Postal Inspector
Cast & Crew
Otto Brower
Ricardo Cortez
Patricia Ellis
Michael Loring
Bela Lugosi
Wallis Clark
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In Washington, D.C., postal officials and visiting inspector William Davis listen on the radio as President Franklin Roosevelt congratulates the Post Office Inspectors Service for its excellent job transporting the gold reserves to the inland cities. On his way by plane back to Milltown that evening, Bill meets cabaret singer Connie Larrimore. After landing in a dense fog, Connie is met by foreigner Gregory Benez, who has engaged Connie to perform at his nightclub. Bill's brother Charlie is also at the airport and reintroduces himself to Connie, with whom he was acquainted during childhood in Milltown. In his office, Bill greets Ritter, who has lost his money in a gold scheme. Since Ritter paid by check sent by registered mail, Bill believes there might be a case for mail fraud. When Charlie and Connie visit Bill, he gives them a brief glimpse at some of the fake contraptions being peddled falsely through the mails. That night, while listening to Connie sing at the Golden Eagle Club, Bill realizes his brother is in love with her. When Charlie pays for the dinner, Connie learns that he collects old dollar bills, a hobby directly related to his job of removing old bills from circulation at the Federal Reserve Bank. Charlie mentions that three million dollars worth of retired bills are to be sent back through the mail to Washington for destruction. Benez is $50,000 in debt and realizes he can solve his problem when Connie casually mentions the money shipment. When a phone call from Postmaster Long alerts Bill of a flood in Yarborough, a hundred miles away, Bill helps relocate that city's post office to a temporary facility on higher ground. Charlie is called in by the National Guard due to the approaching flood, and Connie returns to the nightclub. Back from Yarborough, Bill asks the War Department to send in airplanes immediately to help with the money shipment. Bill promises a local medical authority that the post office will deliver the necessary medical supplies to cope with the situation, and Connie volunteers as a relief worker. As flood waters engulf the city, Bill is busy coordinating efforts to keep the mail moving, while Benez and his men rob the mail truck and kill the driver. Learning from Ritter the location of the getaway car, Bill realizes the car belongs to his brother. Two hours after Bill allows his brother to investigate, Charlie and Connie arrive at the postal inspector's office. When Bill badgers Connie to reveal whom she spoke to about the money, Charlie defends her, and the men nearly come to blows before Connie recalls telling Benez about the shipment. Bill, still believing that she is involved, orders her back to work until further notice. Benez and his gang, meanwhile, are plotting their escape by speedboat through the rising waters. Connie meets Charlie at the National Guard camp and tells him she remembers a secret address Benez had given her. Although she wants him to tell Bill, Charlie insists on checking it out himself, and Connie, hoping to clear their names, joins him. At the flooded Golden Eagle, Bill finds some papers that lead him, Connie and Charlie to the gangsters' hideout. Connie persuades Charlie to allow her to talk to Benez alone. Benez proclaims his innocence until he learns that she came in a National Guard speedboat. When Charlie is tricked into capture, the crooks flee in his boat. A chase through the water-filled city streets leads to a shootout on an apartment roof. Charlie and Connie crash the boat into a pillar, causing the structure holding Benez and his men to crumble into the water. Benez is sentenced to twenty years to life in jail. The Federal Reserve orders its worn bills mutilated to safeguard shipments, and the flood waters recede. When Bill later calls Connie and Charlie from Washington, they ask him to return home for their wedding.
Director
Otto Brower
Cast
Ricardo Cortez
Patricia Ellis
Michael Loring
Bela Lugosi
Wallis Clark
Arthur Loft
David Oliver
Guy Usher
Billy Burrud
Harry Beresford
William Hall
Hattie Mcdaniel
Marla Shelton
Bob Davis
Henry Hunter
Spencer Charters
Paul Harvey
Anita Gordon
Walter Clyde
Stanley Mack
Don Brody
Arthur Singley
Don Roberts
Buddy Williams
Anne O'neal
Johnny Morris
Gertrude Astor
Margaret Mcwade
Albert Taylor
Ben Hall
Henry Antrim
Dorothea Wolbert
Landers Stevens
Diana Gibson
Boris Belsky
Carita
Nick Copeland
Burr Caruth
Frances Gregg
Lee Phelps
Lester Dorr
Selmer Jackson
Jimmy Vandiveer
Mary Carr
James Blaine
Ann Gillis
Flora Finch
Larry Wheat
Sybil Harris
Malcolm Graham
John King
Russell Wade
Crew
Irving Actman
Phil Cahn
Robert Dillon
John P. Fulton
Kubec Glasmon
Phil Karlstein
Frank Loesser
Horace Mccoy
Horace Mccoy
Jack Otterson
George Owen
George Patrick
Maurice Pivar
Robert Presnell
Robert Presnell
Charles Previn
Robert Pritchard
George Robinson
Joel Sayre
Homer G. Tasker
Sally Unterberger
Vera West
C. L. Williams
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
David Oliver, Universal's newsreel cameraman who made his film debut as "Butch" in this film, won an acting contract because of funny wisecracks he made in his newsreel shots. Michael Loring also made his screen debut in this film, although portions of the shooting schedule overlapped with that of Yellowstone, which was released August 30, 1936, in which Loring also appeared (see below). The film used newsreel shots of floods that occurred in Pittsburgh, PA in the spring of 1936.
