Deathtrap (1982)
If you have seen "Sleuth," the first version from 1972 or so, you'll know what "Deathtrap" is trying to by. Michael Caine is not the only common thread between the two. Add to this a mysterious murder, a lot of coy double takes and visitors to a rich man's house with peculiar intentions, and a kind of play made into a movie feel, undisguised.
It is fun in the background, it has a bright late seventies feel (I know it's from 1982, don't worry). But if you really pay attention, if you were even to have been in the theater and spent money to be engaged, you might well wish you had tried harder, and that the movie makers had tried a lot harder. There will always be poignance to seeing Christopher Reeve at his pretty and charming best, though he's pretty dull stuff here (compared to both "Superman" of course and the iconic "Somewhere in Time" from just two years before).
Caine is pure Caine, hard to fault, and if you already like him you'll like him still. I do, and he made it sustainable. But the plot? Well, it's all farce to the point of not really caring what happens. Even "Murder by Death," with all its superficial plot twists, revels in being superficial--it's just "fun" all around. This one is not quite fun, nor is it as ingenious or beautifully written as "Sleuth."
The source of "Deathtrap" is a fabulously successful Broadway play, and why it didn't quite transfer to film is something to argue about. Sidney Lumet is certainly a really capable director, with some classic films like "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Fail-Safe." behind him. What "Deathtrap" lacks for a director is true drama, however, and the finessing, the faking, the lighthearted coyness requires a certain sensibility not quite working here.
I think the two women in the cast, the wife and the psychic neighbor, are both so caricatured they're hard to take, too. Add all of this up, and you have mostly the endless twists and surprises to keep you going--and again, "Sleuth" has it all over this one in that camp.
Not that you won't be surprised! If you do watch it and hang in there, you'll be twisted and amused. Which is the main point.
If you have seen "Sleuth," the first version from 1972 or so, you'll know what "Deathtrap" is trying to by. Michael Caine is not the only common thread between the two. Add to this a mysterious murder, a lot of coy double takes and visitors to a rich man's house with peculiar intentions, and a kind of play made into a movie feel, undisguised.
It is fun in the background, it has a bright late seventies feel (I know it's from 1982, don't worry). But if you really pay attention, if you were even to have been in the theater and spent money to be engaged, you might well wish you had tried harder, and that the movie makers had tried a lot harder. There will always be poignance to seeing Christopher Reeve at his pretty and charming best, though he's pretty dull stuff here (compared to both "Superman" of course and the iconic "Somewhere in Time" from just two years before).
Caine is pure Caine, hard to fault, and if you already like him you'll like him still. I do, and he made it sustainable. But the plot? Well, it's all farce to the point of not really caring what happens. Even "Murder by Death," with all its superficial plot twists, revels in being superficial--it's just "fun" all around. This one is not quite fun, nor is it as ingenious or beautifully written as "Sleuth."
The source of "Deathtrap" is a fabulously successful Broadway play, and why it didn't quite transfer to film is something to argue about. Sidney Lumet is certainly a really capable director, with some classic films like "Dog Day Afternoon" and "Fail-Safe." behind him. What "Deathtrap" lacks for a director is true drama, however, and the finessing, the faking, the lighthearted coyness requires a certain sensibility not quite working here.
I think the two women in the cast, the wife and the psychic neighbor, are both so caricatured they're hard to take, too. Add all of this up, and you have mostly the endless twists and surprises to keep you going--and again, "Sleuth" has it all over this one in that camp.
Not that you won't be surprised! If you do watch it and hang in there, you'll be twisted and amused. Which is the main point.