Join us for the first in our  Battle film series, curated by Joseph Martin. The topic is relevant: class warfare using words for weapons. The Servant (1963), starring Dirk Bogarde, was written for the screen by Harold Pinter. It is the first of three films written by Pinter and directed by Joseph Losey and is arguably the jewel of the Losey/Pinter collaboration, a slow-burn of a movie about the complex — and eventually toxic — relationship between manservant Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) and his upper-class employer Tony (James Fox). At first, Barrett appears to be pragmatic and competent, but Tony’s girlfriend Susan (Wendy Craig) is suspicious of his intentions and determined to test his mettle. When Barrett introduces his sister Vera (Sarah Miles) into Tony’s life as another servant, the foursome begins their steady descent into an all-out battle of agendas both hidden and exposed, wherein the weapons used are social order, sex, and — most of all — words; weapons that cut as deeply as the sharpest of knives. Adapted by Pinter from a novelette by Robin Maugham.