{"id":6164,"date":"2013-02-18T20:48:55","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T01:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6164"},"modified":"2013-02-18T20:48:55","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T01:48:55","slug":"br-experiment-in-terror-1962","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=6164","title":{"rendered":"BR: Experiment in Terror (1962)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to: <\/strong>Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>E<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Excellent\/ BR Transfer: Excellent\/ BR Extras: Good<\/p>\n

Label: Twilight Time\/ Region: All \/\u00a0Released: January, 2013<\/p>\n

Genre: Suspense \/ Thriller \/ Film Noir<\/p>\n

Synopsis: A bank teller is blackmailed into stealing $100,000 from her branch but attempts to foil her tormentor’s scheme by immediately involving the FBI.<\/p>\n

Special Features: Isolated stereo music track \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

After specializing in light comedies (Operation Petticoat<\/strong>, High Time<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>]), romances (Breakfast at Tiffany\u2019s<\/strong>) and mini-adventures on TV featuring suave detective Peter Gunn<\/strong>, in 1962 Blake Edwards chose to dive into two genres relatively new to him: the social drama, via Days of Wine and Roses<\/strong>, about the destructive force of alcoholism; and the grim psychological thriller Experiment in Terror<\/strong>, where FBI investigative procedures were given almost equal time as the familiar cat and mouse antics between a heroine, a G-man, and the blackmailing killer holding a valuable hostage in exchange for $100,000.<\/p>\n

Both films starred Lee Remick, and while the attractive, talented actress shared top billing in Experiment <\/strong>with veteran character actor Glenn Ford, the real star of the film is arguably Ross Martin, who transformed a generic baddie into one of the sleaziest, vicious screen villains without spilling a drop of blood onscreen, or indulging in a graphic act of sexual violation.<\/p>\n

Martin had co-starred in the short-lived TV series Mr. Lucky<\/strong>, of which several episodes were written by Edwards, and the actor had paid his dues in countless TV appearances going back a decade, including a one-shot spot on Peter Gunn<\/strong>. Even though he isn\u2019t seen in full until the last act, through his wheezing voice, the facial mannerisms captured by stark macro cinematography, and Henry Mancini\u2019s thematic organ drone, Martin\u2019s realization of serial blackmailer \/ killer \/ rapist Garland is full-dimensional, and there\u2019s never a doubt the monster is capable of tormenting his victims at a cruel, leisurely pace.<\/p>\n

For Edwards, the film undoubtedly proved he could handle the suspense genre, and there\u2019s a sense he studied Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s Psycho<\/strong> (1960) very carefully, drawing from that film\u2019s stark cinematography and a few striking angles to create high tension. The use of close-ups is especially affecting in the opening sequence where Garland grabs bank teller Kelly (Remick) from behind in her locked garage, and whispers his blackmailing intentions and pre-existing comfort for killing into her ear. Edwards keeps Martin\u2019s face in shadow, but he films Martin\u2019s mouth and porous skin in an almost grotesque manner.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a great opening sequence because it\u2019s not flamboyant: the scene\u2019s tension relies wholly on the actors\u2019 performances, with a soundtrack not filled by score but Garland\u2019s wheezing voice. We also know Garland\u2019s a full-time monster because of his second attempt to \u2018train\u2019 Kelly into recognizing his easy reach, yet to the credit of Edwards and screenwriters Gordon Gordon and Mildred Gordon (billed as \u201cThe Gordons\u201d), Kelly isn\u2019t a weak-willed heroine: as Garland\u2019s teasing intensifies, she becomes more rebellious, standing up for herself and kid sister Toby (Stefanie Powers).<\/p>\n

To modern audiences, Experiment<\/strong> may seem a little slow, but there are no wasted moments: the procedural stages of the FBI\u2019s efforts to mine every clue for a link to Garland (likely drawn from Gordon Gordon\u2019s own time at the bureau) remain enticing, and they form a slow build to the eventual climax that wraps up a kidnapping, a robbery, the cash hand-off, and an exciting chase through a baseball stadium \u2013 a sequence that arguably influenced the finale of The Satan Bug<\/strong> (1965) and, perhaps the midsection of Dirty Harry <\/strong>(1971).<\/p>\n

The link between Experiment<\/strong> and Dirty Harry <\/strong>isn\u2019t specious. Both films feature potent villains with a prior history of physical and sexual assault, and the respective actors delivered extremely vivid performances as monsters, although Garland\u2019s more in control of his rage: when he kidnaps Toby and demands she remove her clothes, Martin\u2019s leering eyes and wicked grin imply Garland\u2019s behaviour that could easily brutalize Kelly\u2019s sister. His only physical assault is in touching Toby\u2019s cheek, but with more time, it\u2019s likely Garland could\u2019ve indulged a little.<\/p>\n

