EDGE OF ETERNITY is where you feel you’re at when you’re old enough to remember “the old days”. In this instance the phrase recalls an era when there was such as thing as “double-features”, and this good-looking, entertaining 1959 crime flick could stand as a good example of the sort of solid, dependable B-picture that you could count on for your money’s worth—a buck, maybe two, fifty cents if you were a kid…

After a startling start—car and dude tumbling off the lip of the Grand Canyon—impressive CinemaScope vistas get plenty of play in a brisk 80 minute whodunit directed with verve by Don Siegel, working with cameraman Burnett Guffey on wide-open fresh-air redolent Arizona locations, showcasing the Canyon and areas around Kingman. The interior sets are on the sparse side—the budget was just $700,000—but with all that desert scenery to drink in and likable actors on tap, who cares if the art direction is an afterthought?

Written by Knut Swenson aka Marion Hargrove (See Here Private Hargrove, The Music Man) and Richard Collins (Pay Or Die!), the plot kicked off (literally) by the plummet homicide gives Mohave County Deputy ‘Les Martin’ (Cornel Wilde) a case to mull, one that grows with two new murders, seemingly linked. In his spare time the amiable lawman (who has past case mistakes that dog him) draws the attention of local beauty (and speed demon) ‘Janice Kendon’ (Victoria Shaw), daughter of a wealthy miner, and sister to a drunk punk. When it’s time to settle the mystery, Siegel and his (apparently half-crazy) stunt personnel stage a doozy of a death match on a cable car, swaying back & forth thousands of feet over the canyon. Pretty cool.

The personable Wilde and striking Shaw make a good team, and colorful support comes from Mickey Shaughnessy (clearly having a blast) and venerable Edgar Buchanan. *

A mixed blessing score from Daniele Amfitheatrof, properly ‘big’ when covering the vastness of the locations and nervy during the action scenes, but too cute in other moments with some of the quirky personalities. Placing 117th for the year, the $1,900,000 gross took care of the budget bet. Gotta tip a cold one of something to the end credits: “We wish to thank the United States Guano Corporation, a subsidiary of New Pacific Coal & Oil Limited for their cooperation”. 

With Jack Elam, Wendell Holmes, Tom Fadden and Dabbs Greer.

* Victoria Shaw, 24 at the time, was a beautiful Australian model whose promising movie career (a plum part in The Eddy Duchin Story, then leads in this, The Crimson Kimono, Because They’re Young and I Am At The Stars) faded into TV gigs and motherhood (she was married to Roger Smith). Sadly, she passed away at just 53 years of age.

                                              Victoria Shaw, 1935-1988