Grace (Forrest) was suspicious about him having an affair.

Adding to this was the lack of forensic evidence. By the time they found Vivian, she was nothing more than a skeleton and the car had been found underwater. Any evidence that could have immediately cleared Shanway, or at least pointed the police to another viable suspect, was quickly hidden by Vivian's landlord (Lanchester) as she looked to cash in by blackmailing the real killer, even if it meant an innocent man went to prison.

I thought the acting in the movie was solid. I haven't seen Montalban in many pre-Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan movie roles but thought he was a great fit as Lt. Morales, showing quite a bit of confidence when investigating without coming off as arrogant. In other words, he was the kind of guy I'd like to have investigating if I ever am falsely accused of killing someone.

My only real complaint about the movie is, despite the title, there wasn't much of a mystery. In addition to making it clear Shanway was innocent from the beginning, the movie also introduces the audience to Vivian's killer right away. I still liked the movie, but I think I would have liked it better if there was some doubt as to who really shot her (and even more if there was the possibility it was Shanway).

Final Opinion: It's an entertaining crime film with a bit of suspense and some interesting characters. It took me a while to see it but I'm glad I finally did.

My Grade: A

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