Adapted by celebrated playwright Harold Pinter from a story by Robin Maugham, The Servant sees spoiled young aristocrat Tony (James Fox) carelessly recruit a servant, Barrett (Dirk Bogarde), whose deferential demeanour belies the resentment, ambition and even sadism that will see him incrementally seek to assume Tony’s position for himself. Explicitly class-conscious, The Servant plays out as a savage struggle for power, with property, sex, and social assurance both the weapons and the prizes. Sarah Miles as Barrett’s ‘sister’ and Wendy Craig as Tony’s girlfriend are convincing, but it’s foppish Fox and slippery Bogarde who dominate, their conflict depicted in director Joseph Losey’s precisely constructed compositions.
Cast:
Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, Sarah Miles
