{"id":16387,"date":"2020-09-25T12:45:06","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T16:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/?p=16387"},"modified":"2023-07-07T22:43:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T02:43:26","slug":"countdown-to-mystery-sleuth-1972","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/2020\/09\/25\/countdown-to-mystery-sleuth-1972\/","title":{"rendered":"Countdown to Mystery: Sleuth<\/i> (1972)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"With a week to go before Prime Stage Theatre<\/a> lifts the curtain on my new mystery series A Knavish Piece of Mystery<\/em><\/a>, I thought it might be fun to look back at the plays, films, and stories that first got me interested in mysteries. I don\u2019t intend this to be a definitive list of the all-time best of the genre. Rather, with a nod to Josh Olson and Joe Dante, whose podcast The Movies the Made Me<\/a> invites screenwriters and filmmakers to discuss films that have shaped their art, we\u2019ll make this a kind of Mysteries<\/em> that Made Me.<\/p>\n

First up is Anthony Shaffer\u2019s Sleuth<\/em><\/a>, which debuted on Broadway in 1970, went on to win the Tony Award for Best Play, and has since been adapted twice for film, in a terrific 1972 release starting Laurence Olivier and Michael Cain and then again in a needlessly updated 2007 remake with Jude Law and Michael Caine.<\/p>\n

\"\"The story takes place at the mansion of Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier), a successful mystery writer whose books feature the fictional detective St. John Lord Merridew. As the film opens, we see him in the center of a sprawling hedge maze, composing the final scene of his next book. Enter Milo Tindle (Michael Caine), a young hairdresser who has been having an affair with Wyke\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n

\"\"What follows is an intricate play of cat-and-mouse that adds up to what Clive Barnes of the New York Times<\/em> has called \u201cthe best thriller I have ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the cleverness of the plot\u2019s mystery notwithstanding, what impressed me most about the film when I caught it during its first run at Pittsburgh\u2019s Warner Theatre<\/a>, was that Sleuth<\/em> is about more than its central mystery. By offering meta-commentary on the nature of crime fiction and economic privilege (topics also touched on in the recent film Knives Out<\/em><\/a>), Sleuth<\/em> becomes more than \u201ca fastidious, acrobatically cunning and invigoratingly well-acted thriller\u201d (Time Magazine<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It is this aspect of the film \u2013 its ability to be about more than the sum of its clues \u2013 that I have tried to emulate in my own stories, including the forthcoming A Knavish Piece of Mystery<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Sleuth<\/em>\u00a0is currently available on all-region DVD from Umbrella Entertainment<\/a>. You can pick it up on Amazon<\/a> for $12.99, where you\u2019ll also find the more-readily available (though not recommended) 2007 remake. Sadly, the original is not currently available on any of the major streaming platforms, so — for now — the Umbrella DVD is the best way to catch this classic.<\/p>\n

Check out the trailer below … and stop back tomorrow for another mystery recommendation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be waiting.<\/p>\n