Most Dangerous Man Alive ** (1961, Debra Paget, Elaine Stewart, Anthony Caruso) – Classic Movie Review 8880

Ron Randell stars as escaped mobster Eddie Candell, who starts mutating after straying into a desert nuclear atomic testing zone, in director Allan Dwan’s low-budget 1961 black and white sci-fi psychotronic film Most Dangerous Man Alive. 

It is the final film of Allan Dwan (1885–1981), who has over 400 director credits running back to 1911, though about half of those were shorts made from 1911 to 1914.

Candell seeks revenge on his former partners-in-crime who set him up on a phony murder rap and falsely testified against him, including his sneaky former girlfriend Linda Marlow (Debra Paget) and his evil underling Andy Damon (Anthony Caruso). This vengeance rampage is made whole loads easier when his body changes at the cellular level, making him a man of steel.

Also in the cast are Elaine Stewart as Candell’s current lover, Gregg Palmer as Lieutenant Fisher, Morris Ankrum as Captain Davis, Tudor Owen as Dr Meeker, Steve Mitchell as Devola and Joel Donte as Franscotti.

The screenplay by James Leicester and Phillip Rock is based on the story The Steel Monster by Phillip Rock and Michael Pate.

It was shot in Mexico and in the studio at Churubusco Studios, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.

Most Dangerous Man Alive was made in 1958 but not released until 1961 due to the financial failure of distributor RKO Pictures. Producer Benedict Bogeaus finally sold it to Columbia Pictures in 1961.

Dwan claimed Bogeaus tricked him, cast and crew into working for low pay by saying the film was a two-part pilot for a TV series. But when Mexican movie union folk inspected the script, they knew it was a movie, and demanded higher feature film rates all round. Dwan then was given one week to shoot the film instead of five weeks and could use only already existing sets in the studio at Churubusco Studios. Given the circumstances, Most Dangerous Man Alive is better than expected, with reliable turns by the star quartet, and it escapes being awful by some way.

Most Dangerous Man Alive is directed by Allan Dwan, runs 82 minutes, is written by by James Leicester and Phillip Rock, based on the story The Steel Monster by Phillip Rock and Michael Pate, is made by Benedict Bogeaus Production, released by Columbia Pictures (1961) (US), is shot in black and white by Carl Carvahal, is produced by Benedict Bogeaus, and is scored by Louis Forbes.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8880

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