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Approved by the Shaw Family
Estd. 2020
"You could be caretaker here if you like"
"He was a really dangerous guy." - Richard D. Zanuck
Robert Shaw as Aston
Aston, a quiet, reserved man, lives alone in a top-floor cluttered room of a small abandoned house in a poor London district. He befriends and takes in MacDavies, an old derelict who has been fired from a menial job in a café. In time, Aston offers him a job as caretaker of the house.
Aston's brother, Mick, a taunting sadist, harasses the derelict when his brother is away, countermanding his orders. Eventually, Aston, irritated by the cantankerous old man, puts him out.
Directed by Clive Donner
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Screenplay by Harold Pinter based on his own play
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Produced by Michael Birkett
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Music by Ron Grainer
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Cinematography by Nicolas Roeg
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Edited by Fergus McDonell
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Also starring Alan Bates and Donald Pleasence
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Released by British Lion Pictures
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Release Date: June 10th 1963
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Running Time: 105 minutes
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Location(s): Upper Clapton and Hackney, East London
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Filming commenced November 3rd 1962
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Winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival
The film was financed by many film stars including
Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Sellers and Noel Coward.
On Location with The Caretaker
Aston's Monologue
Written by Pinter
A vintage 1962 featurette called "This week in Britain" from the set of The Caretaker presented by Anne Forsythe.
A riveting performance by Robert in this magnificent monologue. Film acting at its very best!
Exclusive Trailer for the Criterion Channel focussing on Pinter's works.
Press Play
DIRECTOR
Clive Donner
(1926 - 2010)
"Bates, Pleasence and Shaw are nothing short of astonishing."
Donald
Pleasence
(1919 - 1995)
Alan
Bates
(1934 - 2003)
Adapted from the stage play which all three actors featured in on Broadway and made on a shoestring budget, this was Robert's first collaboration with Pinter on film and the results are magnificent.
Shot in grainy black and white in the East End of London, director Donner beautifully encapsulates the claustrophobia of this three way dance.
Pleasence is brilliant as the northern ruffian whom Robert brings home to stay with himself and his brooding and sadistic brother played by the excellent Bates.
The three work beautifully together and the tension builds throughout thanks to Pinter's absorbing screenplay and the deliberate lack of a cinematic score.
When on the screen, Shaw is a towering presence in one of his subtlest performances as the troubled Aston. Where Pleasence and Bates are all fire and energy, Robert's underplayed and quiet character simmers with an underlying menace. He also delivers a stunning monologue which more than rivals the one from Jaws in its execution.
Whenever he is on the screen you just can't take your eyes off him. Like often with Pinter, it's not an easy watch but what you get here is three actors at the very top of their game.
Lobby Card Gallery
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Harold Pinter’s plays are often quite opaque. They normally deal with a handful of people and the human interconnection in all it’s kindness and cruelty between them. ‘The Birthday Party’, ‘Homecoming’ and ‘The Servant’ are examples of this. So too is ‘The Caretaker’. ‘The Caretaker’ was written in 1959, staged the following year and adapted for the screen in 1963. A three act play, it was filmed in the cold winter of 1963.
It was a lo-fi production that had some big talent backing it. From the opening credits it is clear there big name associate producers in Noel Coward, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Harry Saltzman (the James Bond producer), Peter Hall, Leslie Caron and Peter Sellers among others. But the original funders were Pinter himself, along with the film’s director Clive Donner, producer Michael Birkett and the film’s three actors: Alan Bates, Robert Shaw and Donald Pleasence.
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Clearly, every bit an independent film and at no point filmed on a sound stage, it was filmed in a real life location in Hackney (the original house has since made way for a new build). The origin of the play is based off a real life situation Pinter experienced. Shaw plays the rather melancholy Aston who feels sorry for an old tramp he has met (Pleasence). He takes the old man back to his house in Hackney where he lets him rest. Meanwhile, Aston also lives with his brother, Davies (Bates), who cruelly does not miss the opportunity to dish out abuse at this proud and racist old fella.
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The opening credits are noirishly shot at night by talented cinematographer and later director, Nicolas Roeg who would go on to direct such films as Performance (1970) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). Through the credits we see a van parked in front of a house and when the credits end we see a cigarette light up and thrown out of the van window.
Roeg and director Donner shot much of the film in the confined space of the house and do an extraordinary job in making an intimate personal film with just three characters. Clearly the filmmakers and those who backed the film saw the quality and worth in Pinter here. Pinter himself was closely involved in the making of the film, adapting his own play himself and understanding where and what changes were necessary.
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The performances are first rate, especially from Shaw who here gives one of the greatest performances of his career.