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Monday, June 4, 2018

Experiment In Terror (1962)

Set in San Francisco, a psychotic killer (Ross Martin) forces a bank teller (Lee Remick) to steal $100,000 from her bank. He threatens both her and her kid sister (Stefanie Powers) if she tries to contact the police. Despite his threats, she contacts the FBI and an agent (Glenn Ford) works with her to ensnare the psychopath. Based on the novel OPERATION TERROR by Gordon and Mildred Gordon (who also did the screenplay) and directed by Blake Edwards. This is a superior thriller worthy of Hitchcock at his best. Beautifully shot in B&W by Philip Lathrop (THE PINK PANTHER), who does the most spectacular things with shadows and light and with a creepily intense underscore by Henry Mancini. Edwards takes his time and lets the film unfold at a leisurely pace but it never feels slow or padded out. That's because he uses the pacing for detail. Example: there's an interview between Ford and a woman (Patricia Huston) who may know something about the case. But what's most interesting about the scene isn't the dialog but the unspoken sexual tension between the two characters. One of the seminal thrillers of the 1960s. With Clifton James, Ned Glass and Roy Poole.

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