Waste of time

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Lady in a Cage is directed by Walter Grauman and written by Luther Davis. It stars Olivia de Havilland, Jeff Corey, James Caan, Ann Sothern, Jennifer Billingsley and Rafael Campos. Music is by Paul Glass and cinematography by Lee Garmes.If you trawl for reviews of this film you will find pretty much all the cinematic words used to describe a non big budgeted mainstream film that many love. Re: Cult, Camp, Schlock and etc, what ultimately transpires with Lady in a Cage is a film that everybody should understand why some love and some hate it. One film lovers camp schlocky classic is another one's irritatingly over acted bore. I'm close to being in the latter camp.It start off so well, the Paramount logo in cage stripes, a jarring score, a dead dog in the road and superb opening credits that segue into in your face fast cuts. Then story pitches wealthy Cornelia Hilyard as being trapped in a elevator cage in her home (she's recovering from a broken hip see), being all alone she's forced to use the alarm system, which brings into play unsavoury and unstable characters to blight and torment home and woman both.The big message beating at the pic's black heart is so heavily handled by the makers it ends up boorish, rendering shock factor as zero. Come the mid-point the overacting on show by all - including the once magnificent de Havilland - is almost unwatchable. In fact much of it ends up being laughable, so as one is meant to feel repulsion at the stink infecting the human race, one is instead pondering the implausibilities of it all. There's a scene where Cornelia should simply push her chief tormentor out of the cage, but no!, the over cooked screenplay wants to cram in a load more daft human foibles before reaching its finale.We even have a case where two characters in the play, one a key player in proceedings, don't have their fates revealed. Not in a crafty cliffhanger way, but in a lazy forgetful piece of hackdom. You have to say its effective because it draws you in with its unpleasantness - both as an observation on the human condition and as poor film making - so much so you have to stay with it to the end. Perhaps that is job done, then? But really it's one that this viewer personally could not recommend at all. 5/10

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.

For Olivia de Havilland's fans like me ,"lady in a cage" is a delight.The actress ,often alone on the screen, gives a brilliant tormented performance ,just before her first "villain" part in "Hush hush sweet Charlotte".From the very start ,we feel something is wrong:this luxury house ,with this son saying goodbye to his mom seems too good to be true.Trapped in her elevator ,the lady 's nightmare begins.The cast and credits over cars honking in the streets ,some kind of musique concrete was downright disturbing :is there somebody who cares?does someone show compassion? Are you all monsters? the heroine yells as five intruders are burglarizing her desirable mansion.James Caan matches De Havilland all the way and this odd pairing (they really come from two different generations of acting) works out fine.It's the first time I've seen a Walter Grauman film and his directing impressed me: all the things ,all the pieces of furniture ,before the intrusion,seem to have a life on their own.And there's this letter the son has left.We are not given enough time to read it ,and we forget all about it but...Who is finally the real monster? If you've seen Mankiewicz's "Suddenly last Summer" (1959),you may remember Katherine Hepburn's Mrs Venable in her elevator ...That over possessive mother...For the sixties,an intense violent film ...not for claustrophobic viewers!

This total piece of crap was obviously made by a forerunner of the late 60s left-wing Western protester. This laughable, ludicrous "suspense" movie is all about making an anti-U.S. hence anti-capitalism statement about the oh-so horrible detachment and isolation that rule the western world, an environment in which people care only about themselves, where no one will help anyone and where things just look damn, damn grim. As opposed to the warm environments of socialist and communist societies in which people never cease smiling and where everybody is always ready to take the last shirt of his back to give to a person in need. Yeah, right...The movie is so idiotic it defies belief. What is even more preposterous that it is rated highly by critics, often described as "underrated" or "overlooked". First of all, the way De Havilland loses electricity is too stupid, even for a 60s movie: her son leaves the house, leaving behind a sort-of suicide note, and just as he is unpacking his car he hits some ladders which disable the electric cables. How brilliant! Perhaps brilliant in a simple-minded comic-book or a comedy-of-errors type story - but certainly not here. Then De Havilland rings her alarm on and on and on, but the very very evil capitalist citizens ignore her alarm, for they are too busy amassing riches and property which is all these goddamn no-good capitalist a**holes really care about, ain't it? After a while, a whino enters the house, then his fat woman friend, and then a totally ridiculous trio of hooligans who learned their acting technique in the Freddie Francis School of Mugging and Overacting.There is nothing suspenseful about this movie. It is too silly to be taken seriously, which is the main ingredient for suspense. The social commentary is pathetic, and quite embarrassing. When Caan and de Havilland have an exchange we see the left-wing stereotypes rolling in: Havilland - the selfish rich person out of touch with reality, and Caan - the hooligan who turned out so because the evil capitalist society made him so, and so the poor thing turned to violence as his only means out. So touching... *sob*...A film for morons.