By Nick Stark
Now playing through September 12th at the Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles is gorgeous new print of The Servant, rightfully considered of one of the landmark British movies of the 1960s.
Directed by the American director and Blacklist exile Joseph Losey, this 1963 movie is a deft psychological drama with more than touch of satire, revealing the fluid relationship dynamic between the workshy upper class fop Tony (James Fox in his breakthrough role) and his manservant, Barrett (Dirk Bogarde).
The movie is superbly shot by veteran cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, no more so than in the opening sequence, when Barrett first comes to Tony’s Chelsea townhouse to apply for a job. Barrett is a shrewd, composed and industrious northerner, while Tony, lounging in a camp chair, and sleeping off a boozy lunch, and clad in a too-big overcoat, looks like a soft southern lad trying desperately to fit into the shoes of his recently-departed father.
Barrett quickly makes himself indispensible, supervising the house’s redecoration and overseeing the color scheme. Slowly but surely the servant becomes the master by encouraging and indulging the indolence and decadence of his boss, brushing aside the overmatched opposition of Tony’s girlfriend Susan (Wendy Craig). Barret swiftly moves his ‘sister’ Vera into the house (played to vampish perfection by a wide–eyed Sarah Miles), ostensibly as a much-need maid, but leading to Tony’s inevitable ruination.
Slocombe’s work cannot be praised highly enough for its contribution to the film’s power. It is full of dark shadows, distorted reflections and possessed of a claustrophic, through-the-looking-glass tone that benefits from a moody jazz score from Johnny Dankworth and wife Cleo Laine. And then there’s Harold Pinter’s script. Sharp as a razor, yet understated and freighted with meaning, it begins as a stark reminder of the ossified world of the British class system, before darkly anticipating the upheaval to come during that tumultuous decade, at the end of which, much of Tony’s old order had essentially been overthrown.
The Servant (1964). Directed by Joseph Losey. Screenplay by Harold Pinter. Starring James Fox, Dirk Bogarde, Wendy Craig and Sarah Miles. Runing time: 115 minutes. Not rated.
