Mystery Street (Murder at Harvard) (1950)
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63% of users liked it
(337 ratings)
Blonde good-time girl Vivian Heldon (Jan Sterling), who lives in a cheap rooming house in a working-class section of Boston, run by the inquisitive and neurotic Mrs. Smerrling (Elsa Lanchester), goes out one night after a phone conversation with her boyfriend, proclaiming that she's got big… More Blonde good-time girl Vivian Heldon (Jan Sterling), who lives in a cheap rooming house in a working-class section of Boston, run by the inquisitive and neurotic Mrs. Smerrling (Elsa Lanchester), goes out one night after a phone conversation with her boyfriend, proclaiming that she's got big plans and might even move to a nicer place. After putting in her shift as a waitress at a cheap dive called The Grass Skirt, she latches onto Henry Shanway (Marshall Thompson), an innocently drunk patron, who's trying to wash away his sadness over his wife's stillborn child. She uses Henry's car with him in tow to drive out to Cape Cod, then strands him on foot and meets her boyfriend -- but when she arrives, he puts a bullet into her, then strips the body, throws it into the sea, and drops the clothes and the car into a lake. Six months later, an ornithologist from the cape spots the skeleton of a human foot sticking up through the sand. Enter Lt. Peter Morales (Ricardo Montalban) of the Boston PD; he and his partner on this case, Det. Sharkey (Wally Maher), bring the bones to Dr. McAdoo (Bruce Bennett), of Harvard University's forensic medical laboratory. Over the next few days, McAdoo and his staff are able to determine the gender, age, and general appearance of the person to whom the bones belonged, and that this is a case of murder -- and that the victim was pregnant. Morales and Sharkey, combing through what they know about the victim and the missing persons records of six nearby states, eventually tie the skeleton up with Vivian Heldon, who disappeared on just about the same day the victim was killed, and also to Shanway's car, which he reported stolen that day. The poor slob, who is merely trying to cover up a drunken lapse from his wife (Sally Forrest), acts guilty enough and lies about just enough so that Morales is certain that he's the murderer. His investigation isn't helped by the interference of Mrs. Smerrling, who sold Vivian's belongings when she didn't return to her room, and now seems fixated, even obsessed with the details of the case and its connection to her rooming house. While the police tighten the screws on Shanway, she backtracks Vivian's phone calls and makes contact with the woman's boyfriend, James Joshua Harkley (Edmon Ryan), member of a wealthy Boston family, and a married man; she also manages to steal a vital piece of evidence. But instead of turning it over to the police, she uses it to blackmail Harkley. Meanwhile, the district attorney sets an early trial date for Shanway, but with the opening arguments only a week away, Morales begins to develop doubts about Shanway's guilt, in addition to harboring his own sympathy for Grace Shanway, whose life is being gradually destroyed by the prosecution on her husband -- not that Morales thinks he's innocent, but there's enough that's not right about the case, including the missing murder weapon, that he's not 100-percent sure. And that's when Vivian's friend and neighbor, Jackie Elcott (Betsy Blair) reports how strangely Mrs. Smerrling is acting, and the fact that she's got a gun. But before they can question her, Harkley kills Mrs. Smerrling -- now it's a race between Morales and Harkley to see who can get to the murder weapon first. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
- Directed By
- John Sturges
- Genres
- Mystery & Suspense, Drama
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jul 27, 1950 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television
Well done murder investigation with forensics from Harvard and a pioneering Hispanic policeman.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
An engaging film noir.
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Featured Audience Ratings
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Cast
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Ricardo Montalban
as Lt. Peter Morales
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Sally Forrest
as Grace Shanway
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Bruce Bennett
as Dr. McAdoo
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Elsa Lanchester
as Mrs. Smerrling
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Marshall Thompson
as Henry Shanway
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Jan Sterling
as Vivian Heldon
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Edmon Ryan
as James Joshua Harkley
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Betsy Blair
as Jackie Elcott
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Wally Maher
as Tim Sharkey
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Ralph Dumke
as Tattooist Jim Black
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Willard Waterman
as Mortician
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Walter Burke
as Ornithologist
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Don Shelton
as District Attorney
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Elsie Baker
as Elderly Lady
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Ralph Brooks
as Reporter
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Douglas Carter Beane
as Counterman
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Mack Chandler
as Doorman
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Lucille Curtis
as Mrs. Harkley
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Robert Foulk
as Det. O'Hara
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Jim Frasher
as High School Boy
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Ned Glass
as Dr. Levy
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Eula Guy
as Mrs. Fischer
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Sherry Hall
as Clerk
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Brad Hatton
as Bartender
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Jim Hayward
as Constable Fischer
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Perry Ivins
as Alienist
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William Leicester
as Doctor
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Louise Lorimer
as Mrs. Shanway
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Arthur Lowe
as Sailor
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May McAvoy
as Nurse
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David McMahon
as Det. Garrity
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Ralph Montgomery
as Waiter
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Matt Moore
as Dr. Rockton
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Virginia Mullen
as Neighbor
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Frank Overton
as Guard
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Juanita Quigley
as Daughter
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Maurice Samuels
as Tailor
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Fred Santley
as Pawnbroker
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Fred E. Sherman
as Photographer
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George Sherwood
as Reporter
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Charles Wagenheim
as Clerk
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Napoleon Whiting
as Redcap
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King Donovan
as Reporter
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John Maxwell
as Det. Kilrain
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Jack Shea
as Policeman
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Peter Thompson
as Law Student
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George Brand
as Man in Bedroom
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Bert Davidson
as Dr. Thorpe
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Ernesto Morelli
as Portuguese Fisherman
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Robert Strong
as Policeman
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John Crawford
as Reporter
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Allen O'Locklin
as Photographer
- Mary Jane Smith
