Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Charles Herold (cherold) This procedural is notable for a focus on forensics before that was a thing and for a solid script. But mainly it's notable for its women. The always-fascinating Elsa Lanchester is absolutely wonderful as a scheming landlady. Jan Sterling does well as a brassy bleached blonde while Sally Forrest, as sweet, unfortunate wife, has a terrific scene in which she blows up, in a defeated desperate way, at a cop.The men are a bit less interesting. While I like Marshal Thompson as Sally's hubby, the other main men strike me as a bit too generic in that way that was common in the 1960s. Still, Montalban's scene being talked down to by a privileged blue blood is pretty terrific.The story is generally solid, although the action in the last third feels a bit forced.A must-see for Lanchester fans, and worth watching for anyone who likes detective movies.

Claudio Carvalho In Boston, the prostitute Vivian Heldon (Jan Sterling) is pressed by Mrs. Smerrling (Elsa Lanchester), who is the greedy owner of the boarding house when she lives, to pay the rent of the room that is late. She calls her wealthy lover and schedules a meeting with him at "The Grass Skirt", where she works. However he never appears and Vivian hijacks the drunken client Henry Shanway (Marshall Thompson) and drives his car to Cape Cod. She stops at a diner and calls her lover again to meet him in a spot. When Henry awakes, Vivian lures him and leaves him on the road. When Vivian meets her lover, he kills her with a 45 mm, hides her body and dumps the car in a lake. A couple of months later, her skeleton is found near the beach. Detective Peter Morales (Ricardo Montalban) is assigned to investigate the case without any clue; however the coroner Dr. McAdoo (Bruce Bennett) from Harvard gives technical to Morales and he finds the identity of Vivian. His further investigation leads him to Henry that lied to justify the hijack of his car to his wife Grace Shanway (Sally Forrest) and to the insurance company. Now Henry becomes the prime suspect and only his wife believe in his words. Will Detective Morales proceed his investigation and find the real killer?"Mystery Street" is an engaging film-noir directed by John Sturges. Ricardo Montalban is excellent in the role of a relentless detective that finds a suspect with all the evidences pointing to him but continues seeking out the real killer. However Elsa Lanchester steals the show in the role of a greedy and despicable woman. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "A Noite de 23 de Maio" ("The Night of May 23rd)

Scott LeBrun Accurately described by many as "C.S.I. style noir", the mystery-procedural "Mystery Street" is cracking entertainment for devotees of the noir genre. It's also ahead of its time for its approach to solving a case of murder. It bears some of the trademarks of the genre, such as the extremely moody and effective black & white lighting by John Alton.Ever charming Ricardo Montalban stars as Boston detective Pete Morales, working an interesting case. A skeleton is found buried under beach sand, and Morales must first find out who the person is. So he calls upon Harvard forensic specialist Dr. McAdoo (Bruce Bennett), who determines that the person was a woman named Vivian Heldon (Jan Sterling), who as we saw from the prologue, met a bad end while desperately trying to get in touch with a particular man."Mystery Street" is quotable and enjoyable, and snappily paced. It gets points for its casting of Montalban in the lead role, and he's highly watchable as our hero. It also gives fine showcases to its ing cast: Bennett, a fun Elsa Lanchester in an amusing turn as an eccentric landlady, Marshall Thompson as an unfortunate sap who falls under suspicion due to his circumstances, Sally Forrest as the saps' agitated wife, Edmon Ryan as an upper class type, and Betsy Blair as an associate of the murder victim. Lanchester ends up walking away with the film.John Sturges directed, and he's in fine form, working from a script by Sydney Boehm and Richard Brooks. This is the kind of story where savvy viewers pretty much figure it all out early on, and thus wait for our hero to play catch-up. At least, he's a reasonably smart guy, if somewhat stubbornly fixated on his red herring, so one doesn't much mind.Well made and engrossing for an hour and a half.Eight out of 10.

Lechuguilla Though the script is B-grade, the terrific cast and cinematography make "Mystery Street" a fun movie to watch. The story lacks depth and substantive twists, and the fractured plot suggests a weak structure. Focus oscillates back and forth among a number of characters. As a result, viewers come away with a sense that the film is an ensemble piece when in fact it isn't.Jan Sterling is well cast as Vivian, a young, blonde hussy who is in trouble with the wrong people. The great Elsa Lanchester provides grotesque comic relief as the dithering but nervy Mrs. Smerrling, Vivian's smarmy, slithery landlady who's very fond of money. And Ricardo Montalban is surprisingly good as Morales, a novice Boston detective trying to solve a murder. Part of the plot provides a good of then-current forensic science, as Morales pieces together detailed biological clues.Gorgeous B&W photography makes this film quite atmospheric. Off-kilter angles in some scenes, shadows, silhouettes, a forced perspective, along with Gothic set decoration render interesting visuals. I especially liked those scenes that contain mostly blackness punctuated with bits of light. The look and feel is very 1940s, with scenes at a seedy rooming house, a tawdry bar called the Grass Skirt, and sleazy music to match.The main reason I chose to watch this film is because of the mystery genre and the casting of wonderful Elsa Lanchester. The "mystery" was a tad disappointing, but Elsa was sheer delight."Mystery Street" contains a story that is acceptable if not first rate. But the cast and B&W noir visuals are terrific, making this an above-average film, one I would recommend.