EXPERIMENT IN TERROR was conducted in 1962, memorable for being packed with a stellar array of spectacular epics and intense dramas. The year also let slip the dogs of fright, with this exercise in torment competing with Cape Fear, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? and Pressure Point for being the most unsettling. Blake Edwards directed & produced a script written by Mildred and Gordon Gordon, adapted from their novel “Operation Terror”.

Bank teller ‘Kelly Sherwood’ (Lee Remick) is assaulted by an unknown man—whose face she cannot see— who threatens that unless explicitly follows his directions and robs $100,000 from her bank he will kill her and/or her younger sister ‘Toby’ (Stephanie Powers). Kelly reports the frightening incident to the FBI and agent ‘John Ripley’ (Glenn Ford) heads the investigation. Proof that the perpetrator means business comes when another woman reporting a similar situation is murdered and a third, shown to be involved with the eventually identified but unlocated man, refuses to cooperate. The dateline to Kelly’s forced robbery nears.

Expertly crafted, with expected fine work from Ford and Remick and a terrifically creepy job from Ross Martin as ‘Red Lynch’, someone you’d never want to encounter unless you’re pointing a loaded .38 at him. 19-year-old newcomer Powers is okay (sorry, never got her appeal; she must’ve had a good agent. At least they didn’t cast Jill St. John: next to her, Powers is Vivien Leigh) and there are effective supporting slices from Ned Glass (a smug stoolie named ‘Popcorn’), Anita Loo (convinced fiendish Lynch is a swell fella) and Patricia Huston, as a mannequin sculptor who knows more than is healthy to share.

Edwards makes astute use of San Francisco locations (and hews to actual geography) with adroit black & white cinematography from Philip Lathrop so sharp you can map the pores on Martin’s face. Henry Mancini provides a subtle score, the title music a veiled hint that something wicked is en route.

The $4,000,000 gross took spot #61 at the box office. Having wrapped this, Edwards, Remick, Mancini, Lathrop and editor Patrick McCormick stayed on in San Francisco for Days Of Wine And Roses, a big hit that saw Remick get an Oscar nomination as Best Actress and Mancini sharing one with Johnny Mercer for the title lament.

123 minutes, with Clifton James (always welcome), Roy Poole, William Bryant (dependable, unsung character actor with 236 credits between 1949 & 2001)), Gilbert Green and James Lanphier.