Dandy little bio-tech thriller, John Sturges producing/directing off an Alistair MacLean novel, and no doubt welcoming a break from bigger if not better projects. (His next MacLean adaptation the mammoth fiasco ICE STATION ZEBRA/’68, a fave of aging Howard Hughes, if few others.) George Maharis missed his shot at film stardom when this underperformed, but he’s very appealing as a government agent called in to investigate two strains of germ warfare stolen from an isolated desert lab. Both lethal: one with an eight-hour life span, the other a self-perpetuating doomsday weapon. Assisted by General Dana Andrews & daughter Anne Francis, Maharis figures there must be an insider involved, but which scientist went rogue bio-terrorist? (Hint: Richard Basehart does have a foreign accent.) And there’s a whole crew of villains on the outside to deal with, including a young, menacing Ed Asner. A few narrative hiccups aside, this is awfully well handled/well staged (check out Maharis’s escape from some baddies in a car); while Sturges has his location scout & production designer give the film great ‘60s mod appeal not only in scientific lab settings & sleek office furniture, but in finding futuristic looking buildings to shoot. (Jean-Luc Godard did much the same on ALPHAVILLE and got all sorts of kudos for it. Sturges beat him to the idea by two years and got ignored.) Maybe Sturges’s later pics might have stayed more buoyant if this little film had clicked at the box-office. Maharis’s career certainly would have.
DOUBLE-BILL: The next mainstream Hollywood bio-germ thriller, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN/’71, found producer/director Robert Wise also attempting to downsize from production bloat.
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