this police procedural be no bad than many others of it era and good than quite a few . obviously it be follow in the step of dragnet and naked city but emerge a an enjoyable programmer . the best thing about it be the unadorned look it provide into a world now long go . the low class new york of the late 40 or early 50 . here it be in all it seedy glory and from the old school tattoo parlor to the cheap hotel to the greasy spoon . these old police film be like travelogue to a bygone era and very bittersweet to anybody who dislike the sanitized and soulless cityscape of today . also intrigue be the emphasis on the nut and bolt scientific aspect of solve the crime . in this case and the murder of a tattooed woman find in an abandoned car . our main hero and detective tobin and corrigan and do the footwork and but without the tedious and painstaking effort of the lab boy and they would get nowhere . although the technology be not in the same league and the cop here use the dogged persistence of a c. s. i. investigator to track down their man . the way some reviewer have write about this movie and you think it would have be direct by ed wood and act by extra from his movie . what bosh . i enjoy john mile a the gangly ex marine turn cop tobin . he have a happy go lucky and easy go approach to the role that a welcome change from the usual stone face histrionics of most movie cop of the period . patricia barry be cute and delightful a his perky girlfriend who help solve the crime . walter kinsella be stuffy and droll a the old detective corrigan . i rather like the chemistry of these two and it make for something a bit different than the sort of robotic dragnet approach . the mystery itself be not too deep and the final chase and shoot out certainly would not rank amongst the classic of crime cinema and but during it brief running time and the tattooed stranger more than hold my interest .