After Carpenter and De Palma, it may seem a little dated; yet Edwards' classical feel for pure cinema remains unalloyed. After Carpenter and De Palma, it may seem a little dated; yet Edwards' classical feel for pure cinema remains unalloyed. Experiment in Terror has no comic relief or sentimental digressions; it excited audiences by concentrating on tense situations in a way that the Production Code would have discouraged a few years before. She goes to the FBI. The Man sends Kelly out to contact an unidentified person at a nightclub, and she's so rattled by his instructions that she allows herself to be picked up by a guy who thinks he's gotten incredibly lucky. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets Kirgo also notes that Kelly Sherwood has no ongoing romance and in one scene even puts off a potential date. Movie: Excellent But none of Stone's efforts reaches the intensity of Blake Edwards' Experiment in Terror, a gripping you-are-there account of a young woman terrorized by a madman. The girl instead falls easy prey to a man who needs only to tell her that Kelly is in trouble. Kelly's foe is played by the talented Ross Martin, who is given bottom billing to keep audiences off balance about his identity. -- Best, Mark Stevens. !What are the chances, they also become inseparable friends, growing up.People notice all are very smart and look alike. | Privacy Policy, DVD Talk Newsletter (Sample) The famous conclusion occurs at Candlestick Park during a baseball game, with some (for 1962) sophisticated aerial shots. Experiment in Terror makes the most of its San Francisco locale, especially the commercial dock alongside the popular restaurant Pier 9, which hasn't changed much in 50 years. Packaging: Keep case 2. The film treatment embraces a number of unnecessary character bits that merely extend the plot and, despite their striking individual reaction, deter from the suspense buildup. As a native San Franciscan, I'd like to add that Experiment in Terror is the only shot-in-San Francisco film I've ever seen which is geographically correct in every detail. (Inger Stevens vs. Rod Steiger) and The Last Voyage (Dorothy Malone vs. a sinking ship). Instead of a documentary approach, he begins with a scene every woman dreads: smart bank teller Kelly Sherwood (Lee Remick) is seized in her own garage by a brutal, wheezing man who keeps his identity a secret. At the time Edwards was known for highly successful non-genre fare, mostly star-driven comedies and light dramas like Operation Petticoat and Breakfast at Tiffany's. [08 Feb 2015, p.D6]. Send Email. Read full review With Experiment in Terror, Edwards, working in the familiar genre of criminal depravity, does something that may well be, for Hollywood, unprecedented: he makes a virtual piece of film criticism in movie form. "The Man" has implied that he has several confederates, so the FBI takes pains to follow Kelly and Toby without being seen. Kelly tries to warn young Toby to take sensible precautions. Three agents are seemingly sitting around with nothing to do. Using a wheezing voice to maximum effect, Martin's 'Red Lynch' is supremely creepy, a brilliant slimeball who gets his kicks from manipulating people, and eliminating those that learn his identity. The business about Red's altruistic generosity to the crippled Chinese boy is necessary to give him a bit more human complexity, as he's a stack of unanswered questions. Sign up here. Perhaps the only overused situation in Terror is Huston's occupation, which provides a a spooky murder sequence with a room packed with dismembered mannequins. Likeable Ned Glass is a stoolie that can't give Ripley a good I.D. Copyright © var now = new Date(); document.write(now.getFullYear()) MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. With Experiment in Terror, Edwards, working in the familiar genre of criminal depravity, does something that may well be, for Hollywood, unprecedented: he makes a virtual piece of film criticism in movie form. All of that musical manipulation (Boo!) Now that's the kind of help I wish were available when we big-city Americans get in trouble ... it seems amazing that Kelly could reach such a top FBI action man without first explaining her problem to four subordinates. They would do it in one hour on TV, and it would probably be every bit as good. I know Edwards had a great fondness for San Francisco - The Days of Wine and Roses was shot here, too. The rest of the movie shows how vulnerable each of us might be if the right pressure were applied. But none of Stone's efforts reaches the intensity of Blake Edwards' Experiment in Terror, a gripping you-are-there account of a young woman terrorized by a madman. We rank the 25 best-reviewed horror films of the 2010s. Please enter your email address and we will email you a new password. Glad to see this one made it to Hi-Def, especially with that great isolated Mancini score. The film's maniac male seems determined to rob Kelly of her independence, and forces her to do his bidding throughout the