| Experiment in Terror | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Screenplay by | Mildred Gordon Gordon Gordon |
| Based on | Operation Terror 1961 novel by Mildred Gordon and Gordon Gordon |
| Produced by | Blake Edwards |
| Starring | Glenn Ford Lee Remick Stefanie Powers |
| Cinematography | Philip H. Lathrop |
| Edited by | Patrick McCormack |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
Production company | Geoffrey-Kate Productions |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 123 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.4 million (US/Canada)[1] |
Experiment in Terror is a 1962 Americanneo-noirthriller film released byColumbia Pictures. It was directed byBlake Edwards and written byMildred Gordon andGordon Gordon based on their 1961 novelOperation Terror. The film starsGlenn Ford,Lee Remick,Stefanie Powers andRoss Martin.[2] The musical score was composed byHenry Mancini.
A sadistic killer, Garland "Red" Lynch, uses a campaign of terror to forceSan Francisco bank teller Kelly Sherwood to steal $100,000 from the bank for him. Despite Lynch's threat to kill Sherwood or her teenage sister Toby if she goes to the police, and in defiance of the fact that Lynch has created a set-up which alerts him to her activities, Sherwood contacts theSan Francisco office of theFBI, where agent John Ripley takes charge of the case.
Ripley interviews another woman who implies that she is involved in some way in a serious crime, but before she can give Ripley the details, Lynch murders her. Sherwood continues to be terrorized with phone calls, anasthmatic condition making the unseen Lynch's voice all the more sinister.
The FBI identifies the criminal, noting that Lynch has a record of convictions for statutory rape, forgery, criminal assault, armed robbery and murder. They track down his girlfriend, Lisa Soong, whose six-year-old son has just had a hip replaced. Lynch is paying all the hospital bills. Because of this, Lisa refuses to believe that Lynch is a criminal and will not cooperate with the investigation. Ripley nevertheless manages to get some information about "Uncle Red" from the boy.
Lynch finally gives Sherwood a time and date to steal the money, and just to make sure that she does, he kidnaps her sister Toby and holds her captive. The climax is a chase throughCandlestick Park after a nighttime baseball game between therivalSan Francisco Giants andLos Angeles Dodgers. On-field action includes several closeups of Dodgers pitcherDon Drysdale. Ripley and his men ultimately surround Lynch on the infield of the stadium. As Lynch takes aim at a police helicopter, Ripley shoots him and he dies on the pitcher's mound.
Experiment in Terror was filmed on location inSan Francisco. Kelly Sherwood (Lee Remick)'s house is at 100 St. Germain Avenue in theClarendon Heights district (now demolished). Kelly works at theCrocker-Anglo Bank (nowWells Fargo Bank) located at One Montgomery Street. The climactic chase at the end of the film was filmed atCandlestick Park; other nearby filming locations includedFisherman's Wharf andNorth Beach.
Herb Stein reported on the film's five weeks of production in theBay Area. Following theGiants-Dodgers game filming, "Later the picture gang rented Candlestick to shoot reaction in the stands, hired about 1,000 extras from the unemployed here—their take running from $25 to $50 a night. Notwithstanding the fact that Candlestick Park is probably the windiest stadium in the country, the Hollywood company brought its own wind machines from the studios just in case the Giants home grounds disappointed. Also hauled were fog machines, in the event theTwin Peaks locale, famous for its fog, was clear the nights the company planned to shoot….Cost of the location runs to $50,000 a day which, over a five week stretch, adds up."[3]
The film opened in New York on April 13, 1962.[4]The film was originally released in the UK under the titleThe Grip of Fear.[2]
Clive Hirschhorn, in his history of Columbia Pictures, criticized the film, writing that director Blake Edwards "gussied upExperiment in Terror with far too many arty, self-conscious, cutely angled shots for his picture's good. The end result was less an experiment in terror than an experiment in lily-gilding."[5]
But theBritish Film Institute'sBFI Companion to Crime found it "a dark and heavily atmospheric suspense thriller" that gets a special chilling effect from a villain who "remains unseen for most of the story except for his dark menacing outline in the shadows..."[6]
Leonard Malin gaveExperiment in Terror three stars (out of four) and praised its "taut suspense... convincing performances... great Henry Mancini score" and "good use of San Francisco locations."[7]
Jonathan Benair, inFilm Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, noted the way director Edwards so "effectively utilizes the graceful bridges and leisurely cable cars of San Francisco" and otherwise places "his menace in a sophisticated milieu..." heightening the threat, and "expressing the noir concern that the city is outwardly respectable but inwardly seething with nameless terrors that spring to life when least expected."[8]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 8 reviews, with an average score of 8.40/10.[9] It has been shown on theTurner Classic Movies showNoir Alley withEddie Muller.
Ross Martin was nominated for a 1963Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor at the20th Golden Globe Awards.[10]