Year of Release: 1964Country of Origin: USA
Director: Walter Grauman
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, James Caan, Jeff Corey, Ann Sothern
Plot outline: During a hot summer day, a lady gets trapped inside a home elevator after the electricity goes out. While she presses a button inside the elevator to summon help from the alley, she unknowingly attracts looters who in turn try hurting her and steal all her personal belongings (IMDb).
Based on a novel by Robert Durand, there's not a single redeeming character or characteristic to Lady in a Cage's sensationalistically vulgar screenplay. It is haphazardly constructed, full of holes, sometimes pretentious and in bad taste. Had the basic premise - of an invalid woman trapped in her private home elevator when the power is cut off - been developed simply, neatly and realistically, gripping dramatic entertainment might have ensued. But the screenwriter has chosen to employ his premise as a means to expose all the negative aspects of the human animal. He has infested the caged woman's house with as scummy an assortment of characters as literary imagination might conceive. Among those who greedily invade her abode are a delirious wino (Jeff Corey), a plump prostitute (Ann Sothern) and three vicious young hoodlums (James Caan, Jennifer Billingsley and Rafael Campos). Olivia de Havilland plays the unfortunate woman in the elevator, and gives one of those ranting, raving, wild-eyed performances often thought of as Academy Award oriented. Actually, the role appears to require more emotional stamina than histrionic deftness. Caan, as the sadistic leader of the little ratpack, appears to have been watching too many early Marlon Brando movies. (V)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
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