Edge of Eternity

Filmed in and around the Grand Canyon, Don Siegel’s brightly-colored CinemaScope production of Edge of Eternity combines film noir with elements of Westerns and action films. Featuring gorgeous sunset vistas and panoramic views of America’s greatest natural wonder, most of the film’s action takes place vertically — on switchback mountain roads, rock precipices, and a tramcar called the “Dancing Bucket” suspended a thousand feet above the canyon floor for accessing bat shit (guano). Cornel Wilde stars as Deputy Les Martin, the new number two lawman in town who left his last job when the grief of his wife’s death clouded his judgment and got him fired. Martin falls for Janice Kendon (Victoria Shaw) after pulling her over for speeding (“I’m maladjusted,” she explains coyly. “I come from a broken home”), and, with her hometown advantage, Janice aids Martin in his investigation of recent murders with which Janice’s drunk of a brother (Rian Garrick) might be deeply involved.