'Mystery Street' is a solid drama, with some nice little 'film noir' touches. The script is knowingly cynical. "She called everybody 'honey'. I wonder if that meant she liked them," muses the detective.
It's nice to see Montalban so young and in a good early role. Jan Sterling nails 'trashy blonde' down in this role, as she would in the later 'Ace in the Hole' by Billy Wilder.
A truly bizarre moment occurs when the killer is caught carrying the lifeless body of the Sterling character out of her car by a passing motorist. For a moment, he must feign making love to the lifeless corpse to allay the onlooker's suspicions. I think even the great Sir Alfred Hitchcock would have appreciated a moment like that.
The forensics scenes are quite good for a 1950 movie, and rather graphic. The skull image superimposed over the face of Jan Sterling is unsettling, disturbing. Although never an exact science, the process of facial recognition to a skull goes on today and remains fascinating.
This movie is well worth a view.
It's nice to see Montalban so young and in a good early role. Jan Sterling nails 'trashy blonde' down in this role, as she would in the later 'Ace in the Hole' by Billy Wilder.
A truly bizarre moment occurs when the killer is caught carrying the lifeless body of the Sterling character out of her car by a passing motorist. For a moment, he must feign making love to the lifeless corpse to allay the onlooker's suspicions. I think even the great Sir Alfred Hitchcock would have appreciated a moment like that.
The forensics scenes are quite good for a 1950 movie, and rather graphic. The skull image superimposed over the face of Jan Sterling is unsettling, disturbing. Although never an exact science, the process of facial recognition to a skull goes on today and remains fascinating.
This movie is well worth a view.