Guide Note

The 1972 film adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's Tony Award-winning playSleuth stars Laurence Olivier as a wealthy mystery novelist and Michael Caine as the young entrepreneur weho's having an affair with the writer's wife. Both actors received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for their roles, and Olivier was named Best Actor by the New York Film Critics Circle.

Kenneth Branagh's 2007 remake of the film places Caine in the role played by Olivier in the original and casts Jude Law as the writer's wife's lover.

Fast Facts

1. Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
2. Writer: Anthony Shaffer
3. Starring: Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine
4. Release date: December 10, 1972
5. Running time: 138 minutes
6. Remake's release date: November 23, 2007
7. Remake's screenplay written by 2005 Nobel prize winner Harold Pinter

A wealthy thriller novelist lets his wife's lover in on the fact that he knows about their affair. He's not angry, however, and in fact suggests the young man "steal" his wife's jewels so that he can claim the insurance loss. Soon enough, though, it becomes clear that the writer may want revenge after all.