Deathtrap

Rating:
Summary: Perfection in a genre that's rarely perfect.
Review: This has been my favorite movie since I first saw it. Twists, twists, twists. Heady dialogue. Intelligent yet masked forshadowing. Christopher Reeves's best performance ever. Amazing chemistry, timing, story. All of this thrown into a suspense, thriller, comedy. After viewing the film about 40 times, I still find new and wonderful things. I search and search for plot mistakes because I can't believe there are none; every thriller has plot problems...NOT THIS ONE! With an understanding of what the movie is and should be, the cast and director have managed to create a piece that too many critics have overlooked. But when I show it to my friends of all ages (high school to late adulthood) one comment always emerges from their lips. "That's a good movie." Buy this movie and love it as much as I do. When you're done watching think of the amazing ride on which you just went.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible.
Review: This is a film that will make you feel like you are sitting in a theatre on Broadway. It's amazing. It's the best of Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve...and all the other actors involved. The story is so tongue in cheek...and you can't believe the discoveries you make as an observer along the way. It's frightening and enlightening all at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible.
Review: This is a film that will make you feel like you are sitting in a theatre on Broadway. It's amazing. It's the best of Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve...and all the other actors involved. The story is so tongue in cheek...and you can't believe the discoveries you make as an observer along the way. It's frightening and enlightening all at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Why isn't the DVD WIDESCREEN?
Review: This is one of the most suspenseful and wonderfully acted films I've ever seen- but why the DVD isn't in the widescreen format is beyond me. Hopefully, Warner Home Video will wise-up and release a widescreen version soon. I'd hold out for that one, if I were you.

Rating:
Summary: superb
Review: This movie was originally a play. It maintains this form, which makes the movie unique. If you have seen live plays... you will really enjoy that aspect of the film. Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine are also superb. The screenplay is tight and the lines are well crafted. The movie has shocking twists and no gore. For the price, this is one film worth taking a shot on and buying it unseen. I totally recomend buying this movie.

Rating:
Summary: A Hit To Die For
Review: When DEATHTRAP was first released, the poster--reproduced on the cover of this DVD--offered a graphic akin to a Rubik's Cube. It is an appropriate image: originally written for the stage by Ira Levin, who authored such memorable works as ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE STEPFORD WIVES, the play was one of Broadway's most famous twisters, and under Sidney Lumet's direction it translates to the screen extremely well.

DEATHTRAP is one of those films that it is very difficult to discuss, for to do so in any detail gives away the very plot for which it is famous. But the opening premise is extremely clever: Sidney Bruhl (Michael Caine) is the famous author of mystery plays, but these days he seems to have lost his touch. After a particularly brutal opening night, an old student named Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve) sends him a script for a play he has written. It is called "Deathtrap," and Sidney recognizes it as a surefire hit. Just the sort of hit that would revive his career... indeed, a hit to die for. And when Clifford visits to discuss the play, events suddenly begin to twist in the most unexpected manner possible.

Like Anthony Shaffer's equally twisty SLEUTH, DEATHTRAP is really a story more at home on the stage than the screen--to reach full power it needs the immediacy that a live performance offers. Still, under the expert guidance of director Sidney Lumet, it makes a more-than-respectable showing on the screen. Much of this is due to the cast, which is remarkably fine. Michael Caine gives a truly brilliant performance, Dyan Cannon is funny and endearing as Sidney's relentlessly anxious wife, and Christopher Reeve gives what might be the single finest performance in his regrettably short acting career. If you can't see it in a first-rate theatrical production, this will more than do until one comes along.

Unfortunately, the DVD does not offer the film in its original ratio--it's pan and scan here, and that's a clear strike against the DVD so far as I'm concerned. And sadly, although this is an ideal subject for them, there are no bonuses of any kind. But even so it is DEATHTRAP, and it is DEATHTRAP very expertly done, the perfect movie to curl up with on a dark and stormy night. Keep the lights on!

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--

Rating:
Summary: A Hit To Die For
Review: When DEATHTRAP was first released, the poster--reproduced on the cover of this DVD--offered a graphic akin to a Rubik's Cube. It is an appropriate image: originally written for the stage by Ira Levin, who authored such memorable works as ROSEMARY'S BABY and THE STEPFORD WIVES, the play was one of Broadway's most famous twisters, and under Sidney Lumet's direction it translates to the screen extremely well.

DEATHTRAP is one of those films that it is very difficult to discuss, for to do so in any detail gives away the very plot for which it is famous. But the opening premise is extremely clever: Sidney Bruhl (Michael Caine) is the famous author of mystery plays, but these days he seems to have lost his touch. After a particularly brutal opening night, an old student named Clifford Anderson (Christopher Reeve) sends him a script for a play he has written. It is called "Deathtrap," and Sidney recognizes it as a surefire hit. Just the sort of hit that would revive his career... indeed, a hit to die for. And when Clifford visits to discuss the play, events suddenly begin to twist in the most unexpected manner possible.

Like Anthony Shaffer's equally twisty SLEUTH, DEATHTRAP is really a story more at home on the stage than the screen--to reach full power it needs the immediacy that a live performance offers. Still, under the expert guidance of director Sidney Lumet, it makes a more-than-respectable showing on the screen. Much of this is due to the cast, which is remarkably fine. Michael Caine gives a truly brilliant performance, Dyan Cannon is funny and endearing as Sidney's relentlessly anxious wife, and Christopher Reeve gives what might be the single finest performance in his regrettably short acting career. If you can't see it in a first-rate theatrical production, this will more than do until one comes along.

Unfortunately, the DVD does not offer the film in its original ratio--it's pan and scan here, and that's a clear strike against the DVD so far as I'm concerned. And sadly, although this is an ideal subject for them, there are no bonuses of any kind. But even so it is DEATHTRAP, and it is DEATHTRAP very expertly done, the perfect movie to curl up with on a dark and stormy night. Keep the lights on!

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--