EDGE OF DOOM *

"Edge of Doom's" credentials were certainly first-class. It was a Samuel Goldwyn production directed by Mark Robson with a screenplay by Philip Yordan and a cast that included Dana Andrews, Farley Granger, Joan Evans, Robert Keith and Paul Stewart but the story was gloomy, (Granger's the youth who kills a priest and Andrews is a priest who tries to find out why), even if the treatment showed a certain amount of imagination. Unfortunately, Andrews was totally miscast as a priest, (he tells the story in flashback and is appallingly sanctimonious), while Granger, never much of an actor, can't bring his character to life. Where it does score is in Harry Stradling's black and white cinematography and in Richard Day's art direction, both of which capture the seedy, poverty-stricken milieu perfectly. It wasn't a hit; the grim story obviously put audiences off but it's just unusual enough to be interesting and it does deserve to be better known. Just a pity it's so glum.