In 1869, when the railroad mail service is threatened by frequent bandit attacks, the authorities assign federal postal inspector Steve Davis to infiltrate a gang. A former professional boxer, he poses as an escaped convict and joins the criminal operation in order to destroy it from inside.[4]
Wyoming Mail is a western genre Technicolor movie with “ B” financing. The picture’s talented cast and director were limited by an undistinguished screenplay: “the cast was certainly superior to the plot of the film.”[5] The railroad scenes were filmed on the Sierra Railroad in Tuolumne County, California.[6] The action involving pursuit of the mail trains by mounted bandits were filmed from camera trucks by cinematographer Russell Metty.[7] LeBorg was particularly pleased with one scene he worked into the production:
I did something different when the cowboy [gang members] rode in. I had Stephen McNally stop in the midst of riding on the prairie and pick some flowers to bring to his sweetheart. A [Hollywood] cowboy never did that before, which is a nice touch. So the critics picked up on it. That’s what I do.[8]
Reception
The New York Times ranked Wyoming Mail slightly above the average for Hollywood westerns. That the story involves the purloining of the US mail rather than cattle rustling “may not be an original twist but it does have its refreshing moments.” The reviewer offers measured praise for the featured players.[9]
^Dixon, 1992 p. 105: Interview with Dixon, April 8, 1988 University of Nebraska Film Studies Program. And p. 6: LeBorg’s own “favorite film was Wyoming Mail.”