The finale in the baseball stadium \u00a0recalls the midsection of Dirty Harry<\/strong>, where the detective hunts down and torments Scorpio (Andrew Robinson), and there are slight similarities in the way Scorpio writhes like a weasel under Harry\u2019s heel on the baseball diamond, and Garland continues to wheeze a few breathes of life before he\u2019s no longer a menace on the pitcher\u2019s mound. Like Dirty Harry<\/strong>, Edwards involves a helicopter at the end of the scene, but whether by coincidence or advance planning, Experiment<\/strong> begins with a aerial shot of a bridge where a helicopter flies across the night sky, and ends with a POV from a helicopter as the camera pulls back to a pair of farther views of the illuminated stadium.<\/p>\n

An additional cinematic parallel worth noting is the exceptionally directed sequence in which Garland\u2019s acquaintance Nancy (Patricia Huston) is killed. Only after she ends her emergency call to Ripley does Edwards reveal her \u2018unusual occupation\u2019 \u00a0– a sculptress – and her apartment: a weird, unsettling studio crammed with mannequin body parts mounted, shelved, and suspended all over the place. The artful framing includes protruding limbs and heads, and concludes when Ripley arrives and finders her suspended like one of her creations. Mario Bava may not have drawn whole ideas from the scene, but\u00a0 there are slight atmospheric similarities in the way Bava fixated on mannequins in Blood and Black Lace<\/strong> (1964).<\/p>\n

Both Experiment<\/strong> and Lace<\/strong> also feature jazzy soundtracks, but Henry Mancini applied same approach as in his Touch of Evil <\/strong>(1958) score \u2013 minimal, with cues lasting only as much as necessary. Like Orson Welles, Edwards placed a greater emphasis on location sounds, and the film\u2019s use of real locations and black & white cinematography really give Experiment<\/strong> a genuine docu-drama feel; it\u2019s still a glossy production, but there\u2019s a palpable documentary quality that may have been inspired by the Gordons\u2019 procedural minutia.<\/p>\n

Only during the main title sequence (and the final bit of the End Credits) is Mancini\u2019s music characteristically rich: in documentary style, the aerial camera follows Kelly as she drives her convertible Ford Fairlane over a bridge, and the dirty jazz beat suddenly switches to a softer, string-saturated B-section before a return to the main theme, with it\u2019s plucked autoharp<\/a> and weird arpeggio effects that resemble a constricted female voice).<\/p>\n

The bulk of the score is largely restricted to brass, rapping percussion, and an organ drone that\u2019s as chilling as Bernard Herrmann\u2019s slashing strings in Psycho<\/strong>, or Harry Manfredini\u2019s laughing motif in Friday the 13th<\/strong> (1980).<\/p>\n

The best examples occur when the camera pans over to reveal Garland standing as a mannequin in Nancy\u2019s studio, and when he confronts Kelly in the women\u2019s washroom in a restaurant; it\u2019s an ugly, coarse chord that\u2019s close to being oversaturated and distorted. Mancini\u2019s forays in suspense are often overlooked by critics, and Experiment<\/strong> is another perfect example of his knack for capturing the drama and personas of characters, and never prolonging a cue\u2019s effect.<\/p>\n

Lathrop\u2019s cinematography is so rich with contrasts and shades of grey, and both lighting and objects are always forcing the audiences\u2019 eyes to a specific area within the frame \u2013 either from angular geometric objects (Kelly\u2019s humble house is situated on a sloping hill that overlooks San Francisco), or lighting effects (such as slits of light from window blinds that angle downward on either side of an actor). They\u2019re small gestures, but even when the camera follows a conversation in a moving car to a parked position, the composition is gorgeous.<\/p>\n

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The Blu-ray<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray makes use of a gorgeous HD transfer which captures all the nuances of Lathrop\u2019s cinematography, with lovely grain. There\u2019s no overt signs of noise reduction, making this a must-have for B&W film fans.<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s 2003 DVD presented the film with its original mono sound mix, which brings up the issue of the film only being available on TT\u2019s BR in a DTS 5.1 mix, which presumably came with Sony\u2019s HD transfer. In prior years, Sony has mucked around with aspect ratios (older flipper DVDs featuring widescreen and panned & scanned transfers were reissued as P&S DVDs) and over-matted films technically composed for milder widescreen or fullscreen presentation (notably the bungled 1.85:1 DVD of Mysterious Island<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>]). They\u2019ve also tightened aspect ratios on films, as is the case with 10 Rillington Place<\/strong> (1971) which looks far too tight matted at 1.85:1 than older TV transfers framed at 1.78:1.<\/p>\n

A popular fantasy with some film score fans (myself included) is whether it\u2019s possible to take the existing stereo tracks from the scoring sessions and create a dynamic 5.1 mix. The reasoning tends to come from hearing the score first in stereo, or realizing how many details were missed when comparing the mono film mix to the stereo cues, if not wanting a film to contain the dramatic scope in the original music recording. I\u2019ve always been curious how a film would play with a revamped sound mix, and Experiment<\/strong> offers a genuine take on what\u2019s likely a newly crafted 5.1 mix. (I use the term \u2018likely\u2019 because there\u2019s no public confirmation on whether the 5.1 mix is part of Sony\u2019s new in-house experimenting with surround mixes as isolated tracks are discovered.)<\/p>\n

