User Reviews

The next time you take a trek around the Central Park reservoir, you're walking along a trail traveled by many, from Woody Allen in "Hannah and Her Sisters", to Dustin Hoffman stalking an evil dentist in "Marathon Man" and years before, the man who discovers a corpse in a parked car in this obscure film noir. The good Samaritan only wanted to return a glove he found near the parked vehicle (presumably on the south side of the reservoir where parking still takes place) and finds the strangely tattooed woman who obviously doesn't need it anymore-she's dead!

Clues include fingerprints on the car, strange remnants of a rare blade of grass, to the corpse's tattoo, and this leads to an attempted attack on the corpse, more clues located in the Bronx (on Gun Hill Road) to a series of strange characters. This is filled with an extremely rare obscure cast, faces you may recognize from early TV anthology series, but no names you'll know. The film's short running time encompasses tight dialog and enough intrigue to fill up several film noirs. A rare glimpse of vintage New York location footage makes this a pleasing curio, a real sleeper.

This is a neat little crime drama which packs a lot into its 65 minute running time. It has all the right ingredients - a mystery corpse, a weary middle-aged cop Corrigan (Walter Kinsella) and his rookie sidekick Tobin (John Miles), a shadowy killer on the loose and even love interest for the Tobin in the shape of a female botanist Mary (Patricia Wright) who helps solve the crime. There's also a terrific shoot-out finale which takes place in a stone cutters yard.

Watch out for a terrific goof near the start of this movie where Lt. Corrigan refers to the dead woman as 'Tatooed Tilly' BEFORE the coroner reveals that she had a tattoo (confusing huh?). Also later when Tobin is chasing the killer across the back yards he is suddenly shown going in the wrong direction at one point - no wonder he didn't catch him!

A relatively unknown 'B' movie second feature,THE TATTOOED STRANGER is developing something of a cult following after being shown several times on late-night UK TV in recent years (the last being merely several days ago).The murder mystery plot and script are both rather mundane,the performances weak and direction routine,yet the location work around New York is interesting and well photographed,and something you would rarely see in American films at this time.

The very reason for it's cult following is the obscurity of it's cast and crew,unheralded even by normal American 'B' movie standards.The only well-known face here is Jack Lord,but at this stage of his career he was as unrenowned as virtually everybody else involved in this project,and his is a wordless,uncredited role which lasts barely a minute.The only other slightly well-known performers on board are Patricia Barry (billed here as Patricia White) and Lewis Charles (who like Lord is uncredited),and the director Edward Montagne later worked more prolifically on TV as a producer,not surprising as his direction is mostly nondescript and awkward (as is nominal lead actor John Miles) during the exchanges of flat,uninspired dialogue,though he redeems himself partially with the location work of scarcely seen side streets,tenements and backyards in New York.This certainly saves the film from total mediocrity,and although he probably didn't realise it at the time,Montagne's decision to film in such run-down neighbourhoods provide an engaging,even mildly fascinating social document of one of the World's great cities of the time shortly after the end of the Second World War.

Had THE TATTOOED STRANGER been wholly studio-bound,it would have been a totally forgotten and ignored routine 'B' murder mystery (among scores of others),with insipid acting,writing and direction,but thanks to it's real outdoor New York settings,is certainly a mark up on the usual fare from this particular genre.

RATING:5 and a half out of 10.

The Tattooed Stranger was another of those rare B-movies that BBC2 screened over Christmas/New Year 2005-2006. See also They Live By Night and The Brighton Strangler.

In this one, a man walking his dog in Central Park comes across an abandoned car and discovers a dead woman inside. She was shot and police then try to identify her with only a tattoo as the main clue. After being identified, the murderer is discovered and is shot in the shootout at the end.

Most of this movie was shot on location in and around New York, so we get to see some areas of the city we don't normally see, especially the back streets.

Mostly unknowns are in the cast, with John Miles getting top billing.

The Tattooed Stranger is worth seeking out. Excellent but rather obscure.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

THE TATTOOED STRANGER – 1950

This is a low budget programmer from RKO that rises above its humble origins.

The body of a woman is found murdered in a stolen car parked in Central Park. There is no identification on the woman so no way to trace the girl. From the fact the woman had been killed in a blast from a shotgun, suggests she was killed elsewhere and then loaded in the car for disposal.

Detectives John Miles and Walter Kinsella draw the case. The lab boys are already at the site doing the fingerprint work and such. The body is then taken by the medical examiner for a closer look and an autopsy. Now things start hopping when a well-known skid row type hits the morgue, then starts to carve up the dead woman's arm. The Police shoot the man dead. The Detectives wonder why the man was going after the body. The medical examiner shows them a tattoo the woman had on her arm. They had taken the photo before the man had mangled the arm.

OK, a clue, they search out all the local tattoo joints while wondering who had paid the bum to mutilate the arm. They show a photo of the dead woman and her tattoo around. This finally leads to the man who did the tattoos. He tells the detectives that he believes the woman works in a hash joint up the street. They soon track down the dead woman's apartment. They collect her mail for a look. There are a few G.I. insurance checks going to the address under several names. It seems the woman had a collection of dead husbands.

The Detectives fail to notice that they are being followed by a large man with a paper covered package, and with his hat pulled low. The viewer sees that the man has the same tattoo as the dead woman. The boys at the lab have now come up with something odd in the car. There is a clump of non-local grass in the car. Miles makes a quick trip to a botany type, Patricia White to see if it can be identified. It seems it only grows in a small area in the Bronx. That helps to narrow down the area where the woman was most likely killed.

From the letters etc found at the dead woman's apartment, they come up with a possible suspect. This soon leads the boys on a wild chase through the back lanes and rundown buildings of the area. Their man manages though to escape into the dark alleys etc.

Next is a visit to the rock quarry the man works at. Miles and the shotgun armed suspect, end up exchanging rounds in a yard full of grave monuments. Miles catches a load of shot in his thigh but manages to put down the suspect.

It turns out the man had been one of the so-called dead husbands the dead woman was collecting on. He had returned for a cut of the action. The "negotiations" had went south fast and the woman lost.

While the acting of the mostly unknown types takes the odd stumble, the film is quite enjoyable. Seldom does one get to see the squalid tenements etc that populated NY at the time. This is great on location shooting. Great stuff.

Look close and you will see in an unbilled bit, future television star, Jack Lord (Hawaii 5-0) as a forensics detective.

The director here is Edward Montague. Montague was a long time TV man whose claim to big screen fame, was as a producer of a string of Don Knotts' staring vehicles like, HOW TO FRAME A FIGG, THE GHOST AND MR CHICKEN, THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT and THE LOVE GOD.