Edge of Eternity ( 1959 )

Savage suspense spans the granite gorge! 

So heralds the poster for Edge of Eternity, a taut mystery thriller set in the midst of a decaying mining town in Arizona in the late 1950s. 

The opening scene plays out like an episode of Perry Mason: An elderly businessman parks his car at the very edge of the Grand Canyon. He brings out a pair of binoculars and, just as he is beginning to look through them at something below, a large burly younger man jumps from behind the rocks and attacks him. The two wrestle, but it is the younger man who topples off the cliff to his death. 

Later, Deputy Sheriff Les Martin ( Cornel Wilde ) receives a phone call from Eli, the watchman of a closed-down gold mine. The businessman is in his office, sputtering something incoherently. Les is on his way to the mine when he witnesses a speeding driver and takes off in pursuit of it. The driver is Janice Kendon ( Victoria Shaw ), the daughter of the mine's owner. He writes her a ticket, but in the time he spent doing so, the businessman is murdered! This begins a strange series of killings, all committed in very different ways. The community leaders want action and Les and his boss, Sheriff Edwards ( Edgar Buchanan ), find themselves under increasing pressure to solve the crimes.

Edge of Eternity is not a well-known title, even among Cornel Wilde fans, yet it is an engrossing little thriller and deserves to be more frequently aired on television. The story seems like a plot from a 1970s made-for-TV mystery, but thankfully it was given a much better treatment here by director Don Siegel ( Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dirty Harry ). 

This Columbia Pictures release was filmed in Eastmancolor in Arizona with the vast panoramic landscape of the Grand Canyon providing a parched yet picturesque backdrop to Knut Swenson and Richard Collins' noir-style screenplay, which keeps you guessing to the very end who the killer may be. 

Red herrings abound in the form of suspicious glances and double-entendre dialogue from supposedly trustworthy characters; the number one suspects being Janice's brother Bob Kendon ( Rian Garrick ) and Sheriff Edwards himself, admirably played by Edgar Buchanan. 

Buchanan played in a wide array of films in a career that spanned nearly 35 years. Most of his characters were lovable rascals with a streak of mischief in them, a role epitomized in Uncle Joe in the long-running Petticoat Junction series. He was also a familiar face in Westerns, one of the most famous being Shane ( 1953 ), where he played homesteader Fred Lewis. Yet, Buchanan was much more capable an actor than his Uncle Joe character would have you believe. 

I never paid much attention to his acting ability until I saw this film. Sheriff Edwards appears to be such a likable guy. Les is indebted to him for giving him a second chance after a botched murder investigation wrecked his career as a policeman. He not only trusts him but sees Edwards as a father figure, a man he can lean on for support and advice, both personally and professionally. Edwards is just an all-around likable fellow. But gosh, he says so many little things that get you wondering whether Les' trust in him is not misplaced. Credit for his character being so ambiguous could go to the screenwriters but I believe Buchanan's portrayal of Sheriff Edwards is what really makes this work. 

Cornel Wilde also gives a good performance. For years he starred in swashbucklers and other period films, always playing a hero with clean morals. In Edge of Eternity, he plays a knight-in-shining-armor as well, but one of the laid-back and modest variety, garbed in the uniform of a kindly deputy. Les takes a fancy to the rich and reckless Janice and, not surprisingly, he quickly wins her heart. In the climactic finale, he risks his life for her fighting with the killer in a cable car suspended high atop the Grand Canyon. This nail-biting scene is what Edge of Eternity is best known for and it is an excellent cap-off to a fine mystery thriller. 

Also in the cast are Alexander Lockwood as Janice's father, Mickey Shaughnessy as a bartender, Tom Fadden, and Jack Elam in a brief role. 

Edge of Eternity is available on DVD as part of Columbia Classic's Movies on Demand series and is also available in a stunningly restored Blu-Ray edition from Twilight Time. 

This review is our contribution to the Shades of Shane Blogathon being hosted by Rachel at Hamlette's Soliloquy. Be sure to visit her blog to check out other film reviews featuring actors who starred in the classic western Shane.