Plot
Famed playwright Sidney Bruhl debuts the latest in a series of Broadway flops and returns to his East Hampton, Long Island, home hungover and morose. Although his wife Myra assures him their financial situation is not dire, Sidney is starving for a hit. He reveals he has received a manuscript of a play by a student who recently attended one of his writing workshops, asking for his input. Sidney considers the work near-perfection, and tells Myra that the best idea he has had lately is to murder its author and produce the play as his own. Myra realizes that he is not joking.
Sidney invites young Clifford Anderson to their secluded home, decorated with weapons from his own plays, to discuss the script, Deathtrap. Clifford, handsome, unattached, and full of both naivete and enthusiasm, arrives by train. Over the course of the evening Myra tries desperately to convince Sidney to work with Clifford as equal partners, but to no avail. Sidney entices Clifford to try on a pair of Harry Houdini’s trick escape handcuffs. When Clifford finds that they do not work both he and Myra become nervous. Eventually Sidney gives Clifford their key, but before he can remove them Sidney attacks and strangles him with a chain.
Sidney removes the body but still has to convince Myra to conspire with him. She reveals nothing when they receive an unexpected visit from neighbor Helga Ten Dorp, a Dutch psychic and minor European celebrity renting an adjacent property. Helga senses pain and death in the house. Before she leaves, she warns Sidney about a man in boots who will attack him.
As Myra prepares for bed, she begins to come to terms with what Sidney has done. She heads downstairs for a drink but a sound spooks her and she flees back upstairs, suspecting an intruder. Sidney takes her back downstairs to prove that all is well and they return to the bedroom. The calm is broken when Clifford bursts through the bedroom window and beats Sidney with a log. Clifford chases Myra through the house until her weak heart gives out and she collapses and dies.
Sidney calmly descends the stairs, uninjured, and joins Clifford. They exchange a few words about what to do with Myra's body, then exchange a passionate kiss. The previous few hours are revealed to have been an elaborate ruse to kill Myra without laying a hand on her.
Clifford moves in with Sidney and the two work together at a partner's desk. Sidney suffers from writer's block, but Clifford busily types page after page of a new play that he suspiciously keeps under lock and key. While Clifford is out grocery shopping, Sidney tries to break into the drawer but fails. He waits for Clifford to retrieve his play, then switches Clifford's manuscript with a fake.
Sidney is horrified to read that Clifford is using the true story of Myra's murder as the basis of a new play called Deathtrap. He angrily confronts Clifford, who boasts about the play's potential and insists he will write it with or without Sidney's approval. Clifford offers to share the credit with Sidney, who comes to believe that Clifford is a sociopath. Sidney plays along with the collaboration on Deathtrap while he plots a solution. A few days later, Helga stops by, ostensibly for candles in anticipation of a predicted thunderstorm. Clifford tells her that he works for Sidney as his secretary. When Sidney comes home Helga warns Sidney that Clifford is the man in boots. Sidney tells Helga not to worry and that he is about to fire Clifford.
Sidney asks Clifford to arm himself with an axe to demonstrate a bit of stage business, then produces a gun. He intends to shoot Clifford, claim it was in self-defense and dispose of the Deathtrap manuscript. But Sidney finds his gun to be empty. Clifford had anticipated some such scheme from him and has loaded the bullets into a different gun. Clifford now intends to use Sidney's attempted betrayal-and-axe scheme in the play. He secures Sidney to a chair with manacles and tells him he is going to pack up and leave. He warns Sidney to not try to stop the production of the play.
However, Clifford is unaware the manacles are trick shackles, another Houdini prop. Sidney easily releases himself, grabs a crossbow, goes outside, and climbs up to the bedroom window. He enters, and descending the stairs shoots Clifford in the back with a single bolt. Before Sidney can dispose of the body, the storm hits with full force and the house suffers a blackout. A flash of lightning illuminates the living room and a fleeting figure scurries through. It is Helga, thinking Sidney is in danger and coming to help.
She realizes that Sidney actually poses the threat and grabs a gun while Sidney finds a knife. Clifford regains consciousness and trips Helga. The gun goes flying and a struggle for it ensues. Clifford stumbles to his feet, grabs the axe and swings it at Sidney. In that moment, the scene transitions to a stage version of itself, with actors before a full house. The on-stage struggle culminates with "Clifford" stabbing "Sidney" and both dying, leaving "Helga" victorious. The opening night audience erupts in thunderous applause, and at the back of the theatre stands an exultant Helga Ten Dorp, now the author of a hit Broadway play called Deathtrap.
Reception
Critic Roger Ebert gave it three stars, calling it "a comic study of ancient and honorable human defects, including greed, envy, lust, pride, avarice, sloth, and falsehood." [2] Ebert, along with Janet Maslin, and Gary Arnold of The Washington Post noted the similarities to Caine's 1972 film Sleuth , [2] [4] [3] and similarities have subsequently been noted by film historians. [5] [6] [7]
Cannon was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance.
The kissing scene between Sidney and Clifford is not in the original play (although they are revealed to be lovers). In his book The Celluloid Closet , gay film historian Vito Russo reports that Reeve said that the kiss was booed by preview audiences in Denver, Colorado, and estimated that a Time magazine report of the kiss spoiled a key plot element and cost the film $10 million in ticket sales. [8] (The film earned more than $19 million at the box office.) [9] In his book Murder Most Queer (2014), Jordan Schildcrout describes attending a screening at which an audience member screamed, "No, Superman, don't do it!" at the moment of the Caine–Reeve kiss. [10]
Deathtrap has a positive rating of 74% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. [11]
