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Wyoming Mail
Wyoming Mail
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Reginald Le Borg
Screenplay by	Harry Essex; Leonard Lee
Story by	Robert Hardy Andrews
Produced by	Aubrey Schenck
Starring	Stephen McNally; Alexis Smith
Cinematography	Russell Metty
Edited by	Edward Curtiss
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Universal International Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	October 18, 1950;
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Wyoming Mail is a 1950 American Western film directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Stephen McNally, Alexis Smith.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Plot

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]

Cast

Stephen McNally as Steve Davis
Alexis Smith as Mary Williams
Howard Da Silva as Cavanaugh
Ed Begley as Haynes
Dan Riss as George Armstrong
Roy Roberts as Charles De Haven
Armando Silvestre as Indian Joe
Whit Bissell as Sam
James Arness as Russell
Richard Jaeckel as Nate
Frankie Darro as Rufe
Felipe Turich as Pete
Richard Egan as Beale
Gene Evans as Shep
Frank Fenton as Gilson
Emerson Treacy as Ben

Production

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]

Notes

^ "Wyoming Mail (1950) - Overview". TCM.com. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
^ Hal Erickson. "Wyoming Mail (1950) - Reginald Le Borg". AllMovie. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
^ "Wyoming Mail". Catalog.afi.com. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
^ Dixon, 1992 p. 30: Plot sketch.
^ Dixon, 1992 p. 30: “LeBorg had an excellent cast…” And: “...the rather ordinary script overwhelmed the combined effort so cast and crew.”
^ Jensen, Larry (2018). Hollywood's Railroads: Sierra Railroad. Vol. Two. Sequim, Washington: Cochetopa Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780692064726.
^ Dixon, 1992 p. 30:
^ 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.”
^ "THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; 'Wyoming Mail,' Universal Western Describing Downfall of Postal Thieves, Opens at Criterion". The New York Times. October 23, 1950. Retrieved August 5, 2024.

References

Dixon, Wheeler Winston. 1992. The Films of Reginald LeBorg: Interviews, Essays, and Filmography. Filmmakers No. 31 The Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, New Jersey. ISBN 0-8108-2550-3