APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER (1951)

A postal inspector is murdered and his body left in an alley.  The only witness is a nun who just happened to walk by when the body was being dumped.  Now postal inspector Alan Ladd is hot on the case and will stop at nothing to solve the crime.  

I love 1947's T-MEN.  It's a excellent little noir about some Treasury agents going undercover to infiltrate a counterfeiting gang.  The story is interesting, the acting is gritty, the cinematography by John Alton is beautiful...it's just a great film.  So that's what I had in mind when I found out about this 1951 caper film about a postal inspector who goes undercover to solve a murder and prevent a big mail heist.  Sadly though APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER doesn't hold a candle to T-MEN.  It's not a bad film, but the direction is kinda stale and the nun aspect.  Oh my Satan!  Every time she was on the screen everything came to a screeching halt.  If the entire nun story had been tossed in the trash it would have improved the film.  The heist gang scenes were entertaining, but that nun!  Painful.

Worth a watch for fans of old heist/undercover cop films, but it's not a noir.  Good acting though and I was especially surprised to see Jack Webb and Harry Morgan together 16 years before "Dragnet" as two cold-blooded thugs!!!