The Caretaker *** (1963, Alan Bates, Donald Pleasence, Robert Shaw) – Classic Movie Review 12,043

A poster with The Caretaker’s alternative title of The Guest.

Clive Donner makes his breakthrough as director with The Caretaker (1963), a low-budget black-and-white British drama film, extraordinarily made by a partnership of six people, Clive Donner, Donald Pleasence, Alan Bates, Robert Shaw, Harold Pinter and Michael Birkett, none of whom took payment. The film is based on the now classic 1960 play of the same name by Harold Pinter, his first major commercial success. But, theatre is one thing, film is another. And, with distributors all turning it down, it is amazing the film got made at all. But it had some very good friends.

It was funded almost entirely by financial contributions of £1,000 each from a consortium of celebrities credited in the film as Peter Bridge, Peter Cadbury, Charles Kasher, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Harry Saltzman, Peter Hall, Leslie Caron, Noël Coward and Peter Sellers, with the film’s stars taking shares of the film’s revenue instead of their standard fees.

Robert Shaw stars as Aston, who is renovating his London home, and allows an old homeless man (Donald Pleasence) to live with him out of pity, while Aston’s brother Mick (Alan Bates) torments the old man.

The film is filmed in black-and-white by cinematographer Nicolas Roeg.

Composer Ron Grainer was asked for a sequence of sound effects rather than a score, using his experience with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

The overall budget was £30,000. In a Catch 22 situation, as no distributor would fund the film, it could not attract investment from the National Film Finance Corporation, unable to finance films without a chance of a commercial screening.

As expected, even with these stars, it struggled for distribution, and the film could not obtain a release in London until it first screened in New York. Presumably, it was art for art’s sake and nobody expected to get paid or get their money back. How great is that!

Alan Bates originated the stage role of Mick in The Caretaker, Pinter’s first major commercial success. Donner’s next film, Nothing But the Best (1964), also stars Alan Bates.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,043

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