DANGEROUS MISSION (1954)

There is no faulting the cast of this colorful B-movie with A-list actors produced by RKO Radio Pictures. Outside of these stars, its main claim to fame might be an early effort by disaster film giant, Irwin Allen. The other fame claim is its use of 3D processing which may have elicited a few oohs and ahhs. In whatever dimension it is not hard to recognize the early Fifties RKO touches. Back-projected scenes and less than realistic special effects. It would appear most of the money was doled out for the cast. Which was a wise move. At the peak of his career, Victor Mature gets top billing, followed by Piper Laurie, William Bendix and RKO's go-to man, Vincent Price.

While working in New York City, Laurie stumbles upon the murder of a mobster. She hits the rails to Chicago, and I assume transfers onto the Great Northern Railway's “Empire Builder” and gets a job at the Glacier National Park gift shop. Who could possibly find her there? Mature, for one, who descends rather quickly after her arrival. His suave demeanor, pants with no rear pockets, and those wonderful eyebrows are attractive to Laurie. She is also fond of Price, who is doing his best impression of a sincere amateur photographer. He arrived before Mature and has already established a budding relationship with Laurie. Both are gentlemen as each trade date nights with fairness and civility. Her dangerous mission is to stay alive until the end of the film as the authorities want her to testify. Never mind the silly subplot involving Price's ever-fawning Indian maiden, Betta St. John, who is evidently from the local "naive tribe."

The title is broad in meaning. Though there is really only one character who fits the title best, the dangerous moments do present some interruptions. All of which have more to do with the producer's plan than the plot. Like so many current movies or television dramas, Irwin Allen assumes the viewer has the attention span of a gnat. There is an avalanche during a party in the mountains. A party essentially intended to further introduce characters to square dancing. The crushing avalanche brings down a power line. Mature does not hesitate to climb one utility pole to curtail a dangerous live wire in the likes of Angus MacGyver. He did this frequently as a Marine. Apparently. Then there is a forest fire in which untrained civilians, Mature and Price, are forced into fighting by a stuffed uniformed ranger, Bendix. Though not particularly dangerous, there is a frame-eating Indian ceremony to perhaps capture Montana's heritage or bump up tourism for the coming summer.

Note: The opening and early scenes set the viewer up for a potential crowd-pleaser. The cast is entirely responsible for this potential, though I found Laurie rather one-dimensional and bland. Overall, the movie's pacing is good at holding your attention thanks to the "hair-raising" sequences. Outside of these scenes, it is a routine adventure/drama. The ending, amid sets with glacier paint and studio lighting, brings few surprises though it is fairly exciting with hidden, snow-covered, crevasses. By this point most viewers had already chosen the cast member they hoped would not survive a fall into an icy abyss.