The Servant

Amy Sargeant''s compelling and meticulous study of Joseph Losey''s The Servant (1963) sets the film in the context of a long tradition of fictional depictions of the master-servant relationship, from Shakespeare to Cervantes, Henry James, Dorothy L. Sayers and P.G. Wodehouse. Sargeant points out that while many of these relationships are played for comic effect, that of the ''young master'' Tony (James Fox) and his manservant Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) unfolds in a far more sinister manner, with Barrett coming to dominate and humiliate the hapless Tony.Sargeant''s reading pays particular attention to the contribution not only of Losey and Harold Pinter, who adapted the screenplay from Robin Maugham''s novella, but also of the cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, designer Richard Macdonald and costume designer Beatrice ''Bumble'' Dawson. She analyses the performances of Sarah Miles as Barrett''s lover Vera and Wendy Craig as Tony''s fiancee Susan, as well as those of Fox and Bogarde, an