Lady in a Cage

In 1962, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? burst forth on movie screens all over the world. It was a "shocker" and one of the biggest shocks in it was seeing two aging Golden Age screen icons, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, let their hair down and dive into a genre film. Of course, because it was an unexpected smash hit, the floodgates opened and we soon got all manner of imitations, some good, some bad, and some in-between.

One of the weirdest and the best came in 1964 when Paramount released Lady in a Cage, starring Academy Award-winner Olivia de Havilland, who'd already done one shocker previously the year before, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. But Lady in a Cage was something wholly other—as nasty as Baby Jane and Charlotte could be, Lady in a Cage was in a whole other universe.

Whoever's decision it was to hire composer Paul Glass, it was a completely original and inspired choice. Glass's score for Lady in a Cage is dissonant, creepy, jagged, and perfectly suited to the film. There are no real themes here—just music of unsettling atonality that keeps one on the edge of one's seat and completely off-balance, much like the film's heroine.

In 1964 it was the polar opposite of most film scores being written but it was absolutely perfect for Lady in a Cage and, for its time, a fairly unique score. Glass went on to write a classic score for Otto Preminger's Bunny Lake is Missing and also wrote several terrific scores for the TV series Night Gallery.

Since its release, Lady in a Cage has become something of a cult film. Even now, coming up on almost fifty years, it still manages to be thoroughly creepy and weird, yet somehow completely entertaining and fun.

This CD is mastered from the superb-sounding original three-track scoring session masters housed in the vault at Paramount. We are extremely pleased to present the first Paul Glass film score available on CD.