Mainly notable as prolific director Dwan's swan-song (and his tenth film for producer Benedict Bogeaus), this also happened to be his sole genre foray. Plot-wise, it recalls the recently-viewed 4D MAN (1959) and, even more so, Edgar G. Ulmer's similarly cheapskate hybrid of noir and sci-fi/horror THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN (1960); interestingly, then, its having a man pursue those who framed him after undergoing an unwitting metamorphosis looks back to THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL (1941; also watched as part of the ongoing Halloween Horror challenge) while the device of an electrical booby-trap was seen too in HOUSE OF MYSTERY (1961; ditto). It is well-served by a good cast: Ron Randell (the cop on the trail of THE SHE-CREATURE [1956]) has the title role; Anthony Caruso (from PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE [1954] – see review above) is his double-crossing nemesis; Morris Ankrum (I just saw him in BEGINNING OF THE END [1957]) is, typically, a figure of authority; and we get two lovely leading ladies in Debra Paget and Elaine Stewart, as femme fatale and good-girl type respectively. The film, of course, tackles the predominant concern of the era – nuclear paranoia – as escaped death-row convict Randell turns up on a test site but miraculously survives a blast, only to have his flesh slowly evolve into a literally steely exterior
which then comes in handy on his relentless payback mission, when he proves impervious to most kinds of weapons his enemies (and the pursuing Military and Police) can throw at him! Ultimately, he expires after being torched alive by a couple of flame-throwers: Stewart (who accompanies him most of the way as does a tied-up Paget) has to be forcibly removed from his side; poignantly, just prior to the final onslaught, his body temperature – by this point, icy cold – had begun to decrease (suggesting that, in the clash between human and machine that his shell had become, the former could still have taken the upper hand eventually)! Unfortunately, the ultra low-budget works against the film (in the copy I acquired, the exteriors are way too dark): I do not usually condone remakes (as many here know full well) but, watching this, I could not help feeling how effective the alterations in Randell's body (virtually inexistent here, though we do get to see a couple of mutant animals and plants) would have been depicted were this made 20 years later; ditto, his demise would have turned into something much more elaborate than mere sprayed cinders on a patch of land! Despite some lapses in continuity (when the supposedly police-guarded Stewart is seemingly effortlessly abducted by Caruso and his thugs), I would definitely contend that MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE is still vastly preferable to Shinya Tsukamoto's insufferably grungy TETSUO (1989-92) movies.
Review of Most Dangerous Man Alive
