Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Martin Teller Cops try to solve the murder of a woman with only a tattoo to go on. This is a lousy movie. The performances are terrible across the board, with everyone either too wooden or way too sunny. Every time I saw John Miles (which is practically the entire movie) I wanted to wipe that dumb grin off his face. The whole thing has an absurdly jaunty feel to it, and the silly music doesn't help. Nor does the script, filled with awful exposition, bad jokes, and far too flippant in tone. As a police procedural it brings nothing new to the table, and the action scenes are oddly sluggish. There are maybe one or two interesting details, and the location photography is actually pretty good. But the rest of it stinks.

Michael_Elliott Tattooed Stranger, The (1950) ** (out of 4) A mysterious woman is found dead in Central Park but the police don't know who she is. Two detectives jump on the case and try to identify her but the only thing they have on her is a strange tattoo on her arm. Here's another RKO thriller that gets a few points for trying to tell the story differently than what we're use to but in the end the performances just can't carry the picture. Technically speaking this film is pretty impressive with some very good editing but the story itself is rather dull. The film really tries to capture how the police would go by solving this case, which means we get a lot of footwork and stuff dealing with science. This stuff works nicely but I only wish the story was stronger. It was rather funny that people with tattoos were looked at as evil people and tattoo parlors are looked at as "bad people" hangouts.

blanche-2 Two big kicks to be had out of "The Tattooed Stranger" for this viewer - spotting Patricia Barry, even though back then, she had another name and different colored hair; and seeing Jack Lord in an uncredited role. When those are the big whoops, you've got a problem.This is a B movie that concentrates on routine police work to uncover the identity of a woman's dead body found in Central Park and later, her killer. Bette Davis once said, "Real drama is larger than life." How right she was. This film is life in all of its step-by-step boredom. By the time there's anything to get excited about, it's too late.The cast is pretty blah, but the police detectives manage to show the camaraderie that people working together have, so the director had some idea of what he was doing. The script mentions and shows some New York locations and even shows two officers going into the 8th Avenue subway. Having lived in New York, that was fun.Today we have reality TV where the "real people" are a lot looser than these actors who were trying to be real. Very so-so.

Haecker Edward Montagne's Tattooed Stranger is supposed to play like a crime thriller with a little film noir mixed in for flavor. Instead, it's a poorly acted, witless look into low budget and uninspired film making. The plot is absurd and the acting excruciatingly stiff and amateurish. John Miles, who had a rather thin resume in the industry, grins and guffaws throughout, and everyone else acts with the same verve as characters in a government-made filmstrip about driver safety. The movie anticipates shows like 'Leave it to Beaver' and 'Father Knows Best' in its unnaturally wholesome view of New York in 1950. Why, the viewer doesn't even get to see anyone light up a cig until some shapely woman is interviewed in a flophouse halfway through the movie. The only thing the movie has going for it (besides its brevity) is the excellent location shots coordinated by William Steiner. The low budget of the film works in the cinematographer's favor, as the viewer is treated to well-framed shots of New York City's interiors and expansive exteriors. Unless you wish to enjoy the film for the choice of settings and camera angles, I suggest watching practically any other movie.