Review of Deathtrap (1982) by Rj M — 01 Jan 2009

Sidney Lumet's masterful adaptation of Ira Levin's play is not so much of a "whodunit", but more of what I like to call a "who'll do it". It's impossible to describe the movie in any depth without giving away any of it's secrets.

Michael Caine plays a washed up playwright who receives a play from an up and coming playwright played by Christopher Reeve. Caine tells his wife (Dyan Cannon) of a scheme he concocts to kill Reeve and pass the play, called Deathtrap, off as his own.

That's all that can be said other than the movie contains more twists and surprises than you can imagine. The movie largely takes place on one set, a windmill converted into Caine's home, centered by his study that is loaded with props and weaponry from his various plays.

The acting is first rate. Michael Caine is an acting legend, and this is a prime example of his skill. But it's Reeve that really shines here. Of course the world knows him as Superman. His performance as The Man Of Steel is the stuff of Hollywood legend.

But the man was a graduate of Juliard, and here he shows the depth he had as an actor, that unfortunately never had the chance to shine through. The two actors go head to head in an intricate and extremely surprising little movie that will have the audience guessing at the outcome all the way to the end.