Experiment in Terror [Grip of Fear] **** (1962, Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Ross Martin, Stefanie Powers) – Classic Movie Review 6859

Director Blake Edwards is best known for his farcical comedies and especially the Pink Panther movies, but here in 1962 he makes a first-rate job of this excellent San Francisco location-shot suspense thriller about a bank teller Kelly Sherwood (Lee Remick) forced by sinister crook ‘Red’ Lynch (Ross Martin) into helping him steal $100,000 from her bank to stay alive.

Glenn Ford is effectively cast as ‘Rip’ Ripley, the FBI agent she hopes will be able to save her, and Stefanie Powers plays her teenage sister Toby, who is kidnapped by the asthmatic bad guy man who has attacked Kelly at home and forced her into helping him.

The stars (particularly Remick) work it up into an exciting lather, and Edwards jazzes it along with stylish, odd-angled visuals in Philip H Lathrop’s outstanding black and white cinematography. A sweaty-palm movie is tautly handled for a full measure of suspense and heart-pounding tension.

Edwards’s regular composer, Henry Mancini, also comes up with something special for the score. The satisfying screenplay is written by Mildred and Gordon Gordon (as The Gordons) from their novel Operation Terror.

Also in the cast are Roy Poole, Ned Glass, Anita Loo, Patricia Huston, Gilbert Green, Al Avalon, Clifton James, William Bryant, Dick Crockett, James Lamphier, James T Callahan, Harry Evans, Mike Foran, Frederic Downs, Fred Coby, Claire Griswold, Edward Mallory, Judee Morton, Bill Neff, Karen Norris, Richard Norris, William Remick, William Sharon, Audrey Swanson, David Tomack and Ken Wales.

Experiment in Terror (aka Grip of Fear in GB) is directed by Blake Edwards, runs 123 minutes, is made by Geoffrey-Kate Productions, is released byColumbia, is written by Mildred Gordon and Gordon Gordon, based on the novel Operation Terror by Mildred Gordon and Gordon Gordon, is shot in black and white by Philip H Lathrop, is produced by Blake Edwards, is scored by Henry Mancini, and is designed by Robert Peterson.

Edwards and Remick also made Days of Wine and Roses together in 1962.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6859

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