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Mystery Street

Directed by John Sturges

Screenplay by Richard Brooks and Sydney Boehm

USA, 1950

If one comes across a review or snippet of commentary regarding John Sturges’ Mystery Street, one aspect about the film which people argue stands out is how it works as a police procedural which makes it, in a fashion, a precursor to so many of today’s massively popular television dramas, such the various CSI series. Truth be told, the comparisons are not far off. Closer inspection should, however, unearth much more of the film’s character-driven rewards than its mere commonalities with today’s popular wave of shows.

Reportedly the first ever film to be set in Boston (it is mentioned by a critic in the brief featurette on the DVD), the story opens with very peculiar setup, demonstrating no real need to rush into the thick of things for a good ten minutes. For...

After moving to New York about three months ago and using Back Stage to attend as many auditions as possible, Maggie McGuire landed the role of Madeline in "The Mysterious Mystery of Mystery Street," a spoof of 1920s noir drama that will be performed Off-Off-Broadway at the Kraine Theater as part of Horse Trade Theater Group's 2011 Frigid New York festival.Thrilled at having gotten her first lead role in a New York City production, McGuire thinks that approaching her audition as an opportunity to act, rather than as a struggle to impress the auditors, helped her get cast. "Once I realized that this was just a chance for me to engage in what I'm passionate about, even if just for a few minutes, the whole daunting nature of the audition went away," she says. "I had realized that it wasn't a life-or-death situation and that it was going to be fun.