After a series of Broadway flops, famed thriller playwright Sidney Bruhl returns home in a foul mood to his wife, Myra. He opens his mail and pulls out a play by a former student called Deathtrap, which his protege is eager for him to offer his opinion. It's a good play - perhaps too good - and it doesn't take long for Bruhl and his wife to hatch a plan to murder the author and steal the play for themselves, giving them another hit to boost their already swollen bank account. Giving away any more than this basic premise would be scandalous - this is a classic whodunnit, after all, and the countless twists and surprises are precisely the point. The young playwright in question arrives at their house for dinner and things begin to unravel - then re-tangle - at a frenetic pace. With Michael Caine and Dyan Cannon as the spouses and Christopher Reeve as Clifford Anderson, the upcoming playwright, Deathtrap shows its stage origins throughout, almost entirely set inside the Bruhl's sprawling Long Island mansion. Directed with economy by Hollywood great Sidney Lumet, Deathtrap is a film from a particular era; a study of human frailties and shortcomings which comments on the trappings of fame and success and the desire to achieve it. It's also great fun, with three thoroughly entertaining actors tearing up everything around them, including the scenery, with their enthusiastic performances.