The plus is that it\u2019s a surprisingly well balanced mix that neither overpowers nor feature a tepid stereo spectrum; it\u2019s fine, but it does lack the bass oomph which made Mancini\u2019s droning Garland motif so terrifying in mono: when that motif reverberated on the soundtrack, it was exceptionally unsettling \u2013 an aspect that\u2019s only present in the isolated music track which present\u2019s Mancini\u2019s full score in stereo 2.0.<\/p>\n

Fans of the film and Mancini will be delighted TT\u2019s BR features the original score recording, of which only a few elements were retained for the otherwise re-recorded soundtrack album from 1962, but the lack of the original mono mix is unfortunate. The hope is had Sony included a mono track, it would\u2019ve been present (as was the case with TT\u2019s Mysterious<\/strong> Island<\/strong>); but the fear is whether Sony\u2019s going back to their old tricks and denying fans and collectors a choice.<\/p>\n

A 5.1 remix isn\u2019t the same a colorizing a movie (although audio purists would disagree). It\u2019s a truer surround sound experience than the terrible bullshit stereo tracks Fox created for the bulk of their non-stereo Studio Classics films, but in each case Fox did include the original mono mixes, so let\u2019s hope this is merely an anomaly.<\/p>\n

In addition to the isolated score track, TT\u2019s disc includes original trailers and TV spots (Sony\u2019s DVD stick with just one trailer), plus lengthy liner notes by Julie Kirgo, who contextualizes the film and offers a few details of the original publicity campaign.<\/p>\n

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Postscript<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Ross Martin, his leap into feature films didn\u2019t provide the expected career boost. Columbia chose to keep the actor\u2019s identity covert until the end credits \u2013 a ploy perhaps reminiscent of Hitchcock obfuscating the complicity of Anthony Perkins\u2019 Norman Bates via deceptive publicity stills during Psycho<\/strong>\u2019s release \u2013 and it took a while before Martin would become famous for his role as Artemus Gordon in TV\u2019s The Wild Wild West<\/strong> (1965-1969), and countless TV appearances. Garland remains one of his best roles, largely because the script allowed for an unusual level of contrasting material: while a monster, like agent Ripley, audience sympathies are momentarily tested when it\u2019s revealed he has a girlfriend and a kind attachment to a boy with troubling medical issues.<\/p>\n

Then in her early twenties, Stefanie Powers enjoyed a fleeting feature film career (The Interns<\/strong>, McLintock!<\/strong>, Stagecoach<\/a> <\/strong>[M<\/a>]) before largely settling in TV, becoming most famous as The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. <\/strong>(1966-1967) and Jennifer Hart in the eighties hit Hart to Hart<\/strong> (1979-1984).<\/p>\n

Like Lee Remick, Glenn Ford appeared in film and TV productions through the seventies and eighties, and Experiment<\/strong>\u2019s FBI agent Ripley is one of several urban-level authority roles for which the actor was so well suited to play, including The Money Trap<\/strong> (1965), Fate is the Hunter<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1964), and The Big Heat<\/a> <\/strong>[M<\/a>] (1953), although he tended to excel as deeply conflicted men pushed into grey moral regions, such as wealthy businessman Stannard who tells his son\u2019s kidnapper to essentially go screw himself on national TV in the taut, emotionally brutal Ransom!<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (1956) which screams for a Blu-ray release.<\/p>\n

While apparently at home with comedy, Edwards tackled other genres when he seemed to need a breather from his patented brand of farce, and it\u2019s not unfair to say he wasted several years on too many Pink Panther films when his skills should\u2019ve been applied to harder emotional material. His meandering during the eighties may have come from being burned too many times during the seventies, but his rare forays into other genres have largely held their own, especially the slow-burning espionage romancer The Tamarind Seed<\/strong> (1974).<\/p>\n

Novels by the Gordons adapted into films include Make Haste to Live<\/strong> (1954), Down Three Dark Streets<\/strong> (1954), Experiment in Terror<\/strong> (1962), and the Disney classic That Darn Cat!<\/strong> (1965).<\/p>\n

The character of John Ripley appeared in several novels: FBI Story <\/strong>(no relation to the 1959 James Stewart film), Case File: FBI <\/strong>(filmed as Down Three Dark Streets<\/strong>), Captive<\/strong>, and Operation Terror<\/strong> (Experiment in Terror<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2013 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Amazon Search Links:<\/em><\/p>\n

Amazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" \"\"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0E<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to: Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ E . Film: Excellent\/ BR Transfer: Excellent\/ BR Extras: Good Label: Twilight Time\/ Region: All \/\u00a0Released: January, 2013 Genre: Suspense \/ Thriller \/ Film Noir Synopsis: A bank teller is blackmailed into stealing $100,000 from her branch but attempts to foil her tormentor’s scheme by immediately involving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[224,1448,225,575,1871,1870,1869],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1Bq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6164"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6168,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6164\/revisions\/6168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}