The Servant

The Servant is a British drama about Tony, a wealthy young London aristocrat who hires Hugo Barrett as his manservant. Barrett proves to be efficient and capable, and Tony comes to rely on him. Susan, Tony's fiancée, dislikes Barrett and distrusts his behaviour, and the tension grows when Barrett persuades Tony to take on his sister Vera as a live-in maid. What begins as a straightforward arrangement between an idle employer and a dutiful servant gradually shifts, with Barrett gaining influence over his master's life.

Joseph Losey directed the film, working from a screenplay by Harold Pinter, and both men produced it with Norman Priggen. It was Losey's second feature, following Blind Date in 1959, and it precedes Accident, Boom!, The Go-Between and later films in his career. Dirk Bogarde plays Hugo Barrett, with James Fox as Tony, Sarah Miles as Vera, Wendy Craig as Susan and Catherine Lacey and Richard Vernon in supporting roles.

The film runs 116 minutes and was released in November 1963. On IMDb it holds a critics' rating of 8.1 out of 10 from 51 reviews, while on TMDB its audience rating stands at 7.6 out of 10 from 383 votes, a relatively close agreement between reviewers and viewers.