Mystery Street (1950)

Blonde B-girl Vivian (played by Jan Sterling), working at "The Grass Skirt" in Boston talks a drunk (Marshall Thompson) in the bar into letting her "borrow" his car. She drives to Cape Cod with the car's owner drunk by her side. When the man realizes he's miles from Boston he objects and demands that he be taken back. Instead, she ditches him and steals the car. Afterward she meets up with a mysterious man who kills her. A day later the drunk reports the car stolen to his insurance but neglects to mention the blonde as not to get in trouble with his wife (Sally Forrest). Months later, the B-girl's skeleton washes up on a beach. Barnstable cop Peter Morales (Montalban) teams up with Boston police and uses forensics with the help of Dr. McAdoo, a Harvard doctor (Bennett), to figure out who the woman is.


The cop then tries to figure out how she died and, later, who killed her. Vivian's nosy landlady (Lanchester) attempts to blackmail a boyfriend Vivian used to call from her boarding house, going so far as to visit the wealthy married man and steal his gun. Morales tracks down the stolen car from police records and questions Henry Shanway, the drunk man Vivian was with the night she disappeared. Eventually Morales finds Shanway's car and he's identified in a police lineup. The innocent man is arrested and charged with the murder. Morales and Dr. McAdoo find the bullet still stuck in the car. Morales then finds out that the landlady has the gun, but not before she tries to blackmail the owner and is knocked over the head, and later dies. Morales chases after but loses the killer. Morales finds a hidden baggage check in the landlady's room, which sends Morales racing to catch the killer before the murder weapon can be disposed of.