***SPOILERS*** What's seems like a combination of the movies "Indistructable Man" and "The Beast of Yucca Flat" the movie "The Most Dangerous Man Alive" has convicted murderer Eddie Candell, Ron Randell,escape from his trip to the San Quentin gas chamber when his ride, an armored car, taking him there overturns and he makes his way into the Nevada Desert. It just happened that a nuclear test is being conducted there and Candell runs or walks right into it! Surviving the nuclear blast Candell is somehow turned into a man of steel where his cells turn into iron and in a way makes the guy indestructible. We soon find out that Candell was innocent of the murder he was convicted of but framed by fellow mobster Andy Damon, Anthony Caruso and Randell's two timing girlfriend Linda Marlow, Debra Paget. Knowning that he hasn't long to live with his steel body eventually turning to rust Candell is now determined to make the two pay for what they did to him! Even if he has to destroy the entire state of California to do it!We get to see Candell slowly go murderously insane as he realizes he'll never be normal or human again. Candell takes out his frustrations on his fellow mobsters who set him up and sold him down the river. While doing that he get his girlfriend, not Linda who sold him out, the revenging beautiful Carla Angelo, Elaine Stewart, to help him find a cure for his illness, turning to steel, by getting in touch with Dr. Meeks, Tuder Owen, the man responsible for the nuclear blast that deformed him! It's his attempt to bring in alive mobster Andy Damon that sets off Candell's timetable in Damon and his hoods, whoever were still left after Candell offed them, doing everything to destroy him before he gets to them.***SPOLIERS*** It's the California National Guard together with the LAPD lead by Captain Davis played by, this was a drop down in rank for him, the legendary Eternal Colonel Morris Ankrum that finally put an end to Candell's wild rampage. But before he was pulverized by artillery small and heavy arms fire as well as blasted by some half dozen flame throwers Crandell finally redeemed and exonerated himself from the murder that he was falsely accused and convicted of. But by doing that he must have killed more then a dozen men on his way for him to archive that.

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.

Take two parts gangster movie, one part science fiction, give it a decent cast and a competent director, shake well and what do you get? This movie!Ron Randell is Eddie Candell, a big shot gangster railroaded to prison by his double crossing buddies and gold digger ex-girlfriend (Debra Paget, who had already done things like THE TEN COMMANDMENTS for DeMille and frankly needed a better agent). Eddie escapes en route to the big house and runs into the desert. Sadly the section of wasteland he chooses to hide in is also the test site for a nuclear bomb. Cue stock footage of an explosion, a mushroom cloud and buildings being destroyed. Eddie survives but the radiation has turned him into:a. The Amazing Colossal Manb. The Beast of Yucca Flatsc. The Amazing Transparent Mand. The Hideous Sun Demone. a man whose body is slowly turning to steel and is impervious to all kinds of weapons.Did you choose "e"? Way to go, you know this genre very well! Either that or you have already seen the picture.Eddie returns to his old headquarters and finds his former pals have already taken over all his rackets. It isn't long before he starts breaking necks with his (literal) fists of steel and shrugging off bullets like they were nothing. Can the combined efforts of scientists, the cops and the Army stop the Man of Steel? Ah, that would be telling!Ron Randell can also be spotted in THE SHE CREATURE (1957). The same year she did this film Ms. Paget appeared with Vincent Price and Lon Chaney in THE HAUNTED PALACE. Watch for Morris Ankrum (THE GIANT CLAW, KRONOS, INVADERS FROM MARS and many more). Director Allen Dwan went clear back to the days of silent films. His best remembered film is ROBIN HOOD (1922) which was written by and stars Douglas Fairbanks.Cinematography is much better than you would expect from a B movie like this. The characters are well scripted and very authentic, though Mr. Randell does have a tendency to shout "I'm Eddie Candell!" at the top of his lungs every few minutes which gets a little annoying. The special effects, while minimal, are convincing. This is a fun movie and yes it does deserve to be released on DVD, maybe on a double bill with Indestructible MAN. I have a feeling Eddie Candell and Butcher Benton would have gotten along very well together.

The Most Dangerous Man Alive is a good sci-fi/gangster picture and I've seen this a couple of times.Gangster Eddie Candell becomes indestructible after being caught up in an atomic bomb test that should have killed him. He now has steel in him which makes him very strong too. Police now want him dead more than ever as he is even more dangerous but a scientist wants him alive as he is a unique specimen and wants to do tests on him. He has two women on the go and he kidnaps one of these. Police eventually catch up with him though and he is killed by flame throwers at the end and turns into a pile of ash.This movie has echoes of The Indestructible Man and the 1950's already had men exposed to radiation shrinking and turning into giants. Typical of the Atomic Age is this.The cast includes Ron Randell, Debra Paget (The Haunted Palace), sci-fi regular Morris Ankrum (Invaders From Mars, Giant From the Unknown), Elaine Stewart and Tuder Owen.The Most Dangerous Man Alive is quite an obscure movie and my copy is from the Sci-Fi Channel, which a mate taped for me as I don't have this. A treat.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.