Lady in a Cage (1964)

“You’re here. That’s what you done.” — Randall Simpson O’Connell

The year was 1964, and a simmering unease was spreading across the United States. The Cuban Missile Crisis, the testing of nuclear weapons by the superpowers of the time, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Boston Strangler, the murder of Kitty Genovese – these were all fresh in the minds of Americans. It was in this climate that a new film genre emerged and began to take hold – a little too close to home.

From the first frame of Lady in a Cage – the opening Paramount logo encased in vertical stripes – we’re made aware that this is a film envisioned as a whole, as an amalgam of parts fused to fit just so. In the film, Olivia de Havilland plays an injured middle-aged woman trapped between floors in her home elevator on a hot summer’s day. Quickly, her world comes crashing down around her, and forces beyond her control and her home invade. The film is a surprisingly savage thriller that walks a delicate line between comically dark social commentary and terrible cruelty. Director Walter Grauman, known primarily for his TV work and B-movies, here emphasizes cinematography (by golden age pictureman Lee Garmes) and an attention…

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