Cry Terror! Reviews

Unfortunately, this fanciful premise came to pass a few times in real life. A bomb has been placed aboard one of the airplanes of a large airline. The company is informed, and when the authorities locate and detonate the bomb, TV repairman James Mason is watching on TV and recognizes the device as one he built years ago for his pal, Rod Steiger, when they were trying to land a contract from the government for some armed forces work. Mason is stunned, but not half as amazed as he is when Steiger arrives and whisks Mason, wife Inger Stevens, and daughter Terry Ann Ross to his aerie, high atop a building. Steiger's plan is simple. He's proven that he can put a bomb on a plane; now he wants to threaten the airlines with another weapon, forcing the company to pay ransom. The airlines acquiesces, and Stevens is sent to get the money while Steiger keeps Mason and Ross as hostages to insure Stevens' return with the money. The FBI has been nosing around and already is aware that Dickinson, Steiger's girl, placed the first bomb. Stevens gets the money and returns to the penthouse while being tailed by FBI agents. Brand and Klugman are Steiger's aides, with Brand especially menacing. A battle ensues and Mason escapes when Stevens kills one of the crooks. Steiger chases Stevens into the New York subway system. The feds are following close behind but not quite close enough. The final action sequence is in the darkness of the subway as a terrified Stevens attempts to get away from Steiger. He is trapped by the electric third rail, an onrushing train, and the trailing agents. The result is foregone. This is a very fast-moving picture that never allows you to sit back and realize the holes in the story, but it doesn't much matter as Andrew and Virginia Stone take us across New York and into the back alleys of the city for a speedy glimpse of story-telling at its quickest. News correspondents Roy Neal and Chet Huntley play themselves in the film, and Mason's daughter, Portland, plays the best friend of Mason's daughter in the movie.