The Servant (1963 film)
| The Servant | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Joseph Losey |
| Produced by |
Joseph Losey Norman Priggen |
| Written by |
Robin Maugham (novel) Harold Pinter (screenplay) |
| Starring |
Dirk Bogarde Sarah Miles James Fox Wendy Craig |
| Music by | John Dankworth |
| Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
| Edited by | Reginald Mills |
| Distributed by | Landau Releasing Organisation Elstree Studio Films |
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Release date
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14 November 1963 |
|
Running time
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112 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £135,000 |
The Servant is Harold Pinter's 1963 film adaptation of a 1948 novelette by Robin Maugham. A British production directed by Joseph Losey, it stars Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, Wendy Craig and James Fox. It opened at London's Warner Theatre on 14 November 1963.
The first of Pinter's three film collaborations with Losey, which also include Accident (1967) and The Go-Between (1971), The Servant is a tightly-constructed psychological dramatic film about the relationships among the four central characters examining issues relating to class, servitude and the of the upper classes.
Tony (James Fox), a wealthy young Londoner, hires Hugo Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) as his manservant. Initially, Barrett appears to take easily to his new job, and he and Tony form a quiet bond, retaining their social roles. Relationships begin shifting, however, and they change with the introduction of Susan (Wendy Craig), Tony's girlfriend, who seems to be suspicious of Barrett and to loathe all he represents.
Barrett brings Vera (Sarah Miles), whom he presents as his sister, into Tony's household as a maidservant, but it emerges that Vera is actually Barrett's lover. Through Barrett's and Vera's games and machinations, they reverse roles with Tony and Susan; Tony becomes more and more dissipated, sinking further into what he perceives as their level, as the "master" and the "servant" exchange roles. In the final scene, Tony has become wholly dependent on Barrett, and Susan is exiled permanently from the house.
'It was Losey who first showed Robin Maugham's novelette The Servant to Bogarde in 1954. Originally separately commissioned by director Michael Anderson, Pinter stripped it of its first-person narrator, its yellow book snobbery and the arguably anti-Semitic characterisation of Barrett – oiliness, heavy lids – replacing them with an economical language that implied rather than stated the slippage of power relations away from Tony towards Barrett.'
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