A Strange Adventure

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.

Psychopath Jan Merlin, would-be femme fatale Marla English and general bad guy Nick Adams con Ben Cooper into driving the getaway car for their armored car robbery. When they flee, they wind up at a snowed-in mountain cabin where Joan Evans and her brother, Peter Miller, are doing something for the weather bureau.

It's a nice set-up for a crime drama, and it's decently plotted, but director William Witney isn't able to bring much to it. Some of the trouble with the movie might be that it was shot for 3D, and the version I looked at was flat; certainly films converted that way are often dull. Most of the problem, however, lies with the line readings. While Adams is okay, the rest of the cast is too fresh-faced to be convincing in their dull lines and underwritten characters. Miss English gives a performance that seems more like a spoiled child than someone alluring.

There's some nice long shots of the car fleeing from the authorities, but when it comes to the actors, there's little of interest.

"A young man with a passion for hot rods and pretty girls finds himself in trouble when he gets mixed-up with some criminals. A pretty border at his mother's motel talks our hero into a drive that ends up as a part of her gang's armored car robbery. Forced to drive them to a remote cabin to hide from the police, our hero must think of a way to save he and his fellow hostages, and foil the plans of the bank robbers," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

A dullish 1950s "rebellious youth" film. Ben Cooper (as Harold Norton) is the passionate hot rod man. Marla English (as Lynn Novak) is the beautifully built gangster's "Doll", who lures innocent Mr. Cooper into the fold. She alternates between Cooper and gang leader boyfriend Jan Merlin (as Al Kutner). Later on, the sweet sister and brother team of Joan Evans and Peter Miller (as Terry and Luther Dolgin) are taken hostage by Mr. Merlin. Nick Adams (as Phil Davis) fights off a cold, and assists Merlin.

**** A Strange Adventure (1956) William Witney ~ Ben Cooper, Marla English, Jan Merlin

Colorized? Republic stagey look instead of Sierras stopped making films 1958

"A Strange Adventure" is a film made by Republic Pictures shortly before the studio stopped making movies in favor of TV programs. As the studio was having financial trouble in 1956, it's not surprising that the film has no major stars and a relatively low budget. Also, while supposedly set in the Sierras, the film appears to have been made in a sound stage.

A trio of crooks have committed an armored car robbery. However, the leader, Al, is a real head case. He kills the armored car driver for kicks and it's obvious he just enjoyed killing. So, when they capture three people along the way, it's soon apparent that he'll eventually kill them as well...so it's a case of the kidnapped folks biding their time to see if there's any chance of escape in their mountain hideout.

So is it any good? Well, it's partly good. Jan Merlin is great as the psychotic boss. And, the story is GENERALLY good...but also falls apart at the end due to some serious logical errors...too many just to ignore.

Sometimes it's as if we can forgive the most trying stretches of believability, just because a film was made in an era like the 50's with a shoestring budget. I don't like that. Good, believable films were made at this time as well as clinkers. This has some things going for it, but the way these nasty characters behave is beyond imagination. They wave their guns around, threaten, but don't seem to want to act. Hostages are left to wander all over the place. There is tension among the thieves, but it is dealt with in such a silly, haphazard way, it doesn't work. A slip up of any kind, and their whole project is down the chute. If we are to believe the whole business about being locked up in the woods in the winter, it seems at some point, someone would begin to make realistic plans to get on their way. Are they already murderers? I don't know, but they could have certainly done a better job of getting on with their plot. Then there is the ending (I'm not going to do any spoilers). This is the most ho-hum, contrived mess I've ever seen. It's as if they ran out of time and just decided to create this ending. Judge for yourself. The bottom line is, people just don't act this way--they just don't.