Other Titles • The Andromeda Strain • Andromeda - Tödlicher Staub aus dem All (1972)
Synopses for The Andromeda Strain (1971)
1.
The best-selling novel by Michael Crichton was faithfully adapted for this taut 1971 thriller, about a team of scientists racing against time to destroy a deadly alien virus that threatens to wipe out life on Earth. As usual with any Crichton-based movie, the emphasis is on an exciting clash between nature and science, beginning when virologists discover the outer-space virus in a tiny town full of corpses. Projecting total contamination, the scientists isolate the deadly strain in a massive, high-tech underground lab facility, which is rigged for nuclear destruction if the virus is not successfully controlled. The movie spends a great deal of time covering the scientific procedures of the high-pressure investigation, and the rising tensions between scientists who have been forced to work in claustrophobic conditions. It's all very fascinating if you're interested in scientific method and technological advances, although the film is obviously dated in many of its details. It's more effective as a thriller in which tension is derived not only from the deadly threat of the virus, but from the escalating fear and anxiety among the small group of people who've been assigned to save the human race. The basic premise is still captivating; it's easy to see how this became the foundation of Crichton's science-thriller empire. --Jeff Shannon
2.
When a small space probe falls to earth in a remote village of New Mexico, all but two of the town's inhabitants--an infant and an old alcoholic--meet death as their blood turns to powder. After two reconnaissance pilots have also perished, a national state of emergency is declared. The two survivors and the recovered space probe are transported to a mammoth five-story underground laboratory, and a team of scientists--biologist Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill), microbiologist Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid), blood chemistry authority Mark Hall (James Olson), and pathologist Charles Dutton (David Wayne)--is swiftly brought to the lab to discover the nature of the deadly organism brought by the space probe. The team is subjected to grueling hours of precautionary decontamination measures--which are filmed with extraordinary art direction in stunning monochromatic sequences--and informed that the laboratory complex is equipped with an automatic self-destruct device that will be triggered should infection spread. Through exhaustive tests, the team learns that the minute organism, dubbed the ANDROMEDA STRAIN, is alien in nature, and the scientists must quickly find a cure before all of humanity is wiped out. Quietly thrilling, with superb pacing from director Robert Wise, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, based on the novel by Michael Crichton, is one of the most stylistically beautiful science fiction films ever made.
3.
LETTERBOXED EDITION
Directed with clinical precision by Robert Wise, this record of the earth's first biological crisis is perhaps the most painstakingly authentic science fiction thriller ever made. When a satellite falls to earth near a remote New Mexico village, the recovery team finds everyone in the area dead except an infant and an old derelict. The survivors are brought to a five story underground lab-one of the most elaborate and intricate sets ever assembled in Hollywood-where scientists attempt to determine the nature of the deadly microbe before it starts a world-wide epidemic. A trailblazer in the realm of science-fact, The Andromeda Strain is based on Michael Crichton's best selling novel that created national paranoia for its topical relevance to the first moon landing.
4.
An elite team of scientists race against the clock in an attempt to stop a deadly virus from spreading.
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