The Deadly Trap

I give this movie a 5/10.. because simply, I didn't understand what this movie was really about.. I couldn't see what was going on until maybe 3/4 of the way into it.. Faye Dunaway,character was slowly losing her mind.. Was the movie set to be in Paris or not? There was a lot of mention of "Phillipe" going to Paris.. then out of the blue, they are all speaking french.. It was a super hard plot for me to follow.. I thought the kids had killed themselves or had been murdered.. I also didn't agree with the fact that the little boy was allowed to play with guns. ill give the movie another look over and see what elements I was missing..

Phillipe (Frank Langella) is a computer genius living in Paris with his melancholy wife Jill (Faye Dunaway ) and two kids who will never do another film. Phillipe is asked to be a corporate spy. He refuses and his kids are kidnapped as the French Police spring into action, or whatever that was. Very poor transfer with snap, crackle, and pop. Made film enjoyment low as was the French with no subtitles and lack of any real action. Jill complains that she feels her husband's distance and takes a barge ride. I just couldn't get into it.

Playing a woman of slowly deteriorating mental health, Faye Dunaway dominates this movie. She graces it with her beauty and just about manages to keep us watching a story that's flawed and filled with implausibilities (SPOILER: for example, how come an organization as powerful and sinister as the one the movie supposedly presents has left ONLY ONE person - and a foolish one at that - guarding the kidnapped kids?). It's flatly directed, too. (**)

Arty, moody, stylized, slow thriller is also a love letter to Faye Dunaway's extraordinary, sensuous face. Has a similar vibe to the later "Don't Look Now" (just substitute Paris for Venice). Well-made, but it does require patience, and the story does not really receive full closure. **1/2 out of 4.

DEATH SCREAM - originally titled THE DEADLY TRAP - is an entirely lackluster and forgettable French thriller, shot on the cheap in Paris with some imported American stars who give their all to what is otherwise routine and uninteresting material. There's shades of the psycho-thriller genre and Polanski as Faye Dunaway plays a wife and mother who may be going out of her mind, but as the film turns into a kidnap thriller the pacing stalls and it becomes very boring. Frank Langella is good value as the creepy husband and Barbara Parkins has a small, against-type part, but despite Dunaway's shrill efforts this is mostly dull.

From 1959 onwards (and with the success of "purple noon" (Ripley's first version),Clement wanted to become the French Hitchcock.He followed the rules quite well with the follow-up "les félins" then everything went wrong.After casting Jane Fonda ("les félins") he hired American stars for every "thriller" he made:Bronson,Ryan,Vaughn and here Dunaway.Why American stars by the way?They were all dubbed (with the exception of Fonda)for everybody cannot be Jodie Foster for that matter. "La maison sous les arbres" is a would be suspenseful movie with heavy pretensions:a big set-up,where poor Dunaway is caught like a fly in a cobweb :her children are kidnapped and "they "keep them in... (well,check the title;it means "the house under the trees") No cigar ,and not even close.

It takes a while to get going, but this René Clément thriller ends up being very satisfying. Faye Dunaway & Frank Langella are ex-pats living in Paris (he's a book editor) who find their life together crumbling as they grow more & more estranged. Dunaway appears to be having a nervous breakdown, forgetting everything from buying a dress twice to where her children are. When the children turn up missing, Clément's film takes off. Nothing in the first half prepares you for the second half, but every piece falls into place thanks to the clever script (by Eleanor Perry & Hollywood journeyman Sidney Buchman). Dunaway's neurotic acting style is a perfect fit for her role (she's clearly on the brink) and Langella is fine as her workaholic husband. Barbara Parkins plays the couple's extraordinarily helpful neighbor. A creepy, under-appreciated film.