The Servant
The Servant

The Servant (1963)


The Servant

The Servant (1963)

Budget (GBP) 135,000
Distribution Company

Elstree Distributors Ltd   (Distributor | Est. Unknown)

Release Date 3 September 1963
Black and White Yes
Regional Release Yes
Release Notes Italy 3 September 1963 (Venice Film Festival);
USA 16 September 1963 (New York Film Festival);
UK 9 January 1964 (London);
USA 16 March 1964;
France 10 April 1964;
Italy July 1964 (Festival dei Due Mondi);
West Germany 14 August 1964;
Sweden 14 September 1964;
Denmark 21 September 1964;
Austria October 1964;
Italy 4 December 1964;
Finland 26 March 1965;
Spain 31 October 1967 (Madrid);
Spain 13 November 1967 (Barcelona);
Mexico 7 December 1967;
Turkey June 1969;
Portugal 25 September 1970;
Belgium 30 May 1975 (Gent);
Netherlands 28 June 1984 (re-release);
France 7 August 2002 (re-release);
Greece 12 October 2006 (Panorama of European Cinema);
France 20 April 2011 (re-release);
Japan 24 November 2012 (Osaka European Film Festival);
USA 29 May 2014 (Seattle International Film Festival);
France 20 August 2014 (re-release) (restored version);
Description An adaptation by Harold Pinter of a 1948 novella by Robin Maugham, The Servant is the story of a wealthy young man, Tony, taking a servant, Barrett, into his employ to look after his new house in London. The two men form a close relationship, which contributes to the eventual reversal of their power relationship.
Language English

Linked Productions

No linked Production have been added to this production record yet.

Linked People

Joseph Losey (1909 - 1984)

Creative | Director


Harold Pinter (1930 - 2008)

Creative | Screenplay


Robin Maugham (1916 - 1981)

Creative | Author (original novel)


Joseph Losey (1909 - 1984)

Production | Producer


Norman Priggen (1924 - 1999)

Production | Producer


John Dankworth (1927 - 2010)

Orchestrator | Music


Douglas Slocombe (1913 - 2016)

Technical | Director of photography


Reginald Mills (1912 - 1990)

Technical | Film editor


Richard Macdonald (1919 - 1993)

Creative | Production Designer


Ted Clements (1926 - 1992)

Creative | Art Director


Beatrice Dawson (1908 - 1976)

Creative | Costume Designer


Joyce James

Creative | Hairdresser


Bob Lawrence

Creative | Makeup Artist


Teresa Bolland (1917 - 1989)

Production | Production Manager


Roy Stevens

Creative | Assistant Director


Buster Ambler

Technical | Sound Recordist


John Cox

Technical | Sound Supervisor


Gerry Hambling

Technical | Sound Editor


Frank Howard

Technical | Camera grip


Chic Waterson

Technical | Camera operator


Brian Harris

Technical | Clapper loader


Robin Vidgeon

Technical | Focus puller


John Dankworth (1927 - 2010)

Orchestrator | Conductor


David Lindup

Orchestrator | Orchestrator


Pamela Davies

Production | Continuity


Geoff Freeman

Production | Unit Publicist


Paul Mayersberg

Production | Production Assistant


Linked Organisations

Elstree Distributors Ltd (Distributor | Est. Unknown)

Characters

Tony (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: James Fox (1939)

Wasn't Present

Barrett (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: Dirk Bogarde (1921 - 1999)

Wasn't Present

Susan (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Wendy Craig (1934)

Wasn't Present

Vera (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Sarah Miles (1941)

Wasn't Present

Society Man (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: Harold Pinter (1930 - 2008)

Wasn't Present

Lord Mountset (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: Richard Vernon (1925 - 1997)

Wasn't Present

Bishop (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: Patrick Magee (1922 - 1982)

Wasn't Present

Cashier In Coffee Bar (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: Chris Williams

Wasn't Present

Curate (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: Alun Owen (1925 - 1994)

Wasn't Present

Girl In Pub (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Alison Seebohm (1939 - 2015)

Wasn't Present

Girl In Bedroom (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Philippa Hare

Wasn't Present

Girl In Phone Box (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Dorothy Bromiley (1930)

Wasn't Present

Head Waiter (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: Derek Tansley (1917 - 2010)

Wasn't Present

Man In Pub (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: Brian Phelan (1934)

Wasn't Present

Older Woman (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Doris Knox (1916 - 1998)

Wasn't Present

Society Woman (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Ann Firbank (1933)

Wasn't Present

Woman In Bedroom (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Hazel Terry (1918 - 1974)

Wasn't Present

Younger Woman (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Jill Melford (1931 - 2018)

Wasn't Present

Lady Mountset (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Understudy: Catherine Lacey (1904 - 1979)

Wasn't Present

Jazz Band Leader (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Uncredited.

