The Barefoot Mailman (1951) DVD-R

Starring Robert Cummings, Terry Moore, Jerome Courtland, John Russell,
Will Geer
Directed by Earl McEvoy

Print: color
Runtime: 83 min.
Genre: adventure
Print Quality: B

To call The Barefoot Mailman episodic would be understating the issue:
the film's story stops and starts so often that it appears to be three
half-hour TV episodes strung together. No matter, since the premise is
workable and the characters appealing. Though Robert Cummings is
top-billed as erudite 19th-century con artist Sylvanus Hartley, the title
character, Steven Pierton, is played by Jerome Courtland. The film is set
in turn-of-the-century Florida, which was then little more than an
elongated swamp. It is the responsibility of Steve Pierton to deliver the
mail by foot, covering the distance from Palm Beach to Miami. Attempting
to elude the northern authorities, Sylvanus Hartley joins Pierton on his
treacherous journey. Their travelling companion is Adie Titus (Terry
Moore), a hoydenish young lady who disguises herself as a child to avoid
unwanted advances. After saving Adie from the clutches of swamp outlaw
Theron (John Russell) and his gang, Hartley goes off on a new tangent,
bamboozling the local settlers in a highly suspect land-speculation
scheme. When Theron and his fellow crooks lay siege upon Miami, Hartley
and Pierton, despite their rivalry over the affections of Adie, team up to
save the day. Nothing if not unusual, The Barefoot Mailman is based on a
novel by Theodore Pratt.