Appointment with Danger (1950)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Postal Inspector Al Goddard (Alan Ladd) is assigned to investigate the murder of a fellow officer. The only witness to the crime is Sister Augustine (Phyllis Calvert), who identifies the photograph of one of the assailants. This leads Goddard to a seedy hotel where he learns that the assailant is a member of a gang headed by Earl Boettiger (Paul Stewart), and he soon discovers that the gang is planning a million dollar mail robbery. This classic film noir also features the stars of Dragnet, Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, as Stewart’s Henchmen. This was Alan Ladd's final Film Noir and was directed by Lewis Allen (The Uninvited).
- Actors:
- Herb Vigran, Jan Sterling, Lewis Allen, Terry Goodman, Dan Riss, Pat Lane, Robert M. Fellows, Bill Meader, George Lewis, Paul Stewart, Alan Ladd, Sheldon Jett, Jack Webb, John Whitney, Frank Hagney, Ralph Sanford, Symona Boniface, Maxie Thrower, Russell Saunders, Harry Tyler
- Directors:
- Lewis Allen
- Producers:
- Robert Fellows
- Writers:
- Richard L. Breen, Warren Duff
- Aka:
- United States Mail / Postal Inspector / Dead Letter
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Thrillers
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- Not released
- Run Time:
- 92 minutes
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Reviews (1) of Appointment with Danger
Signed, Sealed… Slightly Sinister - Appointment with Danger review by griggs
This one’s basically cops and robbers meet the Post Office. It opens like a recruitment reel for heroic mailmen, then turns into a tidy little noir about a heist gone wrong.
Alan Ladd plays the inspector with his usual stone-faced charm, chasing crooks who’d probably fear paperwork more than prison. Phyllis Calvert shines as the nun who witnesses too much, Jan Sterling adds grit and glamour, and Lewis Allen keeps it taut while John F. Seitz fills the frame with rain and cigarette smoke — all the noir essentials.
It’s half recruitment ad, half thriller, but surprisingly it works. A clean, oddly wholesome noir that still finds time for guns, guilt, and old-fashioned moral duty. Think of it as first-class crime: sealed, stamped, and unexpectedly fun.