Review of Lady in a Cage (1964) by Neil O — 18 Nov 2010

A movie spawned by the psycho-biddy genre that became oddly popular in the sixties (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, and Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, the latter also starring De Havilland, are today the best known of these movies, but there were many more, often starring the same legendary actresses in the twilight of their careers).

To me, it's a bit of a near-hit. It's not in any way particularly bad, but it always seems to miss its target by a hair's breadth. James Caan, in his first credited part, is almost dastardly enough, An Sothern is almost pitiful enough, De Havilland is almost righteous enough, the terror is almost terrifying enough, the plots is almost absurd enough. But where Baby Jane was a baroque over the top nightmare with a villainess both pathetic and completely creepy, "Lady in a Cage" alas stops right in front of baroque, and pulls out all stops except one. Add to that the moralistic social commentary De Havilland wheezes out every once in a while, and the movie comes across silly at times, instead of scary. It would have been better if it had gone for completely outrageous, which works much better for this genre anyway, and tends to be scarier.

That said, not boring, and De Havilland manages well enough with what was given to her.