''Edge of Eternity'' is a 1959

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by Don Siegel shot on location in the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

Plot

A man who has parked his car and is looking into the Grand Canyon with binoculars experiences a murder attempt. The killer releases the emergency brake and pushes the vehicle toward the man, intending to have the car strike him and knock him over the edge. The man is able to leap out of the way at the last moment. A fierce struggle ensues and the man kills his attacker by using his foot to shove him over the rim. The man is then seen wandering, dishevelled and talking apparent nonsense, by Eli, an old prospector who tells a

Deputy Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

about it. However, Eli has a reputation for telling tall tales, so the deputy ignores him to chase an attractive woman, Janice Kendon, speeding recklessly down the road. On returning to the abandoned mining office Eli calls home, he finds the man dead, hanging with his hands bound behind him. The Deputy and Janice team up to solve the murders. Janice unwittingly provides the vital clue when she identifies the hanged man's suit jacket as being made by an exclusive New York City tailor. It develops that he is an Eastern executive of an Arizona mining company. Martin correctly assumes the only reason the man would make a cross-country trip is to investigate possible theft from the company. Meanwhile, Eli becomes the murderer's next victim; stabbed to death by someone he welcomes into his home as a friend. Janice's brother Bob is a rich wastrel who spends most of his days at Scotty O'Brien's tavern; the sole drinking spot within auto range. While Martin is at Janice's house, Bob rushes out after a mysterious phone call. A worried Janice follows him, and Martin follows Janice. O'Brien is the killer. The "jolly saloonkeeper" has been illegally extracting gold from a closed mine, and expects Bob to fly him to Las Vegas in a private plane. When Bob discovers the murders, he refuses---and O'Brien kills Bob just as Janice drives up. O'Brien takes Janice hostage in her car and disables Martin's patrol car with bullets. O'Brien thinks he is in the clear when he sees no cars following him, but helicopter patrols have kept him in sight. Martin leaps aboard a cable car that travels over the highest point of the Grand Canyon...and he and O'Brien have a fistfight outside the car. The non-athletic O'Brien falls to his death, and Martin rescues and comforts Janice.

Cast

* Cornel Wilde as Deputy Les Martin * Victoria Shaw as Janice Kendon * Mickey Shaughnessy as Scotty O'Brien * Edgar Buchanan as Sheriff Edwards * Rian Garrick as Bob Kendon *

Jack Elam William Scott "Jack" Elam (November 13, 1920 – October 20, 2003) was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villainou ...

as Bill Ward *

Alexander Lockwood Alexander Lockwood (May 5, 1902 – January 25, 1990) was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout the 1930s to the 1980s. Biography Lockwood was born in Slezská Ostrava, now Czech Republic, in 190 ...

as Jim Kendon *

Dabbs Greer Robert William "Dabbs" Greer (April 2, 1917 – April 28, 2007) was an American character actor in film and television for over 60 years. With nearly 100 film roles and appearances in nearly 600 television episodes of various series, Greer m ...

as Gas station attendant *

Tom Fadden Tom Fadden (January 6, 1895 – April 14, 1980) was an American actor. He performed on the legitimate stage, vaudeville, in films and on television during his long career. Early life Fadden was born in Bayard, Iowa, on January 6, 1895; his fathe ...

as Eli * Wendell Holmes as Sam Houghton * Bernhard “Barney” Dehl police officer (uncredited) *Hope Summers as Motel Owner(uncredited) *Guy Way as Charlie Piper(uncredited)

Filming locations

Filming took place in Kingman, Oatman, and Gold Road, Arizona. The climax of the film, involving a fight on a US Guano cable car suspended above the Grand Canyon, was filmed in the

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway, aerial tram, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip ...

to the

Bat Cave mine The Bat Cave mine was a bat guano mine in a natural cave located in the western Grand Canyon of Arizona at river mile 266, above Lake Mead. Mining The cave was apparently discovered in the 1930s by a passing boater. Several unsuccessful ear ...

, in the western

of Arizona. US Guano owned and operated the Bat Cave Mine at the time. Guano was considered a good organic fertiliser before the use of modern synthetics. The mine played out in 1960 and was closed. The head house for the cable car and some of the relic equipment as seen in the film have been preserved and may be viewed today, almost as it was in the film.

External links

* * * *
''Edge of Eternity'' review, with poster and stills
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edge Of Eternity 1959 films 1959 crime drama films 1950s mystery films American crime drama films American mystery films Films set in Arizona Films directed by Don Siegel Films scored by Daniele Amfitheatrof Columbia Pictures films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films