The Barefoot Mailman


The Barefoot Mailman is a comedy-adventure film starring Robert Cummings and distributed by Columbia Pictures in 1951. The film was based on the 1943 novel The Barefoot Mailman by Theodore Pratt. Filmed in Super Cinecolor on location in Florida where the events take place, it features many elements of the Western.

Plot

Set in 1895, Robert Cummings plays a con man, Sylvanus Hurley, who is trying to raise the selling price of land he owns by convincing the residents of Miami that a railroad is coming to town. Jerome Courtland plays the barefoot mailman, Steven Pierton, who leads Sylvanus along the beach from Palm Beach to Miami, and who is skeptical of Sylvanus's scheme. Terry Moore is a run-away teenager, Adie Titus, who joins Sylvanus and Steven on their walk by impersonating a child. John Russell plays Theron, a swamp gang leader who tries to carry Adie away.

Cast

The film was based on a novel by Theodore Pratt published in 1943. The New York Times called it "salty and colorful."
In April 1950 Columbia reported that Alfred Lewis Levitt was writing a screenplay based on the book for the studio. In September Columbia said they would film the bulk of the movie in Florida starting October 3.
Cummings was cast in November 1950.