Dangerous Mission is directed by Louis King and written by Charles Bennett, W.R. Burnett, James Edmiston and Horace McCoy. It stars Victor Mature, Piper Laurie, Vincent Price, William Bendix, Betta St. John and Dennis Weaver. Music is by Roy Webb and cinematography by William E. Snyder.Produced by Irwin Allen and filmed in Technicolor 3-D, Dangerous Mission is an absolute riot of a film. A campy classic awash with laughs and corner cutting techniques. Plot for what it's worth finds Louise Graham (Laurie) hiding out at the Glacier National Park after witnessing a gangland murder. Two men turn up and show great interest in her movements, Matt Hallett (Mature) and Paul Adams (Price), both of whom have different motives in mind.A super cast, super scenery, even some super action scenarios that point where Irwin Allen was heading in the annals of cinema, yet it's also a pretty laborious story acted out by film stars in zombie mode. King, Allen and the ream of writers (did they all get to put one plot point in each?) insert an action scene wherever possible, but it all feels like cheap gimmicks over story telling worth. In fact some scenes have absolutely no worth to the story what so ever!Technically it's suspect as well, the editing is awful, as is the back projection work, so to the fake sets and the sight of dummies being flung about the place. On the plus side there's bullet brassieres and square shoulder padded suits, while Mature – when he breaks off from his pissing contest with Price – gets to dally in heroic machismo by fighting the might of electricity. Wonderful! It's a fun movie for all the wrong reasons, but still fun none the less. 5/10

There is one reason to view this...Technicolor. Oh, maybe another. The surreal beauty of the female Stars. They have the most wonderful eyes and sublime looks and are all attired in cheesy 1950's wardrobes with a Native American motif that is gorgeous. The 3-D may have been needed to propel rocks and fire out of the screen but these Women would have done it in 2-D. Aside from the eye candy there is little else here that is worthy of attention. There is an unfulfilled and predictable plot. Some cardboard performances stiffen things a bit, but it moves along at a welcome luscious pace.If the viewer could disconnect sight from brain this might be a winner. But alas it is all simply simple and nothing but postcard imagery with a Hollywood Magazine gloss.

It's difficult to determine exactly what is going on in the minds of the people who made this movie. Anyway, it starts out as a crime drama; a murder is committed, apparently witnessed by a woman who gets away. Soon, there is an avalanche, causing massive destruction that completed disappears in a couple of seconds. I took the avalanche as a inside joke; you see, this film goes nowhere but downhill. Or, it might be meant to foreshadow the end.Victor Mature (he's Matt) and Vincent Price (he's Paul) compete to see who gets the girl -- when they're not competing to see who gives the worst performance. Piper Laurie is the blonde witness. There are Indians involved. When they all go after each other at the end, the background is entertaining to watch (snowy Montana mountains). ** Dangerous Mission (1954) Louis King ~ Victor Mature, Vincent Price, Piper Laurie

When "Dangerous Mission" was made as a another "B" color feature in 1954, it was probably considered by its producers to be a a routine action script. The film did have lovely young Piper Laurie, Betta St. John, Harry Cheshire. plus Vincent Price, William Bendix and as star handsome Victor Mature. But I assert that it had some hidden assets as well: very intelligent direction, unusually lovely Glacier National Park scenery, a logical storyline and first-rate production values from Roy Webb's music to costumes by Michael Wulfe and sets to art direction and second-unit work by Asst. Director James Lane. Also, the script was what I term a "sense-of-life film", of the same sort as "Bend of the River", "Smoke Signal" and "The Miracle Worker". We as viewers in other words only learn about a charismatic but suspect hero gradually, by experiencing his actions which are set against his negative reputation. Price steals the film as a complex character out of place among straightforward personalities; Mature lacks the speech for a senior detective but Bendix, St. John and Laurie and Cheshire are all very good in their roles. Make no mistake; this is an inexpensive film, with the outdoor actions using rear- projection to include most of the Glacier Park locales. But the film looks colorful and very spacious for a "B". It presents a square dance interrupted by an avalanche, a battle with a live-wire, a first-rate forest fire, a stirring chase and climactic battle on the glacier, plus intelligent dialogue and character-revelation scenes. The makers have put together I suggest a first-rate romance, an interesting mystery noir, and a very entertaining adventure. I never miss this one, having discovered it fifty years ago and championed its values for years. With a Keith Andes as its star, it might have become famous.