Moviecut—A Strange Adventure

source: A Strange Adventure

A Strange Adventure

This is quite an unremarkable 50's crime flick. It's about a gang of armed robbers who take a young hotrod hostage and hide out in the mountains in an isolated weather station, taking a further two innocent people hostage. The whole thing is quite contrived and although it's not particularly interesting it's not that bad either. It's a pretty cheap production but the cast acquit themselves OK, and the story moves along at a decent pace. Things are ultimately wrapped up what is close to a non-ending. It's a half-hearted resolution at best. Overall it's really not that strange an adventure. But, you know what, I've seen a lot worse.

I have just finished viewing this film on a Kino Lorber dvd, and it is one beautiful print. The sound is good, and the optics are as fresh and sharp as they must have been when the film first came out in 1956. Granted the script is a bit pedestrian, but Marla English sure looks great in a swim suit, and Ben Cooper's hot rod would be a winner at any classic car show. For those who are wondering, the State of California maintained a number of isolated mountain cabins for government hydrologists whose job it was to measure the snow pack throughout the winter. Luther and his sister Terry were state employees, and that is why a state-of-the-art "snow cat" would be sent to investigate when they stopped transmitting data. The Kino Lorber dvd includes a very informative audio commentary by film historians Toby Roan and Jay Dee Witney.