When it comes to movies, I'm pretty stubborn. I realized that there was a remake of this film with one of its original stars and Jude Law, but I chose not to see it because like with every film that has to suffer through a remake, I wanted to see the original (the fact that I had heard it hadn't made it to DVD hadn't eased my stubbornness). So there I was at Blockbuster, and what did I see? THE ORIGINAL "SLEUTH" ON DVD! Needless to say I snatched it right up, and I couldn't wait to watch it. While it's a good film, and succeeds at being unpredictable (a rarity), it left me with something to be desired.
Milo Tindle (Michael Caine) is invited over to the house of Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier) to discuss the divorce of Andrew's wife Margurite, who is also Milo's lover (a fact known by Andrew). But since both of them know that Milo can't afford Margurite's spending habits, Andrew offers Milo a solution that will leave both he and Milo very happy. And so begins a series of twisted games where the stakes grow increasingly higher.
There are two problems with "Sleuth:" pacing and Caine. "Sleuth" is at times very talky, and it causes the film to drag. Caine and Olivier take advantage of the material the best they can, but they can't help the film from being slowed down by the excess dialogue.
When I say that there is a problem with Caine's performance, I must tread lightly and be very vague, because it's only in one scene, and to describe it would give away one of the film's biggest surprises. But apart from that scene, Caine is terrific with Olivier.
Olivier clearly has a lot of fun with this role. At times he is an eccentric old man, but at others he is a force to be reckoned with, and Olivier switches from one side of the coin to the other flawlessly.
It would be unfair to blame director Joseph L. Mankiewicz for the pacing, since there is so much padded dialogue that Mankiewicz can't do much to rectify the situation. While one could argue that a lot of dialogue can be a drawing point, playwright/screenwriter Anthony Shaffer is no Quentin Tarantino (in fact, he's closer to David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross"-not a good thing). And Tarantino was never this wordy anyway.
But Mankiewicz does solid work with "Sleuth." He adapts the play so that while it is never a filmed version of a stage play, it stays true to its stage roots. I liked how he used the toys and dolls that are all over Wyke's house to enhance the creepiness of the play, but again, the dialogue is so wordy that it counteracts everything Makiewicz tries to do to ratchet up the tension, so the film seems longer than it should be.
Normally a film is inferior to its source material. It's a wonder to find a film that is hampered by it.
Milo Tindle (Michael Caine) is invited over to the house of Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier) to discuss the divorce of Andrew's wife Margurite, who is also Milo's lover (a fact known by Andrew). But since both of them know that Milo can't afford Margurite's spending habits, Andrew offers Milo a solution that will leave both he and Milo very happy. And so begins a series of twisted games where the stakes grow increasingly higher.
There are two problems with "Sleuth:" pacing and Caine. "Sleuth" is at times very talky, and it causes the film to drag. Caine and Olivier take advantage of the material the best they can, but they can't help the film from being slowed down by the excess dialogue.
When I say that there is a problem with Caine's performance, I must tread lightly and be very vague, because it's only in one scene, and to describe it would give away one of the film's biggest surprises. But apart from that scene, Caine is terrific with Olivier.
Olivier clearly has a lot of fun with this role. At times he is an eccentric old man, but at others he is a force to be reckoned with, and Olivier switches from one side of the coin to the other flawlessly.
It would be unfair to blame director Joseph L. Mankiewicz for the pacing, since there is so much padded dialogue that Mankiewicz can't do much to rectify the situation. While one could argue that a lot of dialogue can be a drawing point, playwright/screenwriter Anthony Shaffer is no Quentin Tarantino (in fact, he's closer to David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross"-not a good thing). And Tarantino was never this wordy anyway.
But Mankiewicz does solid work with "Sleuth." He adapts the play so that while it is never a filmed version of a stage play, it stays true to its stage roots. I liked how he used the toys and dolls that are all over Wyke's house to enhance the creepiness of the play, but again, the dialogue is so wordy that it counteracts everything Makiewicz tries to do to ratchet up the tension, so the film seems longer than it should be.
Normally a film is inferior to its source material. It's a wonder to find a film that is hampered by it.