Most Dangerous Man Alive

Poster tagline: IN THE HEART OF AN ATOMIC TESTING AREA ... IT TAKES ONLY 10 SECONDS TO TURN A HUMAN INTO THE ... MOST DANGEROUS MAN ALIVE!! ___ During the Golden Era, several films were made about men who became mutated by radioactivity and were on the run from the law. All of them date from roughly the mid-1950s, but this poor fellow was late by several years. More precisely, it was shot in 1958, but only hit theaters three years later. Initially it had been conceived as the pilot for a new series, but then the producers decided it might work as a decent feature-length movie, and... this feels more like a gangster drama B-movie than sci-fi. Across its entire runtime, there are exactly two scenes involving special effects – in the first, handcuffs are absorbed into the protagonist’s skin by virtue of a primitive dissolve (this is after he was exposed during a bomb test to an element that is referred to in the film as “cobalt isotope X” and which supposedly made him stronger and bullet-proof because his skin becomes a type of steel that is able to absorb metal), and in the second – more memorable – scene, our hero is subjected to an electric shock as he holds on to a wire from which lightning emanates, in a simple but overall satisfying animated sequence. One thing that surprised me is how accommodating the contemporary critics were, praising the acting (the charismatic Ron Randell indeed pulls off the transformation rather well), the pacing and the one erotic scene in which Randell takes off a woman’s high heel and stocking, but cannot get aroused because he is the “man of steel”, with no emotions, as you’ll understand :o). I suspect the critics played nice primarily because this was the last film of a legendary director of the silent movie area who had shot 26 films with another legend, namely Douglas Fairbanks. And as we all know, legends are untouchable. Seen in the context of its own time, the script is not entirely witless, the body count rises to a respectable seven, and the climax includes a nice human barbecue with flamethrowers. I feel generous: here, take your (slightly excessive) average three stars! (13.08.2020)