Post Office Investigator ** (1949, Audrey Long, Warren Douglas, Jeff Donnell, Marcel Journet, Richard Benedict, Jimmie Dodd) – Classic Movie Review 11,502

Director George Blair’s likeable minor 1949 Republic Pictures black and white American crime film Post Office Investigator is based on a screenplay by John K Butler about the theft of rare postage stamps, and stars Audrey Long, Warren Douglas and Jeff Donnell.

Warren Douglas plays young mailman Bill Mannerson, who becomes involved in the theft of rare stamps with inverted images of the Statue of Liberty. Before capturing the crooks, Bill comes up against attractive tough criminal Clara Kelso (Audrey Long), double-crossing gang members and Post Office inspectors.

Long’s performance and Blair’s direction give this short, minor programmer filler a little distinction. It runs just 60 minutes, so it is quite spare and spartan.

The main cast are Audrey Long as Clara Kelso, Warren Douglas as Bill Mannerson, Jeff Donnell as April Shaughnessy, Marcel Journet as George Zelger, Richard Benedict as Louis Reese, and Jimmie Dodd as Eddie Waltch.

A nitrate print of this film survives in the UCLA Film and Television Archives but is not listed for preservation.

Audrey Long in 1944.

Audrey Long (April 14, 1922 – September 19, 2014) acted mainly in low-budget films in the 1940s, including Tall in the Saddle (1944), Wanderer of the Wasteland (1945), Born to Kill (1947), Desperate (1947), Post Office Investigator (1949) and her last film, Indian Uprising (1952).

She was the widow of The Saint author Leslie Charteris. Her ashes were placed in a large urn along with those of Charteris, with an inscription that reads ‘Love Never Dies’.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,502

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/