POSTMARK FOR DANGER

Robert Beatty and William Sylvester

POSTMARK FOR DANGER (aka Portrait of Alison1955). Director: Guy Green.

Artist Tim Forrester (Robert Beatty) learns that his brother, Louis, has been killed in a car crash along with a young woman named Alison (Terry Moore). Alison's father (Henry Oscar) hires Tim to paint a portrait of her and gives him some photographs and a dress she was fond of. But Tim later discovers that the painting has been ruined and finds the dress being worn by his model, Jill (Josephine Griffin), who has been murdered. We learn early on that Alison is actually alive and that she and Tim's other brother, Dave (William Sylvester of House of Blackmail), are mixed up in a diamond smuggling racket with people who play for keeps. Will Tim and Alison become the latest casualties?

Robert Beatty and Terry Moore

Postmark for Danger is yet another insipid British so-called thriller. It has a fairly good fight scene near the end, and the identity of the chief architect of the diamond operation comes as a bit of a surprise, but other than that, this is the kind of minor movie that you forget even while you're watching it. Robert Beatty was the unseen voice of The Invisible Man in the fifties UK TV series, and was also in Tarzan and the Lost Safari. Terry Moore is most famous as the star of Mighty Joe Young and the supposed widow of Howard Hughes. Her acting in this is adequate. 

Verdict: This is no Laura. Skip it if you can. *1/2.