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<blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 273063" data-attributes="member: 7">I watched LADY IN A CAGE several months ago when I had a Hulu account. I was thrilled to find such a Grande Dame Guignol piece of cinema on the service, that I watched it immediately. The movie stars two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland as a physically impaired older woman who gets stuck in her home&#039;s private elevator. It co-stars the likable Ann Sothern and features a young James Caan as a hoodlum who breaks into her house. 

The other night I looked up LADY IN A CAGE on Wikipedia. According to the website, the film was profitable for Paramount Pictures in 1964, but the reviews were harsh initially. TIME magazine said that the movie &quot;adds Olivia de Havilland to the list of cinema actresses who would apparently rather be freaks than be forgotten.&quot; Most reviews centered on the vulgarity of the story and how shocked people were that a star of de Havilland&#039;s stature did such a film. Columnist Hedda Hopper said &quot;The picture should be burned... Why did Olivia do it?&quot; VARIETY said that there was not a &quot;single redeeming character or characteristic&quot; in what they called a &quot;vulgar screenplay&quot;. Apparently some critics felt Olivia&#039;s performance was trying for &quot;Oscar bait&quot;, and there was a fair amount of criticism for James Caan &quot;copying&quot; Marlon Brando. The film&#039;s reception has improved over time. 

On the face of it, I can understand the bad reviews. I&#039;m certainly not going to try and bolster LADY IN A CAGE as some outstanding achievement in cinema. But I can firmly say that I enjoyed it. I&#039;ve never been a major Olivia de Havilland fan, so perhaps my enjoyment was drawn more from fascination with the hag horror subgenre than her performance itself. Even so, I can admit that her performance here was strong, and even if the screenplay got a little sloppy, I&#039;d say LADY IN A CAGE was one of the more interesting of the Grande Dame Guignol films I&#039;ve seen thus far. 

The miniseries FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN would have us believe that Olivia was humiliated by her work in LADY IN A CAGE, and that is why she wasn&#039;t sure whether or not she wanted to replace Joan Crawford in HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE shortly thereafter. Of course, I can understand why a two-time Oscar winner like Olivia might&#039;ve felt that making such &quot;shockers&quot; was a big stepdown from the heights her career had achieved. The studios weren&#039;t making the women&#039;s pictures she had been comfortable in for so long, but she didn&#039;t seem too worried about her career hitting the skids. Unlike Davis and Crawford, she didn&#039;t dive head first into making horror films in the 1960s. She only did two: LADY IN A CAGE and HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE. 

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[QUOTE="ClassyCo, post: 273063, member: 7"] [JUSTIFY]I watched LADY IN A CAGE several months ago when I had a Hulu account. I was thrilled to find such a Grande Dame Guignol piece of cinema on the service, that I watched it immediately. The movie stars two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland as a physically impaired older woman who gets stuck in her home's private elevator. It co-stars the likable Ann Sothern and features a young James Caan as a hoodlum who breaks into her house. The other night I looked up LADY IN A CAGE on Wikipedia. According to the website, the film was profitable for Paramount Pictures in 1964, but the reviews were harsh initially. TIME magazine said that the movie "adds Olivia de Havilland to the list of cinema actresses who would apparently rather be freaks than be forgotten." Most reviews centered on the vulgarity of the story and how shocked people were that a star of de Havilland's stature did such a film. Columnist Hedda Hopper said "The picture should be burned... Why did Olivia do it?" VARIETY said that there was not a "single redeeming character or characteristic" in what they called a "vulgar screenplay". Apparently some critics felt Olivia's performance was trying for "Oscar bait", and there was a fair amount of criticism for James Caan "copying" Marlon Brando. The film's reception has improved over time. On the face of it, I can understand the bad reviews. I'm certainly not going to try and bolster LADY IN A CAGE as some outstanding achievement in cinema. But I can firmly say that I enjoyed it. I've never been a major Olivia de Havilland fan, so perhaps my enjoyment was drawn more from fascination with the hag horror subgenre than her performance itself. Even so, I can admit that her performance here was strong, and even if the screenplay got a little sloppy, I'd say LADY IN A CAGE was one of the more interesting of the Grande Dame Guignol films I've seen thus far. The miniseries FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN would have us believe that Olivia was humiliated by her work in LADY IN A CAGE, and that is why she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to replace Joan Crawford in HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE shortly thereafter. Of course, I can understand why a two-time Oscar winner like Olivia might've felt that making such "shockers" was a big stepdown from the heights her career had achieved. The studios weren't making the women's pictures she had been comfortable in for so long, but she didn't seem too worried about her career hitting the skids. Unlike Davis and Crawford, she didn't dive head first into making horror films in the 1960s. She only did two: LADY IN A CAGE and HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="335px"]27446[/ATTACH] [/CENTER] [/QUOTE]

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Who played JR Ewing?