150 Word Review: 'The Servant' (1963)
What the butler saw
When we first meet Barrett, he's a buttoned-up wannabe Jeeves looking for work. He slowly unbuttons over the next hour and fifty-six minutes, methodically revealing himself as a predator who likes to play with his food. The Servant is a sexy British thriller about power and class with the heart of an ice cube.
Dirk Bogarde is phenomenal as a gentleman's gentleman serving James Fox's Tony, a debauched toff living off daddy's money. There's a homoerotic charge between servant and master. Sarah Miles beguiles as Barrett's shady sister, and Wendy Craig shimmers as Tony's posh girlfriend, who suspects Barrett has two faces, one charming, the other carnivorous.
Director Joseph Losey's unblinking camera gets up close and personal. Tony's stylish townhouse is turned into a maze of smoke and mirrors. The screenplay is by dark-hearted, Nobel-winning playwright Harold Pinter, based on a novella by Robin Maugham. His words scurry like spiders.
THE BEST!!!