Word: losey
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...aristocrat is the servant of his passions; the servant is the master of his master. A reversal of roles is certainly central to Harold Pinter's screenplay in The Servant. But Pinter and director Joseph Losey hint at much more--and hint is about all they do--for while milord falls from high estate, diabolical manservant wages war with snooty girlfriend, and the gentleman is more the pawn than the prize. The meaning of the conflict? Well--it's hard...
...SERVANT is Dirk Bogarde, who coolly corrupts his master, finally trades places with him, while Director Joseph Losey's camera peers into the British caste system like an evil-minded snoop...
Directed by Joseph Losey, a British-based American with a string of doggedly minor works to his credit, the film on its most meaningful level is acid splashed into the wound of class distinction. But it is best enjoyed simply as a slick, spooky, frequently spellbinding study of corruption...
...this point, The Servant earns A-l references. Playwright Harold Pinter, debuting as a scenarist, writes such deadly efficient dialogue that even talk about the weather sounds ominous. And Losey's camera works every angle, scooting upstairs and down, bobbing from floor to ceiling, peering over banisters. Like an evil-minded snoop, it catches all: every secret glance and unguarded gesture, every telltale truth. Only occasionally does the technique become selfconscious, with one too many shots into rain puddles or oval mirrors...
Even lacking total credibility, The Servant shakes the senses by wallowing in the triumph of evil over evil. But if Losey intends an all-out attack on Britain's caste system, he may have blundered into a paradox. Many a viewer will come away feeling that a world of candlelight and polished silver might be perfectly satisfactory-if only the hired help knew its place...