80,000 Suspects


80,000 Suspects is a 1963 British film directed by Val Guest and starring Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Yolande Donlan, and Cyril Cusack. It concerns an outbreak of smallpox in Bath, England.

Plot

Commencing on New Year's Eve in the city of Bath, Dr. Steven Monks diagnoses a mystery patient as being infected with smallpox and sets in motion a citywide quarantine to contain the outbreak. His commitment to the task is affected by the deterioration of his marriage to ex-nurse Julie 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 contains the outbreak until only one unidentified case remains.
The search narrows the identity of final carrier down to Ruth Preston, the woman with whom Monks had been having an affair and the wife of his close colleague Clifford. She's eventually traced to a deserted house where she's sheltering, lonely and desperately ill.

Cast