calvinnme ...so how do I write a review without one? I'll try. I saw this when it first came out in the theater, and it was so much fun, with so many plot twists and double-crosses--some you can see coming and some not.I've recently seen it on Turner Classic Movies a couple of times, and it is still entertaining as far as the performances, even if you know what is coming. The set-up is this: Sidney Bruhl (Michael Caine), a playwright, has just written a flop. He returns to his country home from Broadway after phoning his wife, Myra (Dyan Cannon), about the bad news. He has been giving seminars on writing for aspiring playwrights, and when he gets home he opens a package sent to him by one of those students. It is a play entitled "Deathtrap", and the student sends a note asking if Sidney thinks it is any good. Sidney's analysis is that it is excellent, a sure fire hit, and then he starts to do and say little things that make the audience - and Myra - think that maybe Sidney is contemplating stealing the play, and doing away with the student who sent it in order to score a success for himself after a long stretch of flops. He calls the student and asks him to come to his house and in such a way that nobody will know where he has gone. Past that point I'll let you watch and see what happens.Now the student turns out to be played by Christopher Reeve, and given his devastating injury 13 years later that eventually took his life, seeing him walking around so young so healthy and never showing even a glimpse of his Superman persona - the only role he was really known for at the time - is worth the price of admission. Dyan Cannon is excellent as the nervous and hovering wife Myra. Michael Caine, who has given so many good performances over the years, seemed to work an awful lot during the 1980's, sometimes in good films sometimes in bad ones. This is one of the good films and he gives a very good performance. No doubt all of these good performances had something to do with director Sidney Lumet.Some people say the first half is great, the second half not so great, that it bogs down. I beg to differ. The pace between the two halves is just very different, but the whole thing keeps you on your toes. Make sure you notice everything that is going on.If I had to say anything negative it might be that the German psychic, Helga ten Dorp, is overdone and campy just a little bit. Plus it is a stretch that she makes a habit of shining flashlights through her neighbors' windows at night during rainstorms, and then wandering through their houses uninvited. If she is so psychic, can't she perceive she has overstayed her welcome from the minute she said hello? The original trailers had a Rubik's Cube with the faces of the cast members on different sides of the cube. I'd say that's an excellent visual description. Do give it a try. It's one of my favorite thrillers.

mark.waltz Michael Caine is a formerly successful playwright of the macabre who has had four flops on Broadway in a row, and his latest is an absolute disaster. He sees a way for a smash hit, and it is as sinister as any of the plots of his plays. It involves murder, of course, and his ailing wife (Dyan Cannon) can't believe her eyes when right before them he seemingly murders a young playwright (Christopher Reeve). This of course leads to some surprising revelations and thanks to the presence of a nosy neighbor (the very funny Irene Worth), the twists keep coming at you like raindrops during a hurricane.There is no way to review this without giving away much, and the film should reveal its twists naturally with little being known. I will say then, that this is a clever and handsome adaption of the hit Broadway play, surprising many with a sudden kiss between two of the performers that comes out of nowhere, featuring Cannon's howling scream every time someone comes into a room. She is delightfully funny, a lot less sinister than her conniving wife in "Heaven Can Wait", yet equally as frenetic. The shot of Caine's play being performed at Broadway's Music Box Theatre reveals a play obviously so bad it is surprising that it made it there at all. Real critics come on to spoof their own television images and that gives this a realistic approach to Broadway opening night with Caine proceeding to get rip-roaring drunk, dropping a bottle as he catches a train at Grand Central Station.$52 later from his Long Island stop to his windmill home (a gorgeous set worthy of mention) and Caine is harping at his nervous wife and plotting a scheme so nefarious that you will never know what is going to come next. Reeve's character, the young playwright who becomes a "victim" of Caine's scheme, has issues of his own, and those who have any connection with the theater, whether it be professionally or like me a regular audience, will recognize the type he is playing. Caine cleverly identifies him as a sociopath, and this is where the play twists towards one up-manship, and a revelation involving the delightful North that will have you howling.A clever supporting performance by the delightful Henry Jones as Cannon's attorney is small but importantly revealing to many things going on. His high-hat pitched voice, slightly snobby nose sniffing things out around him, yet obvious compassion, makes Jones one of the more interesting character actors of his time. Actors like him can take a very small role and make their presence unforgettable.With speedy pacing by Sidney Lumet, Ira Levin's play (adapted by him for the screen) is a delightful black comedy of deception, betrayal and a surprise involving someone being exactly in the right place at the right time. Everybody is on their toes in this, sort of the murderous "Noises Off!", another comical play about the theater which would later be a movie starring none other than Michael Caine.

Bjorn (ODDBear) Playwright Sidney Bruhl (a wonderfully over-the-top Michael Caine) would kill for a hit play. Enter young wonder kid (a solid Reeve) who's just written such a play. Weave into this Bruhl's overly hysterical wife (superbly played by Cannon) and a German psychic (a very funny Irene Worth) and you've got yourself a wonderfully funny suspense flick.While not up to "Sleuth" standards, "Deathtrap" is none the less a very capable, twist filled comical suspense ride based on a terrific play by Ira Levin. The performers are obviously having a field day with the material, with Caine in particular delivering top notch lines with gusto.The film loses a bit of steam midway through and the ending is a lot less satisfying than the hilarious one in the original play but overall "Deathtrap" is solid, well acted and suspenseful fun.

moonspinner55 Ira Levin's Broadway smash comes to the screen with hardly any meat on its bones, a mystery plot with just a few tricks and twists but nobody worth caring about. Frustrated writer Michael Caine plots to steal the work of a brilliant young man and pass it off as his own; his devious plan may include murdering the talented kid, which has Caine's flighty spouse up in arms. The first act in which everyone is introduced is excruciatingly dead, with Caine doing everything an actor can to keep the pacing up. Dyan Cannon is miscast as his wife (she's too smart and clever herself to be passed off as a ditz) and Christopher Reeve (in the middle portion of the film) seems extremely uncomfortable in the role of the better writer. These three characters, and Irene Worth's bothersome neighbor, are so undefined that what happens after the set-up barely even registers until well after the second act has begun. Sidney Lumet's direction is stagy and fuzzy, the set design unconvincing and poorly-lit, and the finale is a total disaster. The actors struggle to give the script some substance, but with such thin material all we see are their laborious efforts. *1/2 from ****