Lady in a Cage
Directed by Walter Grauman
Written by Luther Davis
1964/USA
AEC/Luther Davis Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Randall: [to George] We’re gonna kill you, pop. All of you. You… and the pig. And the human being.[/box]
Home invasion movies didn’t start with Funny Games. Here poor Olivia De Havilland is at the mercy of the scum of the earth.
Mrs. Cornelia Hilyard (De Havilland) is an independently wealthy poetess who lives with her grown son. The son has left for the Fourth of July weekend. Hilyard is recovering from a broken hip and uses a private elevator to move from the second to the ground floor. An electrical outage traps her in the elevator. In the days before cell phones, her only recourse is a feeble emergency alarm.
For some reason the mansion appears to be located on or near skid row. The sound of the alarm only penetrates the feeble consciousness of a street preacher wino (Jeff Corey) who proceeds to break in and grab several bottles from the wine cellar and steal a toaster. When he goes to pawn the toaster a trio of crazed juvenile delinquents overhear his tale and decide to help themselves to some of the loot. All the teenagers are psycho. Their leader, Randall (James Caan) appears to be a homicidal psychopath.
The wino invites his “hustler” friend Sade (Ann Sothern) for a look at the wonders of the house. The rest of the movie covers the many ways the intruders terrorize Mrs. Hilyard and each other.
This is a fun entry in the movies trying to capitalize on the success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1963) during the early 60’s. The filmmakers really pulled out all the stops in the luridness department and the cast overacts with great gusto. De Haviland maintains her dignity at all times. Recommended if this kind of thing appeals.
I saw this when I was a teenager just starting to watch old movies that weren’t horror movies or giant monster movies or kid movies or Tarzan or the Bowery Boys. I found it profoundly disturbing, and a lot more scary than any of the Universal monsters I stayed up late for on Friday night.
It’s kind of amusing to me that I considered it an old movie (it was black and white!) when it was probably only 12 years old when I saw it.
I saw it two or three years ago and I found it just as powerful as I did when I was a kid … and also still pretty scary!
I can’t think of anything scarier than being trapped in one’s own home with a bunch of weirdos and sadists. I don’t think I will be able to bring myself to watch Funny Games. This one was bearable because it was so over the top and the age of the film guaranteed the heroine would survive her ordeal. That shot of James Caan’s eyes will stick with me for awhile!