Murder with small mistakes

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Movie
German title Murder with small mistakes
Original title Sleuth
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1972
length 138 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz
script Anthony Shaffer
production Morton Gottlieb
music John Addison
camera Oswald Morris
cut Richard Marden
occupation

Murder with small mistakes (original title Sleuth ) is a British thriller by the director Joseph L. Mankiewicz from 1972 . The screenplay was written by Anthony Shaffer based on his play Revanche ( Sleuth ).

action

The eccentric crime writer Andrew Wyke invites the hairdresser Milo Tindle to his remote property. Tindle has long had an affair with Wyke's wife, Marguerite, and plans to marry her. Wyke, who has a lover himself, is ready to let his wife go, but fears the impending costs of a divorce. In addition, Marguerite is used to a lifestyle that a simple hairdresser could not possibly offer her. So Wyke suggests that Tindle break in and steal his diamonds. Tindle could then sell this and Wyke would be awarded a high insurance sum. When Tindle apparently disappears without a trace in the execution of the plan, Inspector Doppler takes on the matter. Little Wyke suspects that the policeman is actually Tindle in disguise. Subsequently, a cunning verbal-intellectual duel between Wyke and Inspector Doppler alias Tindle develops on a high level. This fascinating duel finally comes to a surprising end with a dramatic ending.

background

Sleuth is based on Anthony Shaffer's 1969 play uraufgeführtem Sleuth (dt. Sniffer, Beagle ), in 1971 with a Tony Award as best play was excellent. Shaffer was initially against a film version of his work, as he feared it would affect the success of the theater. After agreeing and subsequently writing a script himself, he advocated casting Anthony Quayle as Andrew Wyke. He had already played this role on stage several times, but the studio decided on Laurence Olivier, who had described the play a year earlier in an interview with Quayle as "a piece of piss" . Alan Bates , who was offered the role of Milo Tindle, turned it down after seeing the play in the theater. However, he had not informed himself in advance and left the performance after the end of the first act, as he assumed that the role of Tindel would be completed with his alleged murder. Eventually Michael Caine was signed.

Athelhampton House

The filming took place between May and July 1972 at Pinewood Studios in the UK and on the premises of Athelhampton House near Puddletown in Dorset . A maze was set up in the garden there especially for the film, but it no longer exists today. The appearance of the premises in the studio is also modeled on the interior of Athelhampton House. Ken Adam was responsible for the design of the superstructure .

Murder with Small Mistakes premiered on December 10, 1972 and was released in German cinemas on January 31, 1973. In the witty and bizarre British crime genre, murder with minor flaws is a downright cult film. It was Joseph L. Mankiewicz's last directorial work.

In 2007, Kenneth Branagh made a remake of the film based on a script by Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter . The main roles were played by Jude Law and Michael Caine . However, this time Caine played the role of Andrew Wyke.

To lure the audience on the wrong track, actors Alec Cawthorne (Inspector Doppler), John Matthews (Detective Sergeant Tarrant), Eve Channing (Marguerite Wyke) and Teddy Martin (Police Constable Higgs) are named as part of the cast. All names are fictitious as Andrew Wyke and Milo Tindle are the only characters that appear in the film. The name Eve Channing is a combination of Eve Harrington and Margot Channing , the two main characters in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film All About Eva . The portrait of Marguerite Wyke was painted after the model of Paul Newman's wife Joanne Woodward .

The game from the fourth (meaning ancient Egyptian) dynasty is about Senet , which, however , is attributed to the first dynasty and is therefore some time older.

criticism

  • Lexicon of international film : a film adaptation of a two-person play, which shines with intelligent dialogues, elegantly pointed representation and an extremely confident direction; at the same time a parody of the English detective novel and a deeper examination of the border area between intellectual play and murderous seriousness. Clever and enjoyable entertainment, only last of a few lengths.

Awards

Academy Awards 1973

Besides Give 'em Hell, Harry! is Sleuth the only film whose entire cast was nominated for an Oscar. John Addison received a late nomination because Nino Rota's score for The Godfather was disqualified.

BAFTA Award 1974

  • Nomination for Best Screenplay for Anthony Shaffer
  • Nomination for Best Actor for Laurence Olivier
  • Nomination in the category Best Cinematography for Oswald Morris
  • Nomination in the category Best Production Design for Ken Adam

David di Donatello 1973

  • Award for Best Foreign Actor for Laurence Olivier

Edgar Allan Poe Awards 1973

  • Award for Best Feature Film for Anthony Shaffer

Evening Standard British Film Awards 1975

  • Award for Best Actor for Michael Caine

1973 Golden Globe Awards

New York Film Critics Circle Awards 1973

  • Award in the Best Actor category for Laurence Olivier

literature

  • Anthony Shaffer : Revenge. Murder mystery (Original title: Sleuth ). German by Wolf Parr . Gerhard Pegler Verlag for theater, television, radio and film, Munich undated (stage manuscript)
  • Anne Billson: My Name is Michael Caine: A Life in Film . Frederick Muller Ltd, London 1991
  • Michael Caine : What's it All About? Century, London 1992

Sources and Notes

  1. ↑ Although they are made up, Alec Cawthorne , John Matthews , Eve Channing, and Teddy Martin are listed in the Internet Movie Database .
  2. ↑ Murder with minor mistakes. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 12, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Nino Rota was disqualified after it was revealed that he had used parts of the music for an earlier film.

Web links