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The Guest

Original title: The Caretaker
  • 1963
  • 1h 45m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
The Guest (1963)
Drama

While renovating his house in London, Aston, out of pity, lodges a homeless man, but Aston's brother taunts and harasses the cranky old bum.While renovating his house in London, Aston, out of pity, lodges a homeless man, but Aston's brother taunts and harasses the cranky old bum.While renovating his house in London, Aston, out of pity, lodges a homeless man, but Aston's brother taunts and harasses the cranky old bum.

  • Director
    • Clive Donner
  • Writer
    • Harold Pinter
  • Stars
    • Alan Bates
    • Donald Pleasence
    • Robert Shaw
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.1/10
    1.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Clive Donner
    • Writer
      • Harold Pinter
    • Stars
      • Alan Bates
      • Donald Pleasence
      • Robert Shaw
    • 23User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Photos12

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    Top cast4

    Edit
    Alan Bates
    Alan Bates
    • Mick
    Donald Pleasence
    Donald Pleasence
    • Mac Davies…
    Robert Shaw
    Robert Shaw
    • Aston
    Harold Pinter
    Harold Pinter
    • Man
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Clive Donner
    • Writer
      • Harold Pinter
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews23

    7.11K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    9pnpete9

    Brilliant

    Worth watching just for Robert Shaw's monologue about his mental health. Spellbinding. Obviously filmed during the harsh winter of 62/63 as the snow and ice stubbornly refuses to budge.
    tatkhj

    Extraordinary Film

    This is an extraordinary film and I have been looking for a tape or DVD for some time. Bates is perfectly cast, Pleasance is ideal and utterly memorable, and Shaw is simply brilliant. It is one of the finest films I've ever seen of it's type. Does anyone know if it's maybe hung up in some sort of litigation or has a property rights thing going? It's a real shame that people who weren't around in the 60's can't see it. I think that in some ways this finds each of the actors and even Pinter at their very best. I recommend this to anyone exploring Schopenhauer, Sartre, Beckett, or Genet. It's in my top 100 films ever made. --tatkhj
    rufasff

    first rate theatre film

    This hard to find movie is now availible on an import DVD (with that "opened up" car scene) and it's worth seeking out. It's almost as good as the excellent

    "Homecoming" film, and while Bates and Shaw shine, it is Donald Pleasance

    who steals the show. How this great actor ended up in grade Z films at the end of his career must be a sort of tragic drama in itself. It's wild to remember this "kitchen sink" classic came out of England the year the Beatles took the world by storm. Those were the days.....
    8RodrigAndrisan

    Good!

    A film that would have been very, very boring if it had other actors in the cast. For me, Robert Shaw was the main reason to see it. Then Donald Pleasence and Alan Bates. All three did an excellent job in a confined space, just a room, no action, just dialogue, 1 hour 45 minutes, just talk. Their charm, of all three actors, make this movie easy to watch.
    8ian_harris

    Honest screening of a great play

    The Caretaker is a truly great play and lends itself only to minimal tinkering for the screen. Thank goodness, that's what the makers of this film decided to do, so the film is barely an adaptation. One or two short scenes are moved out of Aston's claustrophobic attic room, but for the most part we're stuck in there, just like the play. I'm too young to have seen the original cast on stage, so it is good to see how Alan Bates and Donald Pleasence must have plied their craft on the stage. Robert Shaw does an excellent job of Aston, a part that is often under-rated as it is best performed under-stated. I have seen two fine productions of this play on the stage, back in the 70's I saw Max Wall play the lead and more recently the mighty Michael Gambon supported brilliantly by Rupert Graves as Mick and Douglas Hodge as Aston. If you can get to see a great production of this play, I recommend it for the stage rather than film. In the absence of a fine cast just down the road, this film is a super second best.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Donald Pleasence's favourite film out of all the movies he made.
    • Quotes

      Mick: I could turn this place into a penthouse. For instance this room. This room could have been the kitchen. Right size, nice window, sun comes in. I'd have I'd have teal-blue, copper and parchment linoleum squares. I'd have those colours re-echoed in the walls. I'd offset the kitchen units with charcoal-grey worktops. Plenty of room for cupboards for the crockery. We'd have a small wall cupboard, a large wall cupboard, a corner wall cupboard with revolving shelves. You shouldn't be short of cupboards. You could put the dining-room across the landing, see? Yes. Venetian blinds on the window, cork floor, cork tiles. You could have an off-white pile linen rug, a table in... in afromosia teak veneer, sideboard with matte black drawers, armchairs in oatmeal tweed, a beech frame settee with a woven sea-grass seat... (sits up) it wouldn't be a flat it'd be a palace.

    • Connections
      Referenced in This Week in Britain: The Caretaker (1963)

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    FAQ15

    • How long is The Guest?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 23, 1964 (Denmark)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Der Hausmeister
    • Filming locations
      • 31 Downs Road, Hackney, London, England, UK(since demolished)
    • Production companies
      • Caretaker Films
      • Taylor Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • £30,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 45m(105 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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