Mystery Street

Mystery Street is an enjoyable enough little crime flick, that benefits from a solid cast, and a script that deviates a bit from the usual formula.

The plot sees Harvard professor Bruce Bennett help lieutenant Ricardo Montalban solve the mystery of a skeleton found on a Cape Cod beach.

Montalban is great as the no-nonsense cop assigned to the case, and Bennett is ahead of his time, playing a forefather of the forensic analysts that would later become so popular on shows like CSI. Indeed, if the script had beefed up Bennett’s role it could have really set itself apart, but unfortunately, it can’t quite shake the standard crime trappings. Or rather, it can’t maintain the blend.

For much of the film, the script melds a traditional detective story with a forensic procedural, something rare in its day. By the third act, however, the forensic angle is all but gone, as Bennett has disappeared and the story devolves into the straight thriller called for by the formula.

Not that said formula is all that bad though, as Elsa Lanchester shines as a conniving land lady working all the angles. Her performance, along with Montalban’s cop, and director John Sturges’ solid, but workman-like approach, cement Mystery Street’s status as a solid, but unremarkable, genre entry worth a look from fans of crime procedurals.