Screenplays by Harold Pinter (Book Guide)

Source: Wikipedia. Commentary (plays not included). Pages: 29. Chapters: Accident (1967 film), Betrayal (1983 film), Langrishe, Go Down (film), Remembrance of Things Past (play), Reunion (1989 film), Sleuth (2007 film), The Basement (play), The Birthday Party (film), The Caretaker, The Caretaker (film), The Comfort of Strangers (film), The French Lieutenant's Woman (film), The Go-Between (film), The Handmaid's Tale (film), The Homecoming (film), The Last Tycoon (film), The Pumpkin Eater, The Quiller Memorandum, The Remains of the Day (film), The Servant (1963 film), The Trial (1993 film), Turtle Diary. Excerpt: The Caretaker is a play in three acts by Harold Pinter. Although it was the sixth of his major works for stage and television, this psychological study of the confluence of power, allegiance, innocence, and corruption among two brothers and a tramp, became Pinter's first significant commercial success. It premiered at the Arts Theatre Club in London's West End on 27 April 1960 and transferred to the Duchess Theatre the following month, where it ran for 444 performances before departing London for Broadway. In 1964, a film version of the play based on Pinter's unpublished screenplay was directed by Clive Donner. The movie starred Alan Bates as Mick and Donald Pleasence as Davies in their original stage roles, while Robert Shaw replaced Peter Woodthorpe as Aston. First published by both Encore Publishing and Eyre Methuen in 1960, The Caretaker remains one of Pinter's most celebrated and oft-performed plays. A night in winter Aston has invited Davies, a homeless man, into his apartment after rescuing him from a bar fight (7¿9). Davies comments on the apartment and criticizes the fact that it is cluttered and badly kept. Aston attempts to find a pair of shoes for Davies but Davies rejects all the offers. Once he turns down a pair that doesn¿t fit well enough and another that has the wrong colour laces. Early on, Davies reveals to Aston that his real name is not "Bernard Jenkins", his "assumed name", but really "Mac Davies" (19¿20, 25). He claims that his papers validating this fact are in Sidcup and that he must and will return there to retrieve them just as soon as he has a good pair of shoes. Aston and Davies discuss where he will sleep and the problem of the "bucket" attached to the ceiling to catch dripping rain water from the leaky roof (20¿21) and Davies "gets into bed" while "ASTON sits, poking his plug (21). The LIGHTS FADE OUT. Darkness.LIGHTS UP. Morning. (21) As Aston dresses for the day, Davies awakes with a start, and Aston informs Davies that he was kept u