The dead in the dunes

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Movie
German title The dead in the dunes
Original title Mystery Street
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1950
length 93 minutes
Age rating FSK k. A.
Rod
Director John Sturges
script Leonard Spigelgass
Sydney Boehm
Richard Brooks
production Frank E. Taylor ( Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer )
music Rudolph G. Kopp
camera John Alton
cut Ferris Webster
occupation

Die Tote in den Dünen (Original title: Mystery Street ) is a black and white film in the style of film noir directed by John Sturges in 1950 with Ricardo Montalbán , Bruce Bennett and Elsa Lanchester in the leading roles.

action

Vivian Heldon is a blonde who works as a waitress at The Grass Skirt bar in Boston . There she asks the drunk Henry Shanway to "lend" her his car. Shanways agrees, believing that she would drive him to his home in Boston. With his consent, Vivian drives to the Cape Cod peninsula in Massachusetts , while Shanway rides drunk in the passenger seat. When he realizes that he is miles from Boston, he protests and asks Vivian to drive him home. Instead, she throws him out of the car into a ditch and steals his car.

She then meets an unknown man who kills her. A day later, Shanway informed his insurance company that his car was stolen. In doing so, he hides his trip with Vivian so as not to get into trouble with his wife. A few months later, Vivian's body was washed up on the beach. Peter Morales, a young lieutenant in the Barnstable Police Department , with the assistance of the Boston Police and the help of Dr. McAdoo, a respected forensic scientist from Harvard Medical School , to find out who the dead woman was.

Morales then investigates the circumstances of death and tries to find the killer. Mrs. Smerrling, Vivian's nosy landlady, tries to blackmail a friend of Vivian's, whom Vivian had previously called from her apartment. Mrs. Smerrling goes so far that she meets the wealthy man and steals his pistol. While investigating the police reports, Lieutenant Morales comes across the ad about Shanway's stolen car and questions Henry Shanway. When Morales finds Shanway's car, a police confrontation identifies him as the man who was seen with Vivian the night she disappeared. As a result, the innocent Shanway is arrested on suspicion of murder.

With further investigation, Morales and Dr. McAdoo on the cartridge that's still in Shanway's car. Morales finds out that Vivian's landlady was in possession of the murder weapon, but only after she blackmailed the owner of the weapon and died after being hit on the head. Morales then pursues the killer, but loses his trail. Then he finds a hidden luggage ticket in Mrs. Smerrling's room, which leads him to the murderer. He can arrest the murderer before he can dispose of the weapons.

background

Image of the Cape Cod dune beaches that provided one of the locations for the film

The film, produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was shot on location in Boston and Cape Cod. It was the first time for a Hollywood - feature film selected Boston as a location. In addition, there were also outdoor recordings at Harvard Medical School in Roxbury (Boston) and at Harvard University in nearby Cambridge (Massachusetts) . Forensic scientist McAdoo shown in the film had a real role model in George Burgess Magrath , a professor of forensic medicine at Harvard University.

The film, shot with a budget of 830,000 US dollars , had its world premiere in the United States on July 27, 1950. Originally the film title should be Murder at Harvard , but this was prohibited by Harvard University.

Leonard Spigelgass was nominated for the Oscar for the best original story at the 1951 Academy Awards, but was defeated by the author couple Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt , who received this Oscar for the submission to Under Secret Orders .

Reviews

The news magazine Time ruled the film as follows:

“ Die Tote in den Dünen (MGM) is a low-budget melodrama film without high-ranking stars or advance fanfare, which tells nothing more than a straightforward, logical story of a scientific criminal investigation. With these modest limitations, director John Sturges and screenwriters Sydney Boehm and Richard Brooks have treated the film with such taste and craftsmanship that it is downright perfect. "
('Mystery Street (MGM) is a low-budget melodrama without box-office stars or advance ballyhoo. It does not pretend to do much more than tell a straightaway, logical story of scientific crime detection. Within such modest limits, Director John Sturges * and Scripters Sydney Boehm and Richard Brooks have treated the picture with such taste and craftsmanship that it is just about perfect. ')

The daily newspaper The New York Times wrote about the film:

“An adventure that, despite the low budget, is not negligible in taste or the choice of its technical details, background and plausibility. Montalban's presentation is natural and unobtrusive. "
'An adventure which, despite a low budget, is not low in taste or its attention to technical detail, backgrounds and plausibility with a performance by Montalban that is natural and unassuming.'

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Paul Sherman: Big Screen Boston: From Mystery Street to The Departed and Beyond (book review March 30, 2008)
  2. ^ The New Pictures ( Time August 7, 1950)
  3. ^ New Metro Study of Crime Detection . In: The New York Times . July 28, 1950