Sleuth
Sleuth film poster
Directed by	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Produced by	Morton Gottlieb
Written by	Anthony Shaffer
Starring	Sir Laurence Olivier Michael Caine
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s)	December 10, 1972 (U.S. release)
Running time	138 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

Sleuth is the 1972 film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning play by British playwright Anthony Shaffer, who wrote the screenplay. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, it stars Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir Michael Caine.

Synopsis

The plot centers on Andrew Wyke, a wealthy writer of detective novels who delights in playing elaborate games. Aware that Milo Tindle, the struggling owner of two hair salons, is having an affair with his wife, Marguerite, Wyke invites him to his country manor house. Wyke is also having an affair with a girl named Thea and is delighted his wife is occupied elsewhere. His main concern is that Tindle, a struggling businessman, will be unable to maintain Marguerite in the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed, and she’ll leave him and return to Wyke.

Wyke suggests that Tindle steal some valuable jewelry and sell it in order to live happily with Marguerite, while Wyke will claim the insurance in order to live happily with Thea. When Tindle obliges, Wyke reveals that he has lured Tindle into a trap whereupon he can frame him as an intruder, then kill him. After two days an inspector comes to his house investigating Tindle's disappearance. Wyke states that he had not really killed Tindle, but it had been one of his games to humiliate the man. After interrogating Wyke at length and beginning to arrest him, the inspector reveals himself to be Tindle in disguise.

In their subsequent conversation, Tindle claims to have "screwed" and strangled Thea, and planted evidence around the house that would frame Wyke for the murder. The evidence is set to look as though Wyke had set the evidence in plain sight to provoke the police; to incite them with the impression that Wyke held as a belief that police are unintelligent, to add insult to injury, and something which Tindle remarks would be evident in Wyke's books. Tindle gives him clues to solve his dilemma before a policeman, scheduled to show up at the end of half an hour, would arrive to find the evidence himself. After Wyke barely manages to dispose of the evidence in time, Tindle reveals that he had not called a policeman at all. He further reveals that Thea is alive, that he knows she is only marginally involved with Wyke, and that she wholeheartedly approved of Tindle's plan to humiliate the unpleasant older man.

As Tindle goes upstairs to retrieve Marguerite's fur coat, Wyke takes a small revolver out of a nearby drawer. Having been humiliated himself, Wyke informs Tindle that he cannot let him leave. Tindle, appearing to be disbelieving and thinking that it was another game, tells Wyke that the game is over and there was no more pretending, and goes to the door. Wyke shoots Tindle through the torso. Within a few moments, a police car, with lights flashing, reaches Wyke's front door, and someone begins to knock. Wyke tries to retreat away from the window to avoid being seen, while Tindle, bleeding profusely and barely able to crawl, makes his way slightly into the house and grabs the switch wired to the entirety of Wyke's large collection of mechanical toys, which come violently to life and attract the attention of the police. The screen then fades out with the toy collection making a ruckus, and the dying Tindle laughing.

Background and legacy

Shaffer initially was reluctant to sell the film rights to the play, fearful it would undercut its success of the stage. When he finally did relent, he hoped the film version would retain the services of Anthony Quayle, who essayed the role of Wyke in London and on Broadway. Alan Bates was Shaffer’s pick for the part of Milo Tindle. In the end, director Mankiewicz opted for Olivier and Caine, though the former had once denounced the play as a “piece of piss.”

The film is noted for its prop-cluttered set (courtesy of production designer Ken Adam), quasi-baroque music score by John Addison (whose Oscar nomination was announced after Nino Rota’s score for The Godfather was ruled ineligible), and its Oscar-nominated performances from Olivier and Caine.

The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Sir Michael Caine, Sir Laurence Olivier), Best Director and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score. Olivier won the New York Film Critics award for Best Actor. Shaffer received an Edgar Award for his screenplay.

The production team intended to reveal as little about the movie as possible so as to make the conclusion a complete surprise to the audience. Hence, a false casting at the beginning of the film consists of fictional people playing roles that do not exist. This “game” not only serves as irony, but continues to throw a curveball to new audiences. The same trick was pulled in the original stage version.

This was Joseph Mankiewicz’s final film.

The likeness of Paul Newman’s wife, Joanne Woodward, was used for the painting of Marguerite Wyke.

Remake

On September 7, 2006, Kenneth Branagh announced at the Venice Film Festival that he would be directing a remake of the film, with a screenplay by 2005 Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter, starring Caine as Wyke and Jude Law as Tindle. Production completed in March 2007, and the film is scheduled for a November release.

External links

• Sleuth at the Internet Movie Database
• Sleuth - Photos

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