Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This faithful adaptation of a roman policier with a screenplay by the Gordons themselves, seems a big strange when transplanted to American soil, hearing American accents instead of British, English dialogue instead of French. In this sort of film, the actor who plays the detective is all important and Glenn Ford just doesn't display the magnetism and the vitality for the part – especially when viewed against say, Jack Hawkins or Jean Gabin. He is just glum, old, ever-plodding Glenn Ford, never smiling, and just going through his paces like a dead-pan automaton. Lee Remick is no better as the heroine. Furthermore, she is not very attractively made up or costumed, and her whiny, raspy accent is a considerable irritation. The rest of the players, however, are definitely a decided improvement. Ross Martin, for instance, delivers a stand-out performance as the asthmatic psychopath; Stefanie Powers can look frightened most effectively; and there are some engrossing characterizations by Ned Glass, Patricia Huston and Al Avalon. Next to the acting, the second most important feature in this type of film is the milieu – and this comes across well. Location filming is a major asset here, plus the dynamic film editing with abrupt cutting from one scene to another that's totally unexpected and keeps everyone in the audience right on their toes – which as just as well, for the plot itself offers little that is exciting and almost nothing that could be described as terrifying. You might argue that time has taken the edge off this excitement, but I saw this film on first release, and I felt about it then as I do now, namely that as an experiment in terror, it is a fizzle. True, it does have suspense and tension – but not enough!Fortunately, there are compensations: Ross Martin's engrossing portrayal and Phillip Lathrop's cinematography. Plus an atmospheric music score by Henry Mancini that – aside from the credit suspense theme – is not heard to its best advantage in the movie itself. This blunder will certainly disappoint his fans like me, who have heard this great music on his sound track recording.

Experiment in Terror is directed by Blake Edwards and adapted to screenplay by Mildred and Gordon Gordon from their own novel called Operation Terror. It stars Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Stefanie Powers and Ross Martin. Music is by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop.Film begins with bank teller Kelly Sherwood (Remick) driving home through night time San Francisco, over head shots capturing the cityscape for backdrop purpose. Henry Mancini's haunting soundtrack hovers over Kelly's car in spectral fashion, until she arrives home in Twin Peaks and enters her garage, things fall silent as she gets out the car. She senses she's not alone, and she's right. A man whose face is obscured grabs her and puts one hand over her mouth, he tells her in his asthmatic voice that he knows everything about her and her young sister, and that if she doesn't do as she is told then pain, misery and death awaits them. She's to steal $100,000 from the bank where she works, he will even cut her in for 20%, what a swell fella eh?It's a brilliant opening, stylish film making meets a thematic atmosphere full of fear, tension and sexual menace. What follows is a superbly crafted movie, a bona fide thriller that is concerned with characterisations, concerned with wringing out maximum amounts of suspense by way of suggestions and conversations, there is no need to spill blood here, the threat and the fear is palpable throughout. The police procedural aspects of the story, headed by Ford's trusty and stoic detective, are played out with intelligence and always hold fascination appeal. Especially as the little snatches of time we spend with the villain leaves us in no doubt about how cruel and vile he can be.Edwards takes his time to build the story, stopping every once in a while to unfurl a special scene to reinforce the drama. Stand outs include a classic sequence in a room of mannequins and a genuinely chilling piece where our villain dresses in drag. Then there is the justifiably lauded finale played out at Candlestick Park during the culmination of a major league baseball game, thrilling in its execution and a fitting closure to the screw tightening approach favoured by Edwards. All the while Mancini's musical accompaniments act as a foreboding presence, dovetailing with the themes and characterisations at work in the play.Visually it's also impressive, filmed in gritty black and white, Edwards uses intense close-ups to ramp up the tension, dallies with angles to enforce emotional turmoil, while Lathrop always keeps the lenses stark, the contrasts rich and the use of angled shadows is most striking. Cast are superb, Remick makes for a strong heroine in spite of the constant peril she faces, Ford is a bastion of strength and virtue and Powers exudes youthful vulnerability without appearing as a whiny adolescent. Then there is Martin, turning in one of the most menacing villain turns of the 60s, it's a lesson in how to play evil without actually being extremely physical. As the character shifts from being a murdering predator to a man of heart who cares for a girlfriend's child, Martin convinces enough to make it a frightening proposition.Highly recommended. 8/10

Fine b/w thriller with noir leanings is very well shot including some stunning sequences, not least the opening credits, first scene and last sequence and plenty more in between. Sure, today this would have been speeded up a little with 20 minutes or so shorn, but this is 1962, as witnessed by the cars and fashions, so we have what we have. Tense and surprisingly bold and edging towards a grubbiness at times, this is well worth seeing and has clearly been well seen by makers of subsequent movies. Reference has been made to David Lynch and you will smile when you see the street sign and hear the character surname, but not any really substantial influence, I would have thought. Lee Remick has made very many films but apart from The Omen, this is probably the only one I've seen. Very good she is too, in the difficult, constantly harassed, role.

A man accosts a bank worker, threatening to kill her little sister if she doesn't steal for him. From the dramatic opening scene to the exciting finale, this is a terrific thriller that grabs the viewer and doesn't let go. This was Edwards' first thriller and he does an excellent job of building the tension, helped by the dark and moody cinematography. There are solid performances from Remick as the bank worker, Powers as her little sister, Ford as the FBI agent, and Martin as the creepy, asthmatic villain. The location shooting in San Francisco is quite effective, with the finale taking place during a baseball game at Candlestick Park.