Andrew Wyke is a rather vain author of detective fiction who discovers his wife is having an affair with Milo Tindle, a younger man. Andrew invites Milo to his country retreat and proposes a mutually beneficial solution, but can Milo trust him ?
Sleuth is a real treat. It's ingenious, it's very funny and it features two pretty unforgettable performances from the inimitable leads. It's based on a play by Anthony Schaffer (who also wrote Frenzy and The Wicker Man) and it's just a peach of an idea - a simple revenge story dressed up as an elaborate prank which then cleverly transmutates into a treatise on class struggle. It has a big midway twist which the jaded may criticise as either unfair or obvious without really appreciating how much fun the subsequent mayhem is. Caine and Olivier both milk the intrigue and the drama for all they're worth, one-upping each other with rustic accents and pratfalls, and sparring like two prizefighters over the soliloquies. Both are outstanding although for me Caine pips it, not least because their casting bears no small resemblance to their characters; Olivier was near-gentry (an uncle was a Baron) and lauded with every acting accolade and exclusive status possible, whilst Caine grew up in the East End and earned everything he got the hard way. Olivier is a good sport to play an ageing prima donna with empty boasts of his sexual prowess and he is very funny at times, but Caine's performance is much more natural, richer and thoughtful. It's also a revelation in that just two actors can play a whole movie and it never gets dull or needs any other storytelling devices - Robert Altman and Richard Attenborough take note. The story is so deliciously twisted that there are plenty of opportunities for mugging, but both stars reign it in a bit, with lots of sly little moments like the scene where Milo waits in vain to get a turn in the game of snooker. The other great aspect of the movie is Ken Adam's nutty production design; Andrew's house is a spooky old Victorian folly with a dungeon of a cellar, a hedge maze in the garden and a cavernous living room crammed full of creepy automata whose jerky movements reflect their owner's self-deluded illusion of puppet master. Mankiewicz was an interesting guy who began as a writer in the thirties then moved into production and is best known for directing All About Eve and Cleopatra. This was his final movie, and I think his best. Remade (with substantial changes) by Kenneth Branagh in 2007, with Caine playing Wyke and Jude Law playing Tindle.
Sleuth is a real treat. It's ingenious, it's very funny and it features two pretty unforgettable performances from the inimitable leads. It's based on a play by Anthony Schaffer (who also wrote Frenzy and The Wicker Man) and it's just a peach of an idea - a simple revenge story dressed up as an elaborate prank which then cleverly transmutates into a treatise on class struggle. It has a big midway twist which the jaded may criticise as either unfair or obvious without really appreciating how much fun the subsequent mayhem is. Caine and Olivier both milk the intrigue and the drama for all they're worth, one-upping each other with rustic accents and pratfalls, and sparring like two prizefighters over the soliloquies. Both are outstanding although for me Caine pips it, not least because their casting bears no small resemblance to their characters; Olivier was near-gentry (an uncle was a Baron) and lauded with every acting accolade and exclusive status possible, whilst Caine grew up in the East End and earned everything he got the hard way. Olivier is a good sport to play an ageing prima donna with empty boasts of his sexual prowess and he is very funny at times, but Caine's performance is much more natural, richer and thoughtful. It's also a revelation in that just two actors can play a whole movie and it never gets dull or needs any other storytelling devices - Robert Altman and Richard Attenborough take note. The story is so deliciously twisted that there are plenty of opportunities for mugging, but both stars reign it in a bit, with lots of sly little moments like the scene where Milo waits in vain to get a turn in the game of snooker. The other great aspect of the movie is Ken Adam's nutty production design; Andrew's house is a spooky old Victorian folly with a dungeon of a cellar, a hedge maze in the garden and a cavernous living room crammed full of creepy automata whose jerky movements reflect their owner's self-deluded illusion of puppet master. Mankiewicz was an interesting guy who began as a writer in the thirties then moved into production and is best known for directing All About Eve and Cleopatra. This was his final movie, and I think his best. Remade (with substantial changes) by Kenneth Branagh in 2007, with Caine playing Wyke and Jude Law playing Tindle.