Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

An Alan Ladd vehicle, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER ostensibly soups up its noir-ish template with the involvement of a virtuous nun, Sister Augustine (a guileless Phyllis Calvert), who becomes the sole witness of a foul play and whose own life is threatened henceforth. But, that précis could be misleading, what in fact is set in motion is a rote cops-and-robbers procedural, lead by the hard- boiled postal inspector Al Goddard (Ladd), infiltrating himself into a criminal clique conniving to operate a stick-up of one million dollars in transportation by the Postal Service. Yes, the film is an explicit encomium of USA's Postal Service, and at first glance, this infotainment seems to spirit us way to a new territory, the lives of postal inspectors, the covert law enforcers whom the mass knows little of, but what ensues proves that the filmmakers have no intention to burrow deeper into that front, here we are in the well-trodden path, an all-too-smart Al, outwits the crooks in a slipshod heist, saddled with an even less plausible last-minute whim of press-ganging Sister Augustine into the fold to imperil our hero. Contrary to its sub-standard action goings-on, what director Lewis Allen manages to hammer out is those alluring shots of nightly scenery, creating a taut and sinister vibe which chimes in with Film Noir's tenor. Also, at least this time, we are tantalized by a sinewy, half-naked male bod in a handball game than the usual distaff equivalent, ruling out a wimple-clad Sister Augustine, even the moll Dodie (Sterling, always a magnificent scene-stealer), intuitively knows not to meddle with lawbreakers' business and timely finds herself a fallback position.Roundly eclipsed by its more influential and well-crafted peers, like John Huston's THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950) or Kubrick's THE KILLING (1956), APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER at least offers a stage for a short-statured Ladd to emulate a straight-up, gallant daredevil of a hero with pizazz and conviction, especially when he is able to outmaneuver the murderous thug Joe Regas (Jack Webb, casting every glint with menace and intensity) every time. referential points: Lewis Allen's THE UNINVITED (1944, 6.9/10); John Huston's THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950, 7.9/10); Kubrick's THE KILLING (1956, 8.2/10).

Appointment with Danger (1951)A good, run-of-the-mill crime story. It's more a heist film than a true noir, and it has a popular twist of featuring a government cop as the lead character. There are several FBI films like this (they start with a shot of government building and have a serious narrator or title card give the context), but this is the only one I know of about the U.S. Post Office police.Alan Ladd is a solid actor, in urban crime films or in Westerns, but he's never quite inspiring or memorable, and so the movie is hampered from the start. On the other hand, there is a slew of interesting secondary characters, and some are real characters (like the ever-impressive Paul Stewart, who had his real start in "Citizen Kane"). We get to bomb through some great sets and locations (including the waterfront), and the photography by John Seitz (one of the best, see "Sunset Blvd." and "Double Indemnity") is great. The editing seemed a little sudden at times, almost as if this was shortened version (it wasn't, as far as anyone has noted), but you have to pay attention a couple times to follow what happens. In a way, I think they expect the audience to know the usual twists of this kind of plot, and if that helps explain its fast cutting, it also reveals a kind of formula behind it all.See it? Yes, of course. It's great in particular ways.

I just seen Appointment With Danger for the first time and quite enjoyed it.A postal inspector is murdered in Gary, Indiana and fellow inspector, Al Goddard is sent over there to investigate this. He tries to track down a nun who witnessed the murder, which he does. He then joins the gang responsible and makes out he is a "bent" postal inspector.This movie is shot well in black and white and well on location too, especially the railway scenes.The cast includes the excellent Alan Ladd (Shane) as Goddard, Phyllis Calvert, Paul Stewart and Jan Sterling.For some reason, Appointment With Danger doesn't seem to have been released on video or DVD, so you will have to rely on it coming on telly and tape it, which I did.Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.

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.