| In Lady in a Cage, Olivia de Havilland plays an aging, wealthy widow who is recuperating from a recent hip operation and is forced to use an elevator to get from one story of her home to the other. While she's headed for the upper story of the house, a power failure occurs that leaves her stranded in the elevator car 12 feet off the ground. The elevator's alarm bell arouses the curiosity of a passing wino, who comes in and helps himself to the widow's wine cellar. The transient and a friend begin looting the house until they are one-upped by a trio of feral, neobeatnik thugs (led by a very young James Caan). All the invaders merely ignore the widow's pleas for help as they toss her house in an orgy of violence. The thugs torture and kill the wino and hold his friend hostage along with the widow, until the tables are turned on them once again. For 1964, this is a surprisingly harsh and overwrought movie, easily 10 or 15 years ahead of its time; its nasty view of human nature and graphic violence led to its being banned in Britain entirely. James Caan, in his second movie role, is chillingly convincing as the pack leader whose violent streak comes as casually as, say, tying his shoelaces. Fans of Paul Schrader, Scorsese, or Tarantino films should especially take notice: Lady in a Cage is a nerve-racking viewing experience, one that still packs a noxious punch, with an ending that's a real jaw-dropper. --Jerry Renshaw |
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 Unsung masterpiece of the 60's. |
| Review Date: February 15, 2010 |
| Reviewer: M Thomas Jacob Morgan, |
In the early 60's hollywood churned out films that would fall under the title of "hag-horror" or older women-in-peril films. The genre's explosion began with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and most of those films starred the aged and heavy handed Joan Crawford. Lady in a Cage was the lesser known of the genre but the social commentary that it held then, still holds an impact now. The violence in Lady in a Cage is exaggerated for the time period but is commonly read about in today's newspapers. The old woman in peril (DeHavilland) viciously battles mental and physical attacks from a preaching wino, a aged prostitute and three grimy hoodlums all while trapped in her own house, in an elevator (the cage) on a hot summer afternoon. Films like these spawned into a more bizarre type of films in the late 60's called "roughies" in which the damsel in distress became a young beauty instead of easy targeted elderly. I highly recommend this movie for the fans of the above mentioned genre's or even for fan's of Lynch and Cronenberg.
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"A Movie Way Before Its Time!"
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| Review Date: April 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Terry Richard, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada |
After the success of "Whatever Happened to baby Jane?" movie studios were falling over themselves to find a film similar in story and acting content. Suddenly it was in for films to feature former movie stars in situations of peril, as both Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, stars of "Baby Jane...", proved bankable at the boxoffice. The most successful and best film in the "older lady" genre that came out after "Baby Jane" was "Lady in a Cage" starring Olivia DeHavilland who plays an older woman trapped in her elevator, a cage if you will, on a hot summer day. Her performance is excellent as Olivia expresses the pain her character faces while being trapped in a human coffin. Her nightmare is just beginning, as a homeless man and former prostitute break into her home and try to steal her possessions. Just when we think things couldn't get any worse for the DeHavilland character, three more thugs come into her house, shattering the older woman's life and belongings to shreads. The violence and the graphic scenes are extremely well depicted, and it is hard to believe a movie like this was actually made in the early '60's. The film explores the human need for material things, and its ultimate destruction of those people who prove so greedy.
I came across this film on-line one night and watched it on Youtube and couldn't belive how great it was. The writing and direction by Luther Davis is first-rate, and the acting ensemble is the best Hollywood has to offer. Olivia is superb, and look for a very sexual and young James Caan, from "Misery" and "The Godfather", who plays Randall, the mastermind behind the animal orgy! Ann Southern has a supporting role as the hooker, and acting teacher Jeff Corey, who trained Cher, plays the wino.
Joan Crawford was the original choice to play the DeHavilland role, but turned it down reasoning that she had already played a character whose life was in danger at the hands of others in "Baby Jane". "Lady In A Cage" marks the second time in movie history that Olivia DeHavilland took over a role from Miss Crawford, with the other being Miriam in "Hush, Hush...Sweet Charlotte".
