'Mouse Hunt' is a wonderful movie: inspired, hilarious, visually inventive. Just don't take your kids to see it. 'What's that?' 'But isn't it a children's movie? Apr 22, 2020  Best Mouse Trap / Rat Trap Bigest Glue Trap Mouse 2019 Saving 10 Mice In Few Minutes. Fed Up YouTube Movies. 2014 Documentary.

'Mouse Hunt' is not very funny, and maybe couldn't have been very funny no matter what, because the pieces for comedy are not in place. It's the story of two luckless brothers who inherit a priceless architectural treasure, and hope to auction it for a big bundle, but are frustrated at every turn by the house's only inhabitant, a very clever mouse. Quick: Who do we sympathize with? The brothers, or the mouse? The movie doesn't know, and as a result the payoffs are lost in a comic vacuum.

Pratfalls, slapstick and special effects are not funny in themselves (something Hollywood keeps forgetting). They're only funny when they apply to someone we have an attitude about, so that we want them to succeed, or fail. A comedy that hasn't assigned sympathy to some characters and made others hateful cannot expect to get many laughs, because the audience doesn't know who to laugh at, or with. Consider the rodent itself. In appearance, it is a common field mouse.Sort of cute.

It has been cinematically assembled from many sources (real trained mice, animated mice, an animatronic mouse for the closeups) but it has never been given a goal in life, other than to function as a plot device. Is the mouse intelligent?

Does it know and care what is happening? Or is it simply a movie prop to be employed on cue? We aren't told, and we don't know. Because the mouse has no personality or personal history, because it has no particular goals other than to continue being a mouse, it isn't a sympathetic character, but simply an ingenious prop.Now what about the brothers Smuntz? Ernie and Lars have inherited the string factory of their father , and also a run-down Victorian mansion that turns out to be a great architect'slost masterpiece. They can get rich by selling it, but first they have to make some repairs-and get rid of the mouse.

To help themselves, they bring in an exterminator named Caesar.At some point in the production, someone undoubtedly said, 'Wouldn't it be great to get Christopher Walken as the exterminator!' Yes, Walken is an actor who inspires strong audience reactions, and, yes, his baggage from previous roles make him a plausible exterminator.

But what is funny about the character other than that it's played by Walken? Are we supposed to laugh when he's humiliated by the mouse? Not unless we care about him-and we don't, since he's obviously as much a prop as the mouse.What about the brothers? Are they funny? But it is supposed to be funny that they can't get rid of the mouse, which is able to set off all their traps, figure out all their plans, and anticipate all their schemes. Since we never believe the mouse is doing that (we believe the screenplay is doing it), we don't much care that it's done.' Mouse Hunt' is an excellent example of the way modern advances in special effects can sabotage a picture ('Titanic' is an example of effects being used wisely).

Because it is possible to make a movie in which the mouse can do all sorts of clever things, the filmmakers have assumed incorrectly that it would be funny to see the mouse doing them. Years ago, a comedy with a similar theme would have established the mouse, but would have been about the people. The characters would have reacted to the simple presence of a mouse, not to the incredibly elaborate stunts the mouse performs. The brothers and their auctioneer could have been developed as desperate for money, as eager to deceive, as pathetic liars, as hapless victims. The mouse would have been there, but wouldn't have had more screen time than most of the characters.' Mouse Hunt' is a film that has gone to incredible effort and expense in order to sidetrack itself from comic payoffs. Less mouse, better dialogue and more strongly drawn characters might have made a funnier movie.

I believe a mouse can be trained to pick up an olive and run with it, but I don't believe it's funny. Not unless I know the mouse.

Contents.Plot Famed playwright Sidney Bruhl debuts the latest in a series of flops and returns to his opulent home and his wife Myra. Although their financial situation is not dire, Sidney is starving for a hit.

He receives a manuscript of a play called Deathtrap, written by one of his students, Clifford Anderson, that he considers to be near-perfection. Clifford recently attended one of Sidney's writing workshops and is now asking for input on his play. Sidney tells Myra that the best idea he has had lately is to murder Clifford and produce the play as his own. Myra realizes that's he's not just talking idly.Sidney invites Clifford to their secluded home, decorated with weapons from his plays, to discuss Clifford's play. Clifford arrives by train. Over the course of an evening, Myra tries desperately to convince Sidney to work with Clifford as equal partners but to no avail.

Sidney then attacks Clifford 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 the Helga Ten Dorp, a minor celebrity staying with the Bruhls' neighbors. 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. Clifford moves in with Sidney and the two work together at a.

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 to before Clifford returns home. 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. 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. Almost immediately after meeting Clifford, she warns Sidney that Clifford is the man in boots.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, once the property of. Sidney easily releases himself, grabs a and incapacitates Clifford with a single. 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.Cast.

as Sidney Bruhl. as Clifford Anderson.

as Myra Bruhl. as Helga Ten Dorp. as Porter Milgrim. as Seymour StargerReal-life film and theatre critics Stewart Klein, and have as themselves.Reception Deathtrap has a positive rating of 75% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.81/10. 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.' Ebert, along with Janet Maslin, and Gary Arnold of The Washington Post noted the similarities to Caine's 1972 film, and similarities have subsequently been noted by film historians.Cannon was nominated for a 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, gay film historian 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.

(The film earned more than $19 million at the box office.) 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. The controversy over the kiss inspired the song 'Two Guys Kissin' (Ruined My Life)'.

Home video release Deathtrap was released on Region 1 on July 27, 1999. It was re-released on November 8, 2003, as half of a two-pack with the /. Released Deathtrap on on November 20, 2012, as part of the. See also.References.

^ (January 1, 1982). ^ (March 19, 1982). ^ Arnold, Gary (March 18, 1982)., Rotten Tomatoes.

Accessed Jan. 14, 2014. Carlson, Matthew (1993). Bloomington, Indiana:. Sleuth deathtrap. Dick, Bernard (2008).

Operation Thunderstorm. The year is 1942. The British government decides to launch one of the most risky operations of World War II. The targets are the most important figures of the Third Reich. Operation thunderstorm indir.

Jackson, Mississippi:. P. 276. Field, Matthew (2014). London, England:. IMDb.com. Accessed Jan. 13, 2014.

Schildcrout, Jordan (2014). Murder Most Queer: The Homicidal Homosexual in the American Theater. University of Michigan Press. Archived from on 2010-10-24., WBShop.com.

Accessed Jan. 13, 2014.External links.

on. at. on.