A struggling playwright invites a young writer to his home to discuss a script, but the meeting spirals into a deadly game of deception and betrayal.A struggling playwright invites a young writer to his home to discuss a script, but the meeting spirals into a deadly game of deception and betrayal.A struggling playwright invites a young writer to his home to discuss a script, but the meeting spirals into a deadly game of deception and betrayal.
- Awards
- 6 nominations
Francis B. Creamer Jr.
- The Minister
- (as Rev. Francis B. Creamer Jr.)
Jon-Erik Hexum
- Theater audience
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Sidney Lumet once commented on the real stage-play scenes seen in this movie: "We used the original set of 'Deathtrap' as our set for Sidney Bruhl's flop play. The Music Box (Theatre) is dark on Mondays, so we shot there on a Monday, along with six hundred dress extras as first-nighters. Thus, the opening scene is a movie of a play-within-a-play which takes place within the play on which the movie is based. If that's not completely clear, it's at least a 'first'!"
- GoofsWhen Sidney has the Deathtrap script and threatens to throw it into the fireplace, the fire isn't lit.
- Quotes
Myra Bruhl: Is it really that good?
Sidney Bruhl: I'll tell you how good it is. Even a gifted director couldn't hurt it.
- Crazy creditsMurderous weapons by Eoin Sprott.
- Alternate versionsCBS added 4 minutes to this film for its 1986 network television premiere.
Featured review
Unlike Tinseltown's version of HELLO, DOLLY!, Jay Presson Allen's screen adaptation of Ira Levin's hit Broadway thriller couldn't wait for it's stage incarnation to shutter before putting it up on the silver screen, so producers wisely decided to make the most of it's lengthy White Way run! The film's opening and closing scenes are shot inside New York's intimate Music Box Theater where DEATHTRAP played for nearly five years. Even the film's final fadeout on the theatre marquee is a version of the stageplay's famous logo. (Although marketeers decided to go with a more fun Rubik's Cube icon for the movie.)
Now on a low-priced DVD release, DEATHTRAP seems just as fresh and inventinve as ever. The cast is just right (better than their stage counterparts) and location scouts should be applauded for finding a suitably spooky house for our "one room, two act thriller" to take place in. Opened up in surprisingly simple and innovative ways, director Sidney Lumet wisely tags any "new" material onto the beginning and end of the film and leaves Levin's wickedly twisty center alone.
The film's last scene is a major Hollywood departure from the boards, and slightly undermines one of Levin's plot points from earlier in the film [Helga (about a dagger): "Will be used by another woman BECAUSE of play."]. Like Robert Altman's THE PLAYER, however, our new finale helps the film fold in on itself once again and blurs the lines between stage, screen, and (could it be?) real life!
Now on a low-priced DVD release, DEATHTRAP seems just as fresh and inventinve as ever. The cast is just right (better than their stage counterparts) and location scouts should be applauded for finding a suitably spooky house for our "one room, two act thriller" to take place in. Opened up in surprisingly simple and innovative ways, director Sidney Lumet wisely tags any "new" material onto the beginning and end of the film and leaves Levin's wickedly twisty center alone.
The film's last scene is a major Hollywood departure from the boards, and slightly undermines one of Levin's plot points from earlier in the film [Helga (about a dagger): "Will be used by another woman BECAUSE of play."]. Like Robert Altman's THE PLAYER, however, our new finale helps the film fold in on itself once again and blurs the lines between stage, screen, and (could it be?) real life!
- How long is Deathtrap?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Ira Levin's Deathtrap
- Filming locations
- Pathe Studios, New York City, New York, USA(Studio, interiors: house)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $19,282,134
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $2,238,977
- Mar 21, 1982
- Gross worldwide
- $19,282,134
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