Odd couple Tony (James Fox) and Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) first meet when Barrett is hired as a live-in servant in Tony's lavish London pad. Gradually, Tony's lethargy and increasing alcoholism causes a dependency on the excessively efficient Barratt, much to the annoyance of Tony's fiancée Susan (Wendy Craig). The relationships are further strained by the arrival of Barratt's sister Vera (Sarah Miles), adding sexual tension to the growing list of psychological mind games already at play.

This was Pinter's first collaboration with Losey - a celebrated partnership that nearly never happened. Adapted from Robin Maugham's novella, Michael Anderson was set to direct it two years previously but inadequate funding enabled Losey to obtain the film rights.

Formerly the Romeo in many films, Bogarde is astonishing as the shadowy Barrett and was described at the time as playing the role "like a hungry man confronted by his first square meal in years" and is wonderfully juxtaposed by the candidly effete Tony. Originally set in the post-war period, the screenplay was updated to the decadent 60s in order to heighten Tony's insouciance and the characters' social and class distinctions.

Losey's superb direction of interior scenes maximises the unfolding psychological drama. Combining chiaroscuro and symbolism, the house is recreated into a menacing prison, a walled shrine to corruption and distorted reality, effectively symbolised by the dead flowers and warped reflections in the convex mirror.

The Servant reaches its peak as normal life disintegrates and routine and relationships are stripped away. All that remains is the ugly misuse of vice and emotional extortion. Never invite the devil over your doorstep, or you may find yourself in the gloriously unsettling world of Pinter.

Clare Norton-Smith

Pinter at the BBC homepage