Like some other Joseph L.Mankiewicz movies,this is an investigation.The form recalls "Barefoot contessa" which began with the heroine's funeral and was a long flashback .But ,by and large,"Suddenly last Summer " ,the follow-up,was also an investigation (by a shrink)If we forget "guys and dolls" these are three investigations in a row.And anyway ,what are "letter to three wives" or "people will talk"?
The plot is complex,and I must admit I do not find it as palatable and as accessible as most of Mankiewicz's works,which,although very talky,manage to remain absorbing till the last pictures : all in all ,all Mankiewicz movies look like filmed stage productions from "All about Eve" to "the Honey pot" and from " a letter to three wives " to " Sleuth" Even a work like "Cleopatra" features more intimate scenes than in an usual epic.
The cast,for the first time in Mankiewicz 's canon (it never happened again),is weak:only Redgrave is convincing.Audie Murphy is a wooden actor(but we will not forget he was a hero in real life) and Italian Georgia Moll was a starlet who got lost in two-bit spy thrillers or sword and sandals in the sixties :why an Italian by the way?Just compare this acting with those of" Suddenly Last Summer" ! or "the honey pot" and I won't even mention "All about Eve".
The plot mixes politics,economics and love affairs.The center of the story is a simple question of vocabulary:the meaning of the word "plastic" (explosive or plastic to make toys?)It leads the hero (who is not a nice person anyway:it's a cynical man getting old who cannot forgive the American his idealism )into a crazy spiral.He's been manipulated just as Mrs Holy,her son and the shrink were by Mrs Venable (Suddenly last Summer) or the guests and even McFly by Cecil Fox(The honey pot) .In "Sleuth" probably Mankiewicz's pinnacle ,Wyke manipulates Tindle and vice versa.
In Mankiewicz 's best works ,people work behind the scenes (Cousin Sebastian in "Suddenly Last Summer" Cecil Fox after his death in "honey pot" and the most important scene in this film -the murder- which we do not see!!-And when they take the stage,they are wearing masks ("Sleuth")
The plot is complex,and I must admit I do not find it as palatable and as accessible as most of Mankiewicz's works,which,although very talky,manage to remain absorbing till the last pictures : all in all ,all Mankiewicz movies look like filmed stage productions from "All about Eve" to "the Honey pot" and from " a letter to three wives " to " Sleuth" Even a work like "Cleopatra" features more intimate scenes than in an usual epic.
The cast,for the first time in Mankiewicz 's canon (it never happened again),is weak:only Redgrave is convincing.Audie Murphy is a wooden actor(but we will not forget he was a hero in real life) and Italian Georgia Moll was a starlet who got lost in two-bit spy thrillers or sword and sandals in the sixties :why an Italian by the way?Just compare this acting with those of" Suddenly Last Summer" ! or "the honey pot" and I won't even mention "All about Eve".
The plot mixes politics,economics and love affairs.The center of the story is a simple question of vocabulary:the meaning of the word "plastic" (explosive or plastic to make toys?)It leads the hero (who is not a nice person anyway:it's a cynical man getting old who cannot forgive the American his idealism )into a crazy spiral.He's been manipulated just as Mrs Holy,her son and the shrink were by Mrs Venable (Suddenly last Summer) or the guests and even McFly by Cecil Fox(The honey pot) .In "Sleuth" probably Mankiewicz's pinnacle ,Wyke manipulates Tindle and vice versa.
In Mankiewicz 's best works ,people work behind the scenes (Cousin Sebastian in "Suddenly Last Summer" Cecil Fox after his death in "honey pot" and the most important scene in this film -the murder- which we do not see!!-And when they take the stage,they are wearing masks ("Sleuth")