Trailer
Plot summary
A wealthy widow recovering from a broken hip, Cornelia Hilyard has had a cage-like elevator built into her mansion, and the power fails while she is inside it, leaving her trapped between floors. Her son Malcolm is away for the holiday weekend, and the only answer to the elevator's alarm is George Brady, an alcoholic derelict, who takes small items from the house and sells them to a fence named Mr. Paul. He tells his hustler friend Sade about the place, and the goods he has fenced draw three young hoodlums, among them Randall O'Connell, Elaine and Essie. They trail the pair to the address and find Cornelia still shut in the elevator, offering them anything she owns if they will set her free.
Cast
- Ron Nymanas Neighbor (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Lady in a Cage (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Joan Crawford and Elizabeth Montgomery were sought for the female lead of Lady in a Cage, Rosalind Russell was offered the part and turned it down, and Olivia de Havilland took the role in December 1962 for a fee of $300,000.
- Writer-producer Luther Davis was inspired by the New York blackout of August 17, 1959, and by a woman he knew who was trapped in a private-residence elevator on the Upper East Side and was raped after she called for help.
- While researching, Luther Davis learned that every elevator in New York must be equipped with a phone, which would have ruined his story, so Lady in a Cage is set in an unnamed city.
- Lady in a Cage was shot in fourteen days in February 1963, and Olivia de Havilland called the experience "wonderful", praising James Caan, who was in his first credited film role.
