Robert Wise’s adaptation of The Andromeda Strain retains much of the Michael Crichton novel’s emphasis on the minutiae of efforts to contain a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism while blending in elements of a procedural thriller and a disaster film. As lensed by Richard H. Kline, the Panavision imagery conjures a sense of impending doom, as almost every resident in a small New Mexico town is found dead after a U.S. military satellite crashes nearby, but it’s Boris Leven’s art direction, especially within the laboratory where a group of scientists gather following news of the disaster, that gives the film its distinctively clinical look and feel.

Nelson Gidding’s script methodically moves toward a climax in which the disarming of a bomb inside the lab could prevent humanity’s extinction. Days prior, the U.S. military activates a covert operation involving a team of scientists, foremost among them Dr.