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Watch the 4K restora­tion trail­er for Joseph Losey’s The Servant

28 Jul 2021

Words by Adam Woodward

Monochrome image of a well-dressed man standing next to a reclined woman on a bed.
Monochrome image of a well-dressed man standing next to a reclined woman on a bed.
Stu­dio­Canal has announced a re-release of this 1963 clas­sic star­ring Dirk Bog­a­rde and James Fox.

Adapt­ed for the screen by revered play­wright Harold Pin­ter and fea­tur­ing crisp black-and-white pho­tog­ra­phy from leg­endary cin­e­matog­ra­ph­er Dou­glas Slo­combe, 1963’s The Ser­vant stands among the most sub­ver­sive and thrilling British films ever made.

Now, to coin­cide with the cen­te­nary of British screen idol Dirk Bog­a­rde, Stu­dio­Canal is re-releas­ing the film in cin­e­mas in a brand new 4K restora­tion, the snazzy new trail­er for which you can watch below. There’s also a strik­ing new one-sheet poster designed by Edward Kin­sel­la.

Mark­ing the first of three col­lab­o­ra­tions between Pin­ter and direc­tor Joseph Losey, The Ser­vant sees Bog­a­rde play against type as the con­niv­ing, dan­ger­ous­ly charis­mat­ic live-in ser­vant Bar­rett, who plays a wicked game with his aris­to­crat­ic employ­er, Tony (James Fox).

An ellip­ti­cal, tight­ly-wound dra­ma in which tra­di­tion­al roles are not so much reserved as scratched out and redrawn, The Servant’s endur­ing influ­ence can be felt today in mod­ern clas­sics such as Par­a­site – Bong Joon-ho has even named it as one of his top five favourite films.

The Ser­vant will receive its 4K UK pre­mière at the Edin­burgh Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val on 19 August, fol­lowed by a wider cin­e­ma release on 10 Sep­tem­ber, and a 4K UHD Collector’s edi­tion Blu-Ray, DVD & Dig­i­tal release on 20 September.

Theatrical poster for "The Servant" film; dark colours, reflection of two faces in a mirror, text highlighting 4K restoration and British cinema praise.

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