The "Lady In A Cage" DVD is now out-of-print and is very hard to find, but the high cost that sellers are asking for it is worth it. If you see a copy anywhere I would suggest in grabbing it: movies like this are not made anymore. The DVD is pretty much barebones with no extras, but the film is cleaned from its original print, comes in widescreen, and english subtitles are included. |
All the World's a Cage....
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| Review Date: January 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Cat, Southern California |
| Even for today's standards, this film does a rather decent job of realistically portraying a home invasion burglary but without resorting to gratuitous violence. The films' intruders are as savage as we expect them to be and partially what makes them so frightening is their lack of empathy and decency. They terrorize the sole inhabitant, played by de Havilland, who is stuck mid-air in her private elevator. Due to a prior hip injury, she cannot escape from the elevator and has lost the ability to communicate with the outside. She can only watch as vagrants and intruders plunder her home, verbally abuse and try to attack her. What makes this film compelling is how this useless woman is able to survive with all these creative obstacles in place. James Caan, the gangs' leader, is the most convincing of all the characters and gives this film it's strength. The weakest part of this film is unfortunately the one character we're supposed to care about: the lady in the cage. At times, her intellectual rambling and overly dramatic delivery was irritating and her actions were equally ridiculous. It must have been difficult for a veteran actress like de Havilland to justify her characters' ineffectual behavior. In her defense though, it could be argued that her actions mirror those of people who are continually subjected to chaos or extreme terror; not knowing how to react or if they should get involved. Probably one of the biggest themes supported in this picture, especially in the beginning and end sequences, is the trait shared by the lawless and the law-abiding: the perversion of watching someone in pain and the inability or unwillingness to act. Overall, this film had a good, suspenseful pace and combined with a realistic setting is one of the better cult classics. |
Great psychological dark comedy!
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| Review Date: November 28, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Matt Tawesson, Macomb, IL, USA |
| I first saw this movie back in the early 90s on AMC one evening while I was flipping channels, and came across it. I instantly loved it and it became an instant favorite, even though I had only seen the last half of it. The opening theme has a haunting sound to it, because it indicates that there will be some scary moments to see. I had taped it when it came on again, and now I have this timeless classic on DVD. I had tried to get it on DVD for a while, but found out that it had been discontinued, and had to buy it on ebay. A great movie with excellent acting, and a wonderful script. Olivia de Havilland plays a handicapped woman who broke her hip recently and has to resort to going up and downstairs in her small private elevator. Her grown son (who lives with her) goes away for a holiday weekend, but shortly after he leaves, there is a mysterious power outage and she is trapped in her elevator. She then sounds her emergency alarm bell, but only to attract a group of thugs who break into her house and vandalize her stuff. This was one of James Caan's first movies (here he plays the nasty guy named Randall). Jeff Corey is brilliant as George L. Brady, Jr., who is the "old wino" or also known as "Repent, Repent, Repent", because he has the word stamped on his hands several times. Ann Sothern's performance is brilliant, as well. It saddens me that this movie is no longer on DVD, but if you want a copy, just get a used one. No special features to be found; just a main menu, chapter selection, subtitles, and an audio selection (doesn't matter to me). Two thumbs up...WAY UP to this movie, the cast, and the brilliant sound. |
A Very Bad Day...
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| Review Date: October 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein, under the rubble |
| Olivia De Havilland stars as Ms. Hilliard, the title character in this 1964 grabber. Stuck in her private elevator due to a power outage, she can only watch as increasingly repugnant criminals enter and ransack her home. First, a homeless wino breaks in, scopes the place out, and steals a toaster and some wine. He returns w/ a hooker friend (Ann Sothern from The Killing Kind) and the two start gathering up the silver. Uh-Oh! It seems they weren't very careful, and a trio of young, psychotic crazies has followed them! Now the real fun begins. Led by the downright evil Randall (James Caan from Misery), these punks take over the operation, and they've got more than robbery on their deranged minds! Meanwhile, Ms. Hilliard goes through mental anguish while trying to find some way of escape. LADY IN A CAGE is a blunt, fairly graphic little movie w/ plenty of surprises for everyone involved. Highly recommended... P.S.- Watch for a young Scatman Cruthers (The Shining) as a thug... |
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