The Servant (1963)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Joseph Losey

Writers:

Robin Maugham (novel)
Harold Pinter (writer)

Release Date:

16 March 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The aristocratic Tony moves to London and hires the servant Hugo Barrett for all services at home. Barrett seems to be a loyal and competent employee...

Plot Keywords:

Manservant | Lover | Bachelor | Valet | Decadence

Awards:

Won 3 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 5 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Dirk Bogarde	...	Hugo Barrett
Sarah Miles	...	Vera
Wendy Craig	...	Susan
James Fox	...	Tony
Catherine Lacey	...	Lady Mounset
Richard Vernon	...	Lord Mounset
Ann Firbank	...	Society Woman
Doris Knox	...	Older Woman
Patrick Magee	...	Bishop
Jill Melford	...	Younger Woman
Alun Owen	...	Curate
Harold Pinter	...	Society Man
Derek Tansley	...	Head Waiter
Brian Phelan	...	Man in Pub
Hazel Terry	...	Woman in Bedroom
Philippa Hare	...	Girl in Bedroom
Dorothy Bromiley	...	Girl in Phone Box
Alison Seebohm	...	Girl in Pub
Chris Williams	...	Cashier in Coffee Bar
Gerry Duggan	...	Waiter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Dankworth	...	Jazz Band Leader (uncredited)
Harriet Devine	...	Girl (uncredited)
Davy Graham	...	Guitarist (uncredited)
Colette Martin	...	Girl (uncredited)
Joanna Wake	...	Girl (uncredited)
Bruce Wells	...	Sidewalk Painter (uncredited)

Directed by
Joseph Losey

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Robin Maugham		novel "The Servant"
Harold Pinter		writer

Produced by
Joseph Losey	....	producer
Norman Priggen	....	producer

Original Music by
John Dankworth

Cinematography by
Douglas Slocombe

Film Editing by
Reginald Mills

Production Design by
Richard Macdonald

Set Decoration by
Ted Clements

Costume Design by
Beatrice Dawson

Makeup Department
Joyce James	....	hair stylist
Bob Lawrance	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Teresa Bolland	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roy Stevens	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Buster Ambler	....	sound recordist
John Cox	....	sound supervisor
Gerry Hambling	....	sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Frank Howard	....	camera grip
Chic Waterson	....	camera operator

Music Department
David Lindup	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Pamela Davies	....	continuity
Geoff Freeman	....	unit publicist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Springbok Productions

Distributors

• Elstree Distributors (1963) (UK) (theatrical)
• Landau Releasing Organization (LRO) (1964) (USA) (theatrical)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1977) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

30 Royal Avenue, Chelsea, London, England, UK

Company:

Springbok Productions

Trivia:

When Joseph Losey was hospitalized for two weeks during this shoot, Dirk Bogarde continued filming assisted by minute, daily instructions over the phone from Losey's hospital bed. When Losey returned to the set he did not re-shoot any of the script, much to the relief of cast and crew.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Hugo and Susan arrive at Hugo's house in the Mercedes, with an extended visit in mind, they both go into the house and Hugo leaves the car's lights on.

Soundtrack:

All Gone

Confusing, sexy and brilliant

A super, confusing but entirely visceral experience, The Servant is a rich collaboration between Pinter (the writer) and Losey. Good performances from Fox and the doyenne of the slightly barmy 60's flick, Sarah Miles are mandatory in order to keep up with the entirely convincing theatrics of Dirk Bogarde's morally abstract butler, Barrett. Losey keeps everything claustrophobic: there's also an edginess through the stiltedness of set pieces - in restaurants and bars, and even in the Mounset's country pile. The only scene which seems comfortable is the snow(fight) sequence in which Susan and Tony affirm their love - and the moral height from which Tony must fall.

Bizarrely, the film is erotic for the first half but then simply frightening for the second, the drama wound around a single moral trajectory - downwards - throughout. We are engulfed from the start with open-ended sexual permissiveness and suggestion, which runs alongside the class divide whose tension drives the drama to the same degree. In the final scenes I couldn't remove Berg's opera on Wedekind's play Lulu from my mind, given the sax-fronted jazz of John Dankworth colliding awkwardly with a simultaneous orchestral score. It's just a brilliant, original film - analysis resistant, but entirely absorbing nonetheless 8/10