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Stuck halfway up her home elevator during a power outage, a wealthy widow finds herself powerless to stop thieves who wreck and loot her home in this aptly titled thriller starring Olivia de Havilland. It all sounds quite lurid and watching the film is far from pleasant, however, things get very interesting towards the end as de Havilland's mothering comes under scrutiny and as we are treated to more and more exterior shots. While almost all the action is mainly confined to her home, it is what occurs (or does not occur) outside that is most interesting. None of the passers-by or drivers on the busy road outside her home react at all to the panic alarm bell that she frequently rings (until one thief disconnects it). There are also several grisly occurrences on the porch of her house, but again nobody seems to notice and a plethora of cutaways to cars zooming past without stopping injects incredible tension. The acting almost sinks the film though. James Caan is excellent in an early career performance as the slightly unhinged leader of the gang, but de Havilland seems to be in a scenery-chewing competition with co-star Jeff Corey. The way de Havilland constantly narrates her thoughts aloud also comes off as annoying unnatural. The vast majority of the film is good news though. It is hardly the most delightful or subtle social commentary thriller under the sun, but it does manage to make some interesting points about how detached we tend to be from tragedy around us as per an unforgettable early shot of a young girl running her skates over a homeless man's legs.
ThreeGuysOneMovie
Lady in Cage! This is James Caan's first starring role (although not his first picture) and he plays a brutal character that he modeled after Marlon Brando in Streetcar Named Desire.Olivia de Havilland (yes that Olivia de Havilland) is Cornelia Hilyard, a wealthy widow who is recovering from hip surgery. In order to get to the second floor of her house she has an elevator installed. On this particular day Cornelia is taking the lift upstairs when the power goes out and traps her between floors. Fortunately for her she has an emergency button that rings a bell outside the house. Instead of someone coming to rescue her however, the bell lures a bum (Jeff Corey) into the house. He steals some bottles of wine and then walks off with Cornelia's toaster which he takes to a local pawn shop. Randall (James Caan) and his two lackeys Elaine and Essie (Jennifer Billingsley and Rafael Campos) also happen to be at the pawn shop and they decide to follow the bum and see what he is up to. The bum goes to visit Sade (Ann Sothern) a local hustler who he is enamored with. Together the two of them decide to go back to Cornelia's house and rob the place blind.Check out the rest of our review at 3guys1movie.com
winstonfg
"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?
Lechuguilla
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.
AD
