If Katharine Hepburn can have a gay son Sebastian, why not Olivia de Havilland? This mother of all mothers, grasping and clinging in spite of her genuine love for her son Malcolm, has driven him out of her house with her determination to hang onto him. She has been in an accident which created the necessity for an elevator to be put into their upper middle class neighborhood home. Malcolm has left her a letter asking for his share of the estate and pretty much releasing him from her life. She is to give him her answer at a certain time when he calls, but unfortunately, fate is against her, with a power outage leaving her trapped in her elevator as a group of juvenile delinquents invade her home and terrorizing her.

An old hooker named Sadie (played by veteran Ann Sothern in one of her great performances) also invades with a pawn broker, and the terrified de Havilland is not only forced to watch her valuables be stolen one by one but be psychologically tortured when one of the thugs (a young James Caan) reads the letter to her, making her sound just as monstrous as the thugs invading her privacy. This horror drama is a metaphor for the way society turned after World War II with neighbors basically beginning to not be so neighborly and an antipathy towards humanity taking over the world where nobody seemed to care anymore about anybody but their own. With chilling music, eerie photography and a modern sensibility that still resonates today, "Lady in a Cage" is unforgettable.

Even if several moments become truly camp in the way in which they are presented, the fact is still there that in recent history, humanity has become very inhuman, that we pass each other by without a thought outside our own existences, and that we've left the basic rules of "Love thy neighbor" behind in church, even if we still go. De Havilland is at times totally over the top as when she talks to the buttons in her precious elevator, asking them "Now what the hell's a matter with you?" That's Rafael Campos, a veteran Latino actor from "The Blackboard Jungle" and "Trial", as Caan's violent side-kick, and he's unapologetic of making his thug character a total animal without any human feelings. Young Caan briefly does show a more human side as he looks on at De Havilland in horror as to realizing what kind of person she is and perhaps recalling his relationship with his own mother that made him head down wrong paths. So while this film at times can make you laugh at it, there's also a bit of guilt in doing so because such horrors still exist today and show no signs of disappearing.

While I am a big fan of Olivia de Havilland, I must say that this might just be her worst film. There is so much to dislike about this one and it seems as if the filmmakers didn't consider watchability when they made it.

It all begins with some very annoying opening credits. The camera then pans onto a dead dog in the road...which was needless and gratuitous. You then see that Cornelia (de Havilland) has difficulty walking and uses a cane as well as a cage-like elevator to get about her home. There's a power outage and she's stuck in this cage for the film as various folks come inside to rob and terrorize her.

This is just one unpleasant film Part of it is because there's only so much you can do with your star stuck in an elevator...to the point where you get sick of watching it very quickly. Part of it because it feels so exploitative and, dare I say, stupid. After all, no one outside the home knows she's lost power...so why do folks suddenly start breaking in ONLY WHEN SHE'S STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR?! Overall, a most unpleasant film with only the barest of plots.

By the way, things might have been different back in the 1960s, but we have an elevator like this in our home because we have a disabled daughter. The system does come with a battery backup so you can't get stuck in the elevator. If such a backup was also the norm in 1964, well the entire film was a lie....and I cannot imagine a lady living alone having an elevator like this with no options when you are stuck inside other than a bell that rings outside that no one can hear.

As so many of her contemporary movie queens of the past decade Olivia DeHavilland went into horror films It's a sad commentary on the lack of roles she was getting at that point. By the next decade she was not doing this sort of film any more.

In Lady In A Cage she plays a housebound woman who is recovering from a broken hip and had a special elevator installed for her use. She's rich and does poetry on the side and she's kept her son William Swan tied to her apron strings. When he leaves for the 4th of July weekend an accident happens and the power goes out while she's stuck in mid air in that elevator.

When it rains it pours. A wino played by Jeff Corey breaks in and starts stealing a lot of expensive things. He brings in a partner a very frowzy Ann Sothern who's seen her share of men and booze. While trying to fence some of what they've stolen they attract a trio of Charles Manson wannabes played by James Caan, Jennifer Billingsley, and Rafael Campos.

So while all of them party and menace DeHavilland they also aren't happy with each other, the different generation of thieves.

I have to say Caan made an impressive screen debut, he was one frightening dude. Campos who usually played nice kids is also one nasty strung out individual. Billingsley was beautiful, but she'll be Sothern in 10 years and also strung out.

Olivia's other venture into the horror genre was Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte and Lady In A Cage is not as good as that one. But it does have its moments.

One thing that was overlooked. Being trapped as she was there certainly was no opportunity to use any facilities. Those 48 hours or so in the cage might have made it and Olivia really smell.

Other than not accounting for that Lady In A Cage was an OK horror film