Mystery Street Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Mystery Street Blu-ray Movie Review

Who killed Vivian Heldon?

Reviewed by Randy Miller III May 30, 2025

A slow-burning, noir-infused drama that makes heavy use of academic procedural techniques, John Sturges' 1950 film Mystery Street also stands tall as an early American starring vehicle for Ricardo Montalbán made just one year before a career-altering back injury sustained during William A. Wellman's considerably more popular Across the Wide Missouri. Despite a box-office loss softened by its Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Mystery Street has grown in stature during the last 70+ years much like Border Incident, also starring Montalbán and released just one year earlier.

The plot of Mystery Street hinges on one skeletal foot discovered in a sand dune near Cape Cod. We already know it belongs to recently deceased bar entertainer Vivian Heldon (Jan Sterling), a sassy young woman who discovered she became pregnant after her tryst with married man James Harkley (Edmon Ryan). He's not taking responsibility so she woos drunken bar patron Henry Shanway (Marshall Thompson) for the use of his car, only to abandon the poor guy on their way from Boston to Cape Cod to confront James. After a short encounter James shoots Vivian in cold blood, disposes of her body, and ditches the car in a nearby pond. That brings us pretty much up to date, I guess.

The bulk of this film concerns the resulting investigation, of course, which proves to be a surprisingly twisted path mostly navigated by Massachusetts State Police detective Peter Moralas (Montalbán). He enlists the priceless help of Harvard Medical School and resident Dr. MacAdoo (Bruce Bennett), who expertly analyzes the suspicious foot to figure out crucial details about the victim including her gender, height, hair color, and even approximate time of death thanks to a number of unique clues and circumstances surrounding the evidence. Once it's tied to a missing persons report filed by Vivian's former housemate Jackie Elcott (Betsy Blair), Morales' search narrows considerably.

Naturally, a number of details complicate the otherwise potentially straightforward case. The first is the fate of poor abandoned drunk (and former car owner) Henry Shamway, who unfortunately decided to make up a phony story about his vehicle's whereabouts to hide the truth from his own formerly pregnant wife Grace (Sally Forrest). It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out that Henry's suspicious behavior might eventually equate to a false accusation of murder. The second complication is Vivan's nosy landlady Mrs. Smerrling (Elsa Lanchester, overacting to an enjoyable degree), who decides to follow the case herself and even attempts to blackmail Harkley. But as a handful of revelations gradually come to light, including the recovery of Henry's submerged car and even the testimony of a few eyewitnesses, it's only a matter of time until the truth -- or something awfully close to it --- finally manages to come out.

Mystery Street paints an ambitious narrative, maybe even to a fault. The barrage of small, medium, and large twists and turns along the way make for an entertaining ride, one in which the characters are certainly memorable for their slightly exaggerated but realistic personalities. The only side effect of this colorful narrative is that poor detective Peter Morales often seems like he's a supporting role rather than the main player. While Montalbán is as captivating as ever here (and still very smooth, despite obviously not playing a romantic lead), it doesn't play to his strengths as much as expected. Even so, Mystery Street remains an entertaining slice of noir-infused (melo)drama that's well worth digging up and investigating. As such, Warner Archive's welcome new Blu-ray offers invaluable support in the form of top-tier A/V merits and even a nice little handful of era-specific and legacy bonus features to sweeten the pot.

Mystery Street Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warner Archive's outstanding 1080p transfer of Mystery Street is more great work from the reliable boutique label; that's not very surprising, since it's been sourced from a recent 4K scan of the best surviving preservation elements. Given that this is a black-and-white MGM feature from the waning years of Hollywood's Golden Age, it's very likely that the original negative was lost in the 1978 Eastman House fire; as such, the "best elements" in this case would strongly suggest a safety preservation made more than a decade before the 1978 George Eastman House fire claimed an untold amount of nitrate camera negatives. From that perspective, this is about as strong a presentation as fans could hope for with crisp fine detail in favorable conditions, smooth contrast levels, reasonably deep blacks and, most importantly, a visible amount of organic film grain that gives this transfer a greatly authentic appearance that, even with the loss of its original source, likely rivals original theatrical showings. Extensive manual cleanup was also used to eliminate most traces of age-related wear-and-tear, and disc encoding is strong with a supportive bit rate from start to finish.

Mystery Street Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As usual, the audio restoration holds its own on this DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track, which preserves Mystery Street's original mono mix in a split two-channel container. This is obviously a dialogue-heavy affair with no shortage of clinical speeches, narration, and interrogation, and from that perspective it sounds extremely good with no prevailing amounts of hiss, distortion, or other damage. Sound effects and overall atmosphere aren't as crucial during many moments but add their own weight when required, as does the original score by prolific composer Rudolph G. Kopp.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the main feature only, not the extras listed below.

Mystery Street Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed cover artwork and a handful of bonus features.

• Audio Commentary - This feature-length commentary with film historians Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward, who co- authored the 1993 tome Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style. They're a great pair for a commentary and have lots to say on this DVD-era track, from notes about the key and supporting players to observations about the genre as a whole and Mystery Street's place within it. A fine effort, for sure.

• Murder at Harvard (4:54) - This enjoyable but all-too-short legacy featurette includes a handful of comments from the likes of late, great author Patricia King Hanson (d. 2019), celebrated film historian Richard Schickel (d. 2017), and even Mystery Street's cinematographer John Alton via archival footage.

• Classic Cartoons - Two decently-restored treasures unearthed from the MGM vault.

• Little Quacker (7:11) - This classic 1950 Tom and Jerry short, which features the debut of everyone's favorite cute yellow mush-mouthed duckling, is a family favorite around these parts and never gets old. It was previously included on Warner Archive's Blu-ray of Million Dollar Mermaid, which somehow went totally under my radar back in 2020. (It's not like I spent much time outside that year, either.)
• Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl (7:26) - Another 1950 standout, this music-themed short isn't as great as The Cat Concerto but is still worth the occasional watch. It's been rescued from DVD purgatory and was last seen as part of WB's Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, Volume 1.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:24) - This straight-laced promotional piece can also be seen here.

Mystery Street Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Sturges' Mystery Street may boast a generic noir name, but this solid little melodrama is actually more of a big-screen police procedural. Luckily it's more entertaining than that sentence suggests as star Ricardo Montalbán's reliable presence, John Alton's great cinematography, colorful supporting characters, and other highlights all manage to tie the whole thing together. Warner Archive's Blu-ray actually marks the film's first solo appearance on digital home video (it was previously paired with the similarly solid Act of Violence as a double feature), and it provides ample support with more great restoration work and a number of enjoyable bonus features to boot. Firmly Recommended.