MAN-TRAP (1961) on VHS or disc?

[Kevin Heffernan]

I'm putting together some stuff for a course on film noir and the thriller, and I'd love to show Edmond O'Brien's MAN-TRAP from 1961. It's a wild bit of pulp based on John D. Macdonald's story "Taint of the Tiger" and has Jeffrey Hunter, Stella Stevens, and David Janssen involved with kidnapping, drugs, suburban swinger key parties, and all manner of mayhem and depravity. I saw it on TNT almost 15 years ago and rue my decision not to throw a tape in the Sony Betamax. It's kind of a skankier version of CAPE FEAR, which didn't come out until the next year.

Has it ever come out here or anywhere on tape, laserdisc, or DVD? Have any of you seen it and have any thoughts, comments, or assessments? If you have any comments not appropriate to this board (relating to Ms. Stevens' decolletage or any other matters), please drop me an email.

[Marty McKee]

Wow, sounds great. I never heard of it. I'm a big David Janssen fan, so I'm surprised I didn't see the TNT broadcast. I probably didn't know he was in it. Love to know more about it though. Who directed it--O'Brien?

[Marty McKee]

From John Black elsewhere on this board:

Olive will release a DVD of MAN-TRAP (1961) on September 4th. Interesting neo-noir effort is just about the only film directed by Edmond O'Brien. Hopefully, it will be presented in its 2:35-1 aspect ratio. The film stars David Janssen and Stella Stevens.

I reviewed MAN-TRAP on the Arthouse, World & Hollywood board back in March from the pan/scan print on Netflix Instant:

One of only two films directed by character actor Edmond O’Brien (DOA), MAN-TRAP is based on John D. MacDonald’s novella “Taint of the Tiger,” which first appeared in a 1958 issue of COSMOPOLITAN. Ed Waters, who worked a lot in television (POLICE STORY) and was O’Brien’s nephew, wrote the screenplay.

Leading men Jeffrey Hunter and David Janssen are reunited from HELL TO ETERNITY as Korean War buddies who hook up eight years after one saves the other’s life overseas. Matt Jameson (Hunter), miserable with a plate in his head, a lousy job with his father-in-law, and a nasty, drunken sexpot wife (Stella Stevens), receives a surprise visit from Vince Biskay (Janssen). Vince once promised Matt that if he ever came into money, he’d give half to Matt. Now he needs his old friend to pull a heist: a suitcase containing $3.5 million in cash belonging to a South American dictator who plans to use the money to buy arms from the Yugoslavian mob.

As you already know, the plan doesn’t go as rehearsed, and Matt finds himself being played for a sucker. Waters and O’Brien mean for us to feel sympathy for Matt, but he’s a chump who makes dumb decisions that bring him trouble. Hunter is good in the role. Stevens is even better, though she overplays the shrew act to an extent that you wonder why Matt ever got married in the first place. Actually, that’s not true—have you ever seen Stella Stevens? Janssen, who didn’t often play villains, is really good as an amoral snake, and plays up his resemblance to Clark Gable with a false mustache in some scenes.

As a director, O’Brien is just fine, though I wish he had concentrated more on the crime drama and less on Matt’s domestic issues. He devotes several scenes to neighborhood parties, where the suburban swingers drink and flirt and play a weird game called Braille, in which the wives lie on the floor under sheets and their husbands have to identify them by touching. Was this added by Waters to pad MacDonald’s short story to 93 minutes? If so, MAN-TRAP would have played better at 80. Also with Elaine Devry, Hugh Sanders, Virginia Gregg, Arthur Batanides, Perry Lopez, and Bob Crane (HOGAN’S HEROES). Music by Leith Stevens.

[John Black]

Thanks for the reprint of your old post, Marty. MAN-TRAP has never been previously available on commercial home video. There have been prints floating around (probably "mastered" from TV prints), but those were all in full-frame. Hopefully, Olive Films has acquired film elements in Panavision 2:35-1.