Postal Inspector Starring Bela Lugosi

Daniel J. Kelley writes in the Chicago Daily Observer about an old 1936 black and white film called Postal Inspector starring Bela Lugosi of Dracula fame.

Daniel describes the film as follows, "An intrepid postal employee (Ricardo Cortez) manages to foil the nefarious scheme of a disreputable nightclub owner (Bela Lugosi) to steal a shipment of used currency scheduled to be returned to the US Mint for destruction. In the same film, dedicated postal employees are seen fighting a cataclysmic flood (incorporating actual newsreel footage) in order to deliver the mail without an interruption in service. Nobody blamed the torrential rains upon global warming during the Great Depression. An actor playing Franklin D. Roosevelt is seen thanking the postal employees for their splendid work. It goes without saying this particular drama is unlikely to be updated and remade for contemporary audiences."

G. Sneider writes on the Amazon.com website, "This film, the last of Lugosi's original Universal contract, is weird, to say the least. At times it's like a compressed serial; at times it's a musical; at times it's an infomercial for the US postal service. All of this is incidental, because Lugosi is on hand, giving his characteristically intense and sincere performance. What's deplorable, however, is the print quality. It's absolutely awful, one of the worst I've ever seen on DVD. Some scenes (or, often, parts of scenes) look like they were shot through waxed paper. Would that some philanthropic movie maven would squander his inheritance on making GOOD restorations of these old gems!"

With Halloween coming this might be something you'd want to show at October's stamp club meeting or just for your own enjoyment. I think it would be a hoot.

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