Miss Frontier Mail
About Miss Frontier Mail
A masked man kills a deputy station master. The mask slips, a henchman sees his face, and they leave the weapon so station master Maganlal (Master Mohammed) is arrested. His daughter Savita (Fearless Nadia), called Frontier Mail, hunts, plays tennis, and races cars. Her brother Jayant (Jaidev) makes amateur films and, with a friend, photographs the gang wiring a bridge. The masked man, Signal X, blows the bridge to push traffic onto an airline. Gulab (Gulshan), linked first to Signal X and then to Kishore (John Cawas), switches sides. Sunder (Sardar Mansur), son of the railway chief, joins Savita. They fight the gang on a moving train and throw men onto the tracks. Signal X is Savita's uncle Shyamlal.
Cast & crew
More about Miss Frontier Mail
Homi Wadia directed. J. B. H. Wadia wrote the story. Vasant B. Jagtap photographed it. Master Mohammed wrote the music and also plays Maganlal. Wadia Movietone released the Hindi film in 1936. It was first called Frontier Mail. The railway objected to posters of a crashing train, a poll renamed it, and it became the third Diamond Thriller. Nadia is billed as the Indian Pearl White. Cawas is billed as Eddie Polo. Nadia's name off screen is Mary Ann Evans.
Themes
Making
Wadia built the film around Nadia's stunts: a hunt, a car, and a fight on top of a train, with her brother's camera as the evidence against Signal X.
Look
Vasant B. Jagtap photographed the bridge sabotage and the fight on the moving train.
Music
Master Mohammed wrote the music.
Preservation
A feature-length print survives.
Notes
- The working title Frontier Mail was dropped after the railway complained about the crash posters.
- Jayant's camera catches the gang at the bridge before the dynamite goes off.
- Jal Khambata plays the railway authority. Minoo Cooper is billed as Minoo the Mystic.
- The listed running time is 155 minutes.
- Each Diamond Thriller, this one included, is described as a success. No rupee figure is given.
Scenes
- The killer's mask comes off in the fight at the station, and Maganlal is left holding the case.
- Jayant films the gang setting charges on the bridge.
- Savita and Sunder fight on the train and throw men down onto the tracks.
- Signal X is unmasked as Uncle Shyamlal.
