Mystery Street (1950)

☆ ☆ ☆

Mystery Street (1950) – J. Sturges

Solid police procedural (shot with noir lighting by John Alton) starring Ricardo Montalban as a Cape Cod detective who needs the help of a forensic scientist from Harvard when a skeleton turns up on the beach.  Of course, we already know who the victim is (a local “B” girl) – and some of her scuzzy wrongdoings that have ensnared Marshall Thompson (as the typical noir fall guy plucked by the fickle finger of fate).  Playing like a long lost episode of C. S. I., the film relies heavily on the forensic evidence (hair, bones, bullet fragments) as well as a bit of legwork and luck.  Elsa Lanchester has a good turn as a shifty rooming house owner.  Very nicely paced throughout and worth a look for mystery aficionados.