Sleuth (Mankiewicz, 1972) DVD, 1972

Celebrated crime novelist Andrew Wyke (Olivier) loves playing games but he’s a bad loser. So when he discovers that his wife has been having an affair – with her Anglo-Italian hairdresser no less – he devises a novel revenge: he invites the attentive stylist, one Milo Tindle (Caine), to participate in a spot of insurance fraud. But Wyke has more than simple larceny in mind and embroils Tindle in a plot worthy of one of his novels.

Adapted from Anthony Shaffer’s celebrated theatrical sleight of hand, Sleuth revels in skulduggery and misdirection. Director Mankiewicz, in his last film, keeps the film close to its stage origins, playing the film as a very civilised war. The characters do their utmost to outfox each other, happily deceiving the audience as they go. Faced with Olivier on cracking form, Caine raises his game close to his best, and Alec Cawthorne as the local Plod gamely tries to compete. But it’s Schaffer who is the real star, topping plotting worthy of Agatha Christie with style the Queen of Crime could never hope to match.

Barney Kelley on 4th March 2008
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