Pinter's screenwriting

In The Guardian, David Hare argues that Harold Pinter's screenwriting shows how much the screen owes to the stage.

To jump back into the world of Pinter's movies is to remind yourself of a literate mainstream cinema, focused as much as Bergman's is on the human face, in which tension is maintained by a carefully crafted mix of image and dialogue. These are directors' films, where the director's opportunities have been created by a writer. That's what the best film writers do - give directors their chance. Unlike certain of his best-known colleagues, Pinter does not deliberately work with weak directors: this is a writer who boxes his own weight. His collaborators of choice include Joe Losey, Elia Kazan, Karel Reisz, William Friedkin and Jack Clayton. Not exactly the bunch a writer would choose in search of an easy ride.