This was a thriller I had been longing to watch for some time, having missed its sole TV showing several years ago. The fact that director Edwards does not typically dabble in the genre (albeit having learned his lesson from the masters extremely well) should excuse its occasional pretentiousness - most evident in the long two-shot at the beginning of Lee Remick's first encounter with Ross Martin and the similarly extended (and basically irrelevant) sequence in the mannequin lady's apartment prior to her murder.
The film's deliberate pace and methodical approach creates a riveting and unrelenting tension and the various subplots (focusing on Stefanie Powers as Remick's younger, liberated sister; Ned Glass as a sleazy police informer; the aforementioned and possibly nymphomaniac 'mannequin lady'; and Martin's Japanese 'family'), while making it longer than is perhaps necessary, are so well nurtured that they give the film an extra edge - thus further enhancing its essential quality. Acting is top-notch: Glenn Ford is one of Hollywood's most likable, reliable and underrated leading men; Remick and Martin (a memorable and complex heavy, who also gets to do his menacing act in drag!) are perfect as victim and aggressor.
Also, the film's pervasive noir-ish atmosphere (propelled by Henry Mancini's unusual score and superbly caught by Edwards and cinematographer Philip Lathrop) is indication that the genre wasn't quite done yet; indeed, EXPERIMENT IN TERROR can be seen as marking perhaps the transition point between old-style noir and the so-called neo-noirs spearheaded by POINT BLANK (1967).
Since I work as a bank teller myself, I'm always fascinated by caper films and, in this case, I couldn't help but empathize with Remick's plight; however, I found some aspects of the plot unconvincing: the bank manager's refusal to put up the ransom money, the fact that Remick was kept active on front-office duty during this nerve-racking period, Remick cramming $100,000 in two bundles into her little purse and, finally, the supervisor not noticing the missing cash from Remick's own till at the end of the day...
The film's deliberate pace and methodical approach creates a riveting and unrelenting tension and the various subplots (focusing on Stefanie Powers as Remick's younger, liberated sister; Ned Glass as a sleazy police informer; the aforementioned and possibly nymphomaniac 'mannequin lady'; and Martin's Japanese 'family'), while making it longer than is perhaps necessary, are so well nurtured that they give the film an extra edge - thus further enhancing its essential quality. Acting is top-notch: Glenn Ford is one of Hollywood's most likable, reliable and underrated leading men; Remick and Martin (a memorable and complex heavy, who also gets to do his menacing act in drag!) are perfect as victim and aggressor.
Also, the film's pervasive noir-ish atmosphere (propelled by Henry Mancini's unusual score and superbly caught by Edwards and cinematographer Philip Lathrop) is indication that the genre wasn't quite done yet; indeed, EXPERIMENT IN TERROR can be seen as marking perhaps the transition point between old-style noir and the so-called neo-noirs spearheaded by POINT BLANK (1967).
Since I work as a bank teller myself, I'm always fascinated by caper films and, in this case, I couldn't help but empathize with Remick's plight; however, I found some aspects of the plot unconvincing: the bank manager's refusal to put up the ransom money, the fact that Remick was kept active on front-office duty during this nerve-racking period, Remick cramming $100,000 in two bundles into her little purse and, finally, the supervisor not noticing the missing cash from Remick's own till at the end of the day...