Mary Ryan, Detective (1949)

Marsha Hunt is excellent as Mary Ryan,  15 July 2021

The quick pitch: Policewoman Mary Ryan (Marsha Hunt) goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of thieves - first in prison, later as a member of the robbery crew.  

There’s nothing about Mary Ryan, Detective that will change your world.  Instead, it’s a mostly enjoyable little film with the immensely watchable Marsha Hunt as the titular Mary Ryan.  Cute, capable, and engaging are a few of the adjectives I’d use to describe Hunt in this film.  She has an undeniable screen presence (see the fur robbery set-piece for an example) that works for me.  I’m not sure I would have enjoyed the film half as much without Hunt. I’ve read where she ran afoul of the McCarthy-era anti-communist crowd and found her opportunities limited as a result.  How else do you explain the fact that she isn’t better known today?  

Other things I enjoyed about Mary Ryan, Detective include: snappy direction, good pacing, John Litel, and, thankfully, limited comic relief (I admit, however, that I did chuckle at smoked turkey bit).  

Finally, I got a kick out of the whole gang of thieves.  They come across about as cordial and polite as a group of Sunday school teachers.  Not very realistic, but kind of what I’d expect from a film like Mary Ryan, Detective.  

6/10