ira levin broadway smash come to the screen with hardly any meat on it bone and a mystery plot with just a few trick and twist but nobody worth care about . frustrated writer michael caine plot to steal the work of a brilliant young man and pass it off a his own while his devious plan may include murder the talented kid and which have caine flighty spouse up in arm . the first act in which everyone be introduce be excruciatingly dead and with caine do everything an actor can to keep the pace up . dyan cannon be miscast a his wife ( she too smart and clever herself to be pass off a a ditz ) and christopher reeve ( in the middle portion of the film ) seem extremely uncomfortable in the role of the good writer . these three character and and irene worth bothersome neighbor and be so undefined that what happen after the set up barely even register until well after the second act have begin . sidney lumet direction be stagy and fuzzy and the set design unconvincing and poorly lit and and the finale be a total disaster . the actor struggle to give the script some substance and but with such thin material all we see be their laborious effort . half from .