This savage and thoroughly cynical thriller sees the crippled, middle-aged Cornelia Hilyard (Olivia de Havilland) becoming trapped in an in-home elevator and terrorized by a group of thugs led by a conscience-free Ranbdall (James Caan), He ransacks the Hilyrad household and is happy to murder a hustler, Sade (Ann Sothern) and a wino nicknamed Repent (Jeff Corey) who end up in on the robbery. "Lady in a Cage" is a grim but gripping thriller with writer Luther Davis and director Walter Grauman delivering an intense study of a violent and alienated society where houses and individuals are hemmed in by bumper-to-bumper traffic and cries for help go unnoticed and ignored. The film is uncompromising in its depiction of doped-up punks and low-life hustlers, while delivering more than a few hints towards unnatural sex and incest. The performances throughout are good. Olivia de Havilland is first class as the sophisticated, nominal representative, of the civilised world who is slowly broken down to reveal her own monstrous core while James Cann channels Brando and delivers a savage and muscular performance in his first screen role. Add to these first class performances some fine sharply-focussed black-and-white photography from Lee Garmes, a great graphic credits sequence and a sharp, jagged jazzy score and you have a fine thriller that is violent and sadistic with a tense and claustrophobic edge (and the occasional splash of high camp). ( )