Sleuth (1972) written by Anthony Shaffer

Among us mystery fans, the name Anthony Shaffer bring to mind fascinating-sounding-probably-good-but-we-don’t-really-know-for-sure-because-his-books-are-all-out-of-print mysteries: How Doth the Little Crocodile? or Withered Murder, co-written with his brother, Peter Schaffer.* But truthfully, Shaffer was a playwright and movie guy first and foremost. Most people know him through his adaptation of Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man. But for us mystery fans, he’s known for his play Sleuth. Debuting in 1970, Sleuth was a hit, winning the Tony Award for Best Play. In 1972, it was turned into a movie, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It was this film that me and my Discord friends watched.

Sleuth takes place at the home of Andrew Wyke (Lawrence Oliver), an author of classic detective fiction. He’s invited Milo Tindle (Michael Caine) over to discuss business. Namely, the business of Milo’s affair with his wife. Luckily, Wyke isn’t too bothered by it. He knows how demanding Marguerite is and has sought comfort in another woman himself. But he knows that she’s going to bleed Milo dry and so proposes a plan that should solve all their issues: They’ll stage a robbery of some valuable jewels. End result: Wyke gets the insurance money and Milo gets the resources to keep Marguerite out of Wyke’s life.

So the two go about setting up the crime, though the practical, working-class Milo is frustrated by how Wyke treats the whole thing like something out of one of his mystery novels (which in fairness, it kinda is), but he begins to get into the spirit of it. The first half of the movie is a light-hearted romp where Wyke and Milo make fools of themselves in an overcomplicated farce. The viewer knows this is going to blow up in their faces at some point. I’ll leave the details up to the interested watcher. But suffice to say that the first half of the movie ends in a shocking and visceral act of violence.

From here, the movie throws out twist after twist, so I’ll merely say that Act 2 involves a character showing up to piece together the fallout from the first half, and it becomes clear that what we saw happen and what we’re told happened don’t seem to match up…

This was a good movie. The movie spends a lot of time in Wyke’s house, and I love the design, with its creepy animatronics populating the living room. The cast is pretty limited, but they all do a good job. The dialogue is all sharp and witty until it shifts into dead seriousness. You’re never quite sure how sincere the characters are no matter what they say, tying into the theme at the center of the movie: games. The set-up just seems so silly, but it keeps going and going, with plays and counterplays. It’s almost a relief when someone finally tries to poke a hole in Wyke’s pompousness, but we’re very aware that this too, is a game, even if the characters haven’t figured it out yet. Some people might read Sleuth as a jab at GAD fiction, but I don’t think so. I think the movie criticizes snobbery and elitism and detective fiction is just the lens Shaffer uses.

This isn’t really a fair-play mystery. There aren’t any real “clues,” or even foreshadowing. Which is fine, honestly. I will give Sleuth credit for taking a common mystery plot device that we usually think of as unrealistic and showing that it does totally work if you know what you’re doing.

All in all, Sleuth is a great psychological thriller. It’s intelligent and keeps you guessing from start to finish. And the final line is a killer. Recommended

Other Reviews: The Invisible Event.

*EDIT: I originally said that Anthony wrote The Woman in the Wardrobe. That was actually written by Peter (with some help from Anthony). I apologize for the error.