whole film. The man demands that Kelly steal $100,000 in cash from her bank for him: he threatens both her and her younger sister Toby (Stefanie Powers) with rape and death if they go to the police. Ripley and his team discover that their quarry has murdered a sculptress, but is also paying the doctor bills for a young Chinese-American boy, without asking anything in return. The final pullback into the sky is now a total cliché, but when the show was new it was considered quite stylish. She contacts the FBI, and Agent John 'Rip' Ripley takes her case. Martin had been working in TV since 1951 but won film roles only three or four times, and in unlikely career boosters like George Pal's Conquest of Space (he gets perforated by a meteorite) and Eugene Lourie's The Colossus of New York (run over by a truck, honest). Copyright © Fandango. Experiment in Terror also really feels like San Francisco in 1962. can be sampled directly via Twilight Time's Isolated Music Score alternate track. All rights reserved. They burst into action as soon as Kelly says that she's in danger, without really knowing anything about her problem. Blu-ray rates: Another 'spot on' note, from Lon Huber, 1.23.13: Glenn, Your take on Experiment in Terror is spot-on. The show opens up on a held shot of traffic on a bridge, which becomes a background for the main titles. Most of the picture is a cruel game of cat and mouse. (spoiler) (don't read if you don't want to know the identity of the killer). and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango. It takes more than two hours to come to a solution of the problem in this film. Get the freshest reviews, news, and more delivered right to your inbox! The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Blake Edwards' moody suspense thriller captures San Francisco from unexpected perspectives, starting with a dark drive with a perfect noirish Henry Mancini score across the Bay Bridge, and ending with then-new Candlestick Park. Lee Remick is frozen in a state of shock through the entire ordeal, as her attacker molests her and whispers dire threats in her ear. Aptly grants a satisfyingly original murder-mystery experience. Lee Remick and Glenn Ford are extremely capable in their roles, though neither is a stretch for their talents. The opening in Kelly's garage plays in a single long close-up, with the lighting obscuring our view of the perpetrator's face. Philip Lathrop's slick B&W cinematography gives us the feeling that the camera can go anywhere on the city streets, as Ripley's G-Men rush to apprehend suspect vehicles. I see his fidelity to the geography as an expression of that, and possibly also a way to amp up the realism. TT also includes some TV spots, a trailer and what appears to be a Teaser, that might be missing a text roll up front (my guess). It's interesting that the two films I've truly enjoyed Ford in have been released by Twilight Time -- Experiment in Terror and Fate is the Hunter. Notable Video Game Releases: New and Upcoming, What to Watch Now on HBO Max and the HBO App. DVD Savant Newsletter (Sample). Patricia Huston plays another woman who comes to agent Ripley for help. (Bullitt and Dirty Harry are literally all over the map, geographically, and neither fully conveys a uniquely San Francisco mood like the Edwards films do. and the Terms and Policies, Don't have an account? © 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Her first thoughts are for the safety of the teenaged Toby. Supplements: ), Thanks again for the review, it got me excited to double dip for this on BluRay. Tellingly, she comes on to Ripley, which apparently affects the way he handles her problem -- she's actually in more imminent danger than is Kelly. for the mystery man, and favorite cop Clifton James is a police captain. Still, with a running time slightly over two hours, Experiment in Terror is a bit too protracted to count as an unqualified success. Director Andrew Stone had specialized in movies about women in jeopardy, from the old Highway 301 to his personal productions Julie (Doris Day versus Louis Jourdan), to the pre-Psycho Cry Terror! (By the way, that sinister solo instrument isn't a guitar but an autoharp. Returning to gritty B&W, Blake Edwards ratchets up the sensational aspects of his picture. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, The Bureau is able to assign a veritable army of agents to her case. By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy The only questionable point of realism about Experiment in Terror occurs right at the beginning, with Kelly's anxious call to FBI headquarters. Kelly is no fool. Get a list of the best movie and TV titles recently added (and coming... Music title data, credits, and images provided by, Movie title data, credits, and poster art provided by. The actors help director Edwards maintain the high tension by playing everything straight and sober. A man with an asthmatic voice telephones bank clerk Kelly Sherwood at home and coerces her into helping him steal a large sum from her bank.