The movie is boring, but Ross Martin is good as the mysterious psychopath who terrorizes Lee Remick. He threatens her t-out the movie to kill her teenager sister. His character made Robert Mitchum's Max Cady in Cape Fear look like a mouse; He should've been nominated for an Oscar that year. It had good performances by the cast; but it not your typical fast-paced suspense.

Kelly Sherwood (Lee Remick) is threatened by a breathy man. She must help him steal $100,000 from the bank where she works, or he will do unspeakable things to her and her sister Toby (Stefanie Powers). FBI agent Ripley (Glenn Ford) investigates.It's one part police crime drama and one part psychological thriller. The psychological thriller works better and it's all due to Lee Remick. It's in her eyes. The movie starts with the man terrorizing our heroine. It is scary tense-filled opening. I really felt Lee Remick's fear. As the investigation gets going, the story loses some of its intensity. Every time we get back to Lee Remick, the movie picks up steam.I guess this is before crooks started kidnapping family members to force bank manager to do the robberies. The bad guy should really have kidnapped the younger sister right off the bat. Some of it wasn't completely logical. Comedic director Blake Edwards switches gears and shows that he could deliver the tension. If he could drop the old fashion police crime drama, this could be much more interesting.

I saw this memorable film many years ago and then I saw it at the thrift store! Some people say that Red Lynch died for our sins. I don't know anything about that but he is sufficiently creepy and oily that there might be a widespread backlash against people with asthma. There are some nice creepy scenes in this movie. Red dressed as an old lady sneaks into the ladies room and threatens Lee Remick. The scene with the mannequins, that was heavy.How about a bar where you can shoot mechanical ducks? Sublime. Old Detroit metal that's cool. All the acting is excellent. Money was worth a lot more in them days. In closing, I highly recommend this black and white movie.

When I saw that this was directed by Blake Edwards and with music by Henri Mancini, I was a bit worried but things turned out OK. Edwards works wholly within the established conventions of the film noir genre and he is very competently supported by camera and lighting work. There is no brilliant innovation but everyone definitely knows what they are doing. Mancini's music is completely appropriate and as good as one could ask for. Thus, if you are studying film noir and how to produce such films, this is a good representative technical example. In 1962, the elements, however well executed must have been very familiar to its audience. However, if you are coming to it without having seen many others, it will grab you. In fact, the opening scene will grab anyone. The various elements work very well and the viewer is pulled right in. However, the strength of that opening scene is one of the reasons the film falls short of a top rating. Great suspense and sense of threat is created there but it cannot be sustained. Instead of building to a crescendo, we are dropped solidly into the deep water but allowed to meander our way to the shallows until we emerged relatively relaxed at the end. The film does throw in twists and turns that keep you guessing at times but the level of tension ebbs away. The contrast with other films of this type that succeed in genuinely having you on pins-and-needles toward the end is strong. One of the reasons for that could be that we see Ford and his FBI colleagues so numerous and well mobilized on the case. Much of the film consists of their earnest investigations and support of the intended victims. We thereby get the sense that they will inevitably prevail. We also see Ross Martin's villain as multifaceted and not as all-threatening as he might be despite the very convincing start up. The acting as noted by others is good from top to bottom and in the case of Martin, top notch. If we could only get that more often today!!