80,000 Suspects | |
---|---|
US Poster
|
|
Directed by | Val Guest |
Produced by | Val Guest |
Written by | Val Guest |
Based on | Pillars of Midnight by Elleston Trevor |
Starring |
Claire Bloom Richard Johnson Yolande Donlan Cyril Cusack |
Music by | Stanley Black |
Cinematography | Arthur Grant |
Edited by | Bill Lenny |
Distributed by | Rank Organisation (UK) Twentieth Century-Fox(US) |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
113 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
80,000 Suspects is a 1963 British film, directed by Val Guest which concerns an outbreak of smallpox in Bath, England. DVD Release October 2015 Network British Film.
Commencing on New Year’s Eve in the city of Bath, Dr. Steven Monks (Richard Johnson) diagnoses a mystery patient as being infected with smallpox and sets in motion a city wide quarantine to contain the outbreak. His commitment to the task is affected by the deterioration of his marriage to ex-nurse Julie (Claire Bloom) following his clandestine affair with a family friend.
Monks receives an unexpected blow when the disease strikes closer to home than anticipated and Julie is diagnosed as having contracted the virus. The medical team gradually contain the outbreak until only one unidentified case remains.
The search narrows the identity of final carrier down to Ruth Preston (Yolande Donlan), the woman with whom Monks had been having an affair and the wife of his close colleague Clifford (Michael Goodliffe). She’s eventually traced to a deserted house where she’s sheltering, lonely and desperately ill.