SNOW JOB

Big Bore and I had no sooner returned from Glacier National Park when we stumbled on a movie that was filmed there--almost 60 years ago.  Dangerous Mission was shot in 3-D, but we got to see it in all its 2-D splendor on our TV this past week.  And my, oh my, it was just like re-living our vacation all over again--except for the murder, forest fire, and avalanche or two.

But so much for minor details.  The movie stars those two famous acting Vs of the 1950s--Victor Mature and Vincent Price--plus a glam Piper Laurie, well before she became Sissy Spacek's religious psycho mom in the movie Carrie.

Piper, a cashier at a Glacier souvenir shop, is hiding from the mob because she witnessed a murder there. Both V men are supposedly tourists who skirt chase after her.  We're not supposed to know that one is a bad guy hit man out to silence her, while the other is a good guy cop trying to protect her.

Once the ruse is up, Bad V kidnaps Piper, who jumps out of his car while it's speeding along the narrow, winding Going to the Sun Road. She has incredible bounce-a-bility and is totally unscathed, of course.

Next, Bad V grabs Mary, an Indian maiden/cashier who has the hots for him, and he enlists her help in finding his way out of the park once the news gets out that he's accosted Piper.  They are trailed by Good V, accompanied by the ever-resilient Piper, who is now dashing across the ice and show ( as in:  glacier) in a trench coat, dress, and heels.  The woman is amazing!

But, oops, here comes another little avalanche, and Bad V and Piper end up falling into a crevice AFTER he shoots Mary's prison-escapee father who JUST HAPPENS to run into them along the trail.  Good V grabs a rope he JUST HAPPENS to have handy in order to save the day.  Oh, the excitement was almost too much to bear. Or bare. Take your pick.

With chilling predictability, Bad V falls farther down the crevice to a dismal end, Good V saves Piper, and she rewards him with a "my hero" kiss--the end.

I give this movie two-and-a-half flames out of four.  It was fun to see Glacier National Park again and recognize places we'd been (minus the crevice), and there's some campy vamping, like when the Indian chick exposes herself to Vincent by opening her coat and showing him her mini-skirted tribal dance outfit. Hubba, hubba. And both Vs got in some first-rate eyebrow raising all through the movie. Mature's left eyebrow was in especially fine form.

We'd watch this movie again in a heartbeat and laugh and groan just as much as we did the first time around.  If you ever get the chance to see Dangerous Mission on Turner Classic Movies, go for it!  This movie truly is an Avalanche of Action!!!