Eddie Candell is the leader of a criminal enterprise. One of his lieutenants, Andy Damon (Anthony Caruso), decides he want to take over the business, so he frames Eddie for murder for what was actually a case of self-defense. Eddie manages to escape from the police custody and flees to the desert. He ends up at the Mohave Desert test range in the middle of an atomic bomb experiment. When the blast goes off, Eddie is exposed to deadly radiation. In addition, the bomb contained a substance called Cobalt element X.
The leader of the experiment is Dr. Meeker (Tudor Owen). Meeker is studying the effects of Cobalt X in animals and has several test subjects that were exposed to the element at various times. Cobalt X has the ability to change animal tissue and transform Meeker’s test subjects. Meeker is trying to find a cure. The fallout that Candell experienced begins to change his body turning him to steel. Candell’s mind is also being affected by the exposure to Cobalt X.
Eddie goes to an old friend, Carla Angelo (Elaine Stewart) for help. Carla gets in touch with Dr. Meeker hoping that he can reverse the process that is invading Eddie’s body. Police Captain Davis (Morris Ankrum) and Lt. Fisher (Gregg Palmer) are trying to recapture Eddie but when they learn that Eddie is now impervious to bullets, they need to find another way to bring him down. While they are developing their next course of action, Eddie sets out on a wave of revenge against Damon and everyone who was responsible for framing him.
“Most Dangerous Man Alive” was released in 1961 and was directed by Allan Dwan. It is an American science fiction film that was based on the story “The Steel Monster” by Phillip Rock, Michael Pate and Leo Gordon.
Rumor has it that producer Benedict Bogeaus planned on shooting the film as a two-part television pilot. Others say that Bogeaus’ claim that it was a pilot and not a full movie was a ploy in order to give the actors and crew lower pay. The film was shot in Mexico. According to the rumors, Mexico’s movie industry discovered that the project was actually a full feature film and required Bogeaus to up everyone’s pay and increasing the cost of the project. This resulted in director Dwan having to shoot the film in a much shorter time to save money.
The film was shot in either 1958 or 1960, depending on who you talk to. A couple reasons were given for the delay. One is financial issues with RKO, the original distributor. Later Bogeaus sold the film to Columbia. The second reason offered was because the Screen Actors Guild learned about the pay issue and required that the actors be paid for overtime they had been owed.
Actually, it’s not a bad little movie, especially if you’ve run out of all the usual 50’s and 60’s era science fiction movies out there to see, or if you are a fan of films where guys get stuck in an atomic bomb blast or something similar. Movies that come to mind, “The Incredible Shrinking Man” 1957, “The Amazing Colossal Man” 1957 “The Indestructible Man” 1956 or even “The Beast of Yucca Flats” 1961.