Lady in a Cage (1964)

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

As so many of her contemporary movie queens of the past decade Olivia DeHavilland went into horror films It's a sad commentary on the lack of roles she was getting at that point. By the next decade she was not doing this sort of film any more.In Lady In A Cage she plays a housebound woman who is recovering from a broken hip and had a special elevator installed for her use. She's rich and does poetry on the side and she's kept her son William Swan tied to her apron strings. When he leaves for the 4th of July weekend an accident happens and the power goes out while she's stuck in mid air in that elevator.When it rains it pours. A wino played by Jeff Corey breaks in and starts stealing a lot of expensive things. He brings in a partner a very frowzy Ann Sothern who's seen her share of men and booze. While trying to fence some of what they've stolen they attract a trio of Charles Manson wannabes played by James Caan, Jennifer Billingsley, and Rafael Campos.So while all of them party and menace DeHavilland they also aren't happy with each other, the different generation of thieves.I have to say Caan made an impressive screen debut, he was one frightening dude. Campos who usually played nice kids is also one nasty strung out individual. Billingsley was beautiful, but she'll be Sothern in 10 years and also strung out.Olivia's other venture into the horror genre was Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte and Lady In A Cage is not as good as that one. But it does have its moments.One thing that was overlooked. Being trapped as she was there certainly was no opportunity to use any facilities. Those 48 hours or so in the cage might have made it and Olivia really smell.Other than not accounting for that Lady In A Cage was an OK horror film

The Saul Bass-inspired credits for 1964 psychological thriller Lady in a Cage immediately bring to mind the work of Alfred Hitchcock, as does the film's single location and its high-concept: a rich woman trapped in her lift is tormented by opportunist thieves who ransack her home.But director Walter Grauman is no Hitchcock.Grauman lacks the sheer class and style of Hitch, his film being a lurid, trashy little effort boasting a heavy-handed cynical message about how people in Western society have become indifferent to the suffering of their fellow man (or in this case, woman).Walt's handling of his material is completely devoid of subtlety, and his cast follow suit by gleefully overacting at every available opportunity, with star Olivia De Havilland's hysterical, melodramatic central performance being particularly comical (her rapid descent into despair, her sudden outburst of 'Alouette' and the faces she pulls while writing terrible poetry in her head are all priceless!).With a dead dog, a wino stabbing, talk of decapitated women, and assorted sadistic brutality courtesy of young thug Randall Simpson O'Connell (James Caan, channelling Marlon Brando), the intention was clearly to shock the audience, but the final product borders on high camp (something that lends the film a certain cult appeal) and frequently proves tedious, all of which prevents it from being the truly disturbing classic it was clearly intended to be.

"Savage" (the word used by another reviewer here) is absolutely right. This is gut-churning 'petit cinema' at its best, and not because of any overt schlock, but because of the mindlessness of it all. Imagine a particularly raw Rod Serling double-feature and you'll probably come close; but this isn't television.I've been watching some late sixties movies recently, and I've been surprised at how plot-less they all seem - people simply doing whatever they feel like, for good or ill, with no judgment from the filmmaker or the story as to their actions - and very often with no ending at all, simply an idea that this was just a slice of existence.This is just such a film: an existential, nihilist slice of time. There's no attempt to explain the actions of the protagonists; they're just there, and the results are brutal and disturbing. It also has a slightly stagey feel to it, which makes me wonder if it wasn't an adapted play; and the black-and-white stock definitely helps to bottle the atmosphere. There is an ending, and it's nasty too. No Hollywood pink ribbons here.If you like your films on the strange side, and don't mind them raw (and believe me, this one still is after nearly 50 years) give it a look. The actors (particularly James Caan and Olivia de Havilland) all do their jobs very well, but at the end of the day I can only give it an 8 because it left one gaping question for me:Why?

What is the great Olivia de Havilland doing in a movie like this? The script is way, way beneath her.The film starts out okay. A wealthy, older lady needs an in-house elevator as a result of a leg injury. One summer day the lift, with her in it, gets stuck between the first and second floor when the electricity goes off. The woman is trapped. Naturally, she's alone in the big house. Fortunately for the film's plot, cell phones had not yet been invented.Her predicament goes from bad to worse when an old drunk breaks in, to steal some wine. Then, the plot descends into absurdity when a gang of young hoodlums follows the wino to the house. Chaos ensues. The film is a B-grade horror flick, along the lines of "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?"Except for the performance of James Caan, acting is highly melodramatic, sometimes laughably so. The wino is hardly more than a cartoon figure. His prostitute friend, played by Ann Sothern, is unnecessary to the plot. The three hoodlums are all shallow and stereotyped. Their mentality is comparable to The Three Stooges.Cinematography is conventional. Background music is whimsical and not in-sync with the story's premise, thus diluting the suspense.Yet, the film does have some value, derived from its theme. For all of the modern inventions and conveniences, individual humans still have brute tendencies, which can surface under the right conditions. At a more general level, modern cities resemble jungles. In "Lady In A Cage", the intruders are like selfish barbarians who have breached the security gate, thus forcing humanity back into the stone age.Overall, however, the film's plot is so ridiculous and the performances are so farcical that I cannot take this film seriously.