Understudy: John Dankworth (1927 - 2010)

Wasn't Present

Girl (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Uncredited.

Understudy: Harriet Devine

Wasn't Present

Guitarist (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Uncredited.

Understudy: Davy Graham (1940 - 2008)

Wasn't Present

Girl (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Uncredited.

Understudy: Colette Martin

Wasn't Present

Restaurant Diner 2 (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Uncredited.

Understudy: Guy Standeven (1928 - 1998)

Wasn't Present

Girl (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Uncredited.

Understudy: Joanna Wake (1940)

Wasn't Present

Sidewalk Painter (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Male)

Understudy: Bruce Wells

Wasn't Present

Restaurant Dinner 1 (The Servant) (Age: Not Specified, Female)

Uncredited.

Understudy: Aileen Lewis (1914 - 2014)

Wasn't Present

Linked Awards

British Screenwriters Guild Award

1964

Las Jornadas Internacionales de Cine, Spain

Unknown

Nastro d'argento (Silver Ribbon Award, Italy)

1966

Won: Best Foreign Film

New York Film Critics' Circle Award

1964

Won: Best Writing

BAFTA

1963

Won: Best British Actor: Dirk Bogarde

BAFTA

1963

Won: Best Black and White Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe

Linked Places

30 Royal Avenue, Chelsea

The filming location for the house in The Servant (1963). Director Joseph Losey lived on the other side of Royal Avenue to this location.


120 King's Road, Chelsea

Barrett is seen crossing the road in front of Thomas Crapper's shop in The Servant (1963).


Resources

In search of the locations for Joseph Losey’s classic The Servant (URL)

Type: Article

External Link: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/servant-locations-joseph-losey-dirk-bogarde

Online article by Adam Scovell

50th Anniversary DVD release (URL)

Type: DVD

External Link: http://www.studiocanal.co.uk/Film/Details/89e6e81f-d991-420d-b2dc-a19b00a19cce

Studiocanal released a special edition of The Servant, including many interviews and archive material, to mark the film’s fiftieth anniversary in 2003.

The Servant that led cinema into a new era (URL)

Type: Newspaper article

External Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/the-servant-that-led-cinema-into-a-new-era-8535019.html

Geoffrey MacNab, 'The Servant that led cinema into a new era', The Independent, 15 March 2013.

Hollis Alpert, 'Knock, Knock. What's There?' Saturday Review, 14 March 1964, p. 17 (URL)

Type: Review

External Link: https://www.unz.com/print/SaturdayRev-1964mar14-00017/

David Caute, 'Golden Triangle', Independent on Sunday (London), 11 July 1993, pp. 24-26. (Paper-based)

Type: Review

Brendan Gill, 'The Current Cinema: Sinister and Sunny', The New Yorker, 21 March 1964, p. 172 (URL)

Type: Review

External Link: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1964/03/21/sinister-and-sunny

Robert Hatch, 'The Servant', Nation, 6 April 1964, pp. 354 (URL)

Type: Review

External Link: https://www.unz.com/print/Nation-1964apr06-00354/

Stanley Kauffmann, 'High Life Below Stairs', The New Republic, 21 March 1964 pp. ,27-28. (URL)

Type: Review

External Link: https://www.unz.com/print/NewRepublic-1964mar21-00027/

New Yorker, 30 November 1963, p. 207 (URL)

Type: Review

External Link: http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1963-11-30

Sight and Sound (Winter 1963-1964), pp. 38-39 (Paper-based)

Type: Review

New York Times, 17 March 1964, p. 30 (Paper-based)

Type: Review

New York Times, 29 March 1964, sec. 2, p. 1 (Paper-based)

Type: Review

Commonweal, 20 March 1964, p. 751 (Paper-based)

Type: Review

Time, 20 March 1964, pp. 94-95 (Paper-based)

Type: Review

Newsweek, 23 March 1964, pp. 95-96 (Paper-based)

Type: Review

The Servant Trailer, 1963 (URL)

Type: Trailer

External Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hn2hbCg6Hs

Original trailer.

Penelope Gilliatt, ‘The masterful servant’, The Observer, 17 November 1963, p. 27 (URL)

Type: Review

External Link: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/257882446/

Sources

Hollywood, England: the British Film Industry in the Sixties

Alexander Walker, Hollywood, England: the British Film Industry in the Sixties (London: Joseph, 1974)

Academic book

Edith de Rham's biography of Joseph Losey

Edith de Rham, Joseph Losey (London: Andre Deutsch, 1991)

Biography

Sharp Cut: Harold Pinter's Screenplays and the Artistic Process

Steven H. Gale, Harold Pinter's Screenplays and the Artistic Process (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003)

Academic book

Contains chapters on each of Harold Pinter's filmed screenplays and includes a bibliography of reviews of films up to 1999.

BFI Screenonline

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/450491/index.html

URL