Product: SLEUTH - (Russian Import - PAL DVD) (1972)
Rating: 5.0
Unfolds with clock-like precision
Sleuth is a difficult film to review without hindering the pleasure it offers the newcomer, since watching the film's twists and reversals reveal themselves is a big part of the fun. Lawrence Olivier is mystery author Andrew Wyke, a cuckold who invites his wife's lover, Michael Caine's Milo Tindle, to hear a proposal. Wyke keeps up appearances as a blase Englishman who's just relieved to be rid of his profligate wife, and wishes to help the more earthy Tindle to support her financially, though a staged burglary of his insured jewels. Yet there is more to Wyke's scheme, we soon see, just as there is more to his attitude toward Tindle, the son of an immigrant watchmaker who would dare step out of his place to take the wife of a well-placed Englishman.Olivier and Caine are both fantastic in this film, and their performances alone make the film come alive. But the fantastic script is just as compelling. Sparklingly witty and droll dialogue with a sinister undertone building as the plot twists just keep coming, impeccably paced all contribute to a film that is a thrill to watch the first time, in a state of ignorance, and almost as fun to watch when you know what's coming, admiring just how masterfully it all unfolds.