Yo reto a la muerte

If we learn one thing about the US Post Office in Appointment With Danger is that it takes care of its own. When a postal inspector winds up a homicide victim, it's another postal inspector that does the investigation. I was surprised that the FBI wasn't called in as they usually are with crimes involving the US mail.

But their top cop in the person of Alan Ladd is called in when one of the inspectors is murdered. He's found dead in an alley in a small Indiana town. And there's a witness, a nun played by British import Phyllis Calvert who sees the victim being dumped and is given an excuse by one of the perpetrators that they're just helping a drunken pal. That guy is played by Harry Morgan and Calvert recognizes him from the mug books once Alan Ladd tracks her down. The crooks also know that Calvert's been talking to the police.

Ladd's dead colleague was working on foiling a planned heist of a mail truck that will be carrying a large sum of currency. When Morgan goes missing and later turns up dead, the lead goes cold. Ladd's only way to apprehend the crooks is to insinuate himself with them and catch them in the act of robbery.

Appointment With Danger was Alan Ladd's final noir film with Paramount and it's a good one. He's a most cynical fellow in this film and can't quite wrap his mind around Calvert's character.

The gang includes Paul Stewart as the brains and trigger happy gunman Jack Webb. Interesting to see future Dragnet partners Webb and Morgan together. But though she only has a few scenes the one you'll remember is Jan Sterling playing Stewart's moll. Sterling is Stewart's girl to be sure, but she likes a little fun on the side. Her scenes with Ladd are the best in the film and Jan has a very practical turn of mind and a knowledge of the law gained from hanging around unsavory types.

Appointment With Danger is definitely a must for Alan Ladd fans and folks who might become Alan Ladd fans after seeing this movie.

For someone who grew up in the Fifties watching Dragnet as a kid, viewing this film in the Nineties was strange: the cop-heroes of that TV show, Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, are now villains in this film!

Webb played the tougher of the two characters, by far, and was effective in that role. Meanwhile, Alan Ladd played his normal good guy-tough guy role. Another odd thing about this movie is that Ladd was an agent for the U.S. Post Office, an organization - at least back then before people went "postal" - one doesn't normally think need policemen.

But, as it was explained in the film, it was needed and the movie goes quickly from a corny-hokey start into a tough film noir. Phyllis Calvert adds a soft touch to the proceedings as a nun who humanizes Ladd, and helps him with the case.

In all, I'm making this sound perhaps more interesting than it was, because it was okay but nothing super. Still, I'd like to see it get a DVD treatment some day and I'd consider buying it.

I caught this by accident on Sky at a friend's place at 8 one Sunday morning, so it was clear what Sky thought of it. In fact it's a gripping & well-crafted 'film gris', making good, expressive use of studio sets (with occasional location montages) and showing Alan Ladd at his best - the archangel of understated cold menace. Closed-in tension, violence & intrigue are the generic elements - the heart of Hollywood crime movies - and Ladd needs to be respected as a screen actor, not mocked for not being very tall. His career was slipping, and the length & other casting (strong character actors, no stars) suggest a B movie but here he's as natural as Spencer Tracey in a laid-back tough guy role. Unusual too in that it shuts out any Cold War vibes & focuses on a public utility - the US Postal Service.

When I think of Alan Ladd, I usually think westerns like Shane, but he really did a wide variety of films. He wasn't a great actor, but reportedly one that was easy to work with; hence the large number of roles.

Here, he plays a postal detective that is trying to solve a murder. His prime witness is a nun (Phyllis Calvert who was nominated for a BAFTA Best Actress award for Crash of Silence). She really shines in the scenes she is in.

Also featured are Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, familiar to many as partners in Dragnet. In this film, they are on the other side of the law, but the familiar characteristics are there.

Also featured was the sexy Jan Sterling as the head man's moll. She would go on to get a Best Supporting Actress nomination and a Golden Globe for The High and the Mighty.

It was an interesting picture, and Ladd was superb.

Films of this type, so namely thriller, really appeal to me, love films with tautness, edge and suspense and have done for a long time now. The story sounded great too on paper and the cast is a talented one, with Alan Ladd proving more than once that he does well in the sort of role he plays here (one that plays to his strengths rather than stretching him too much) and the rest of the cast is full of ever reliable actors.

'Appointment with Danger' for me was nifty and entertaining if a little disappointing at the same time, as there was more room for it to be better than it turned out to be with the promise it had. Having its issues while also having a lot to recommend, so all in all not too bad a position to be in. Regarding as to whether to class it as a film-noir, from my perspective 'Appointment with Danger' and can easily be classed as one, at the same time it can be considered a mystery/heist film with a lot of noir-ish elements (if not as hard-boiled as most and it does lack a strong "femme fatale").

Starting with what doesn't quite work, to me Phyllis Calvert's role is underdeveloped and her later scenes distract a little from what's going on and don't always add much. Calvert does portray her very winningly it has to be said, the fault does not lie with her.

Did think that at times the pace could have tightened up a little more in the middle and there could have been more suspense, with outcomes never really being in doubt and with there not being enough danger 'Appointment with Danger' has its bland spots.

It does look great though, loved the moody lighting and very atmospheric locations enhanced by some very stylish photography. They all gave off a real sense of foreboding. The music also gives off that vibe, classy and ominous without overbearing what's going on. Lewis Allen directs smartly and mostly does not let the momentum slip.

Maybe the script is not always what one calls hard-boiled, but it was hard to dislike its snappiness, tautness and surprisingly humorous moments, thankfully never unintentionally. The story on the most part does grip, thanks to a lot being packed in without feeling like there was too much going on and it doesn't feel muddled. Would have liked more suspense, but thankfully boredom never properly crept in and there were exciting moments, namely the climax.

The cast are good, a few great, Ladd has been better with him playing relatively similar roles with more steel but still does admirably (laconic does not come over as bland). Jan Sterling steals her (too few) scenes as the amusingly wise-cracking moll, that she plays the heck out of, and Paul Stewart does cynical and menacingly reserved expertly. Found the scene stealer to be a frighteningly vicious Jack Webb.

In summary, entertaining but more danger and suspense wouldn't have gone amiss. 7/10