Depending on the
Prisoner’s line of work its possible that he might have a number of differing
currencies in his safe. Perhaps the answer lies closer to home with the
monetary exchange rate at the time in the 1960’s, that the Prisoner had more
faith in the $ rather than the £.
And there's the
question of that safe secreted behind the television set. I wonder if this
particular aspect of the Prisoner's study was replicated in his home of '6
Private' in The Village? Chances are it wasn't.
Incidentally ‘Do
Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ is the only Prisoner episode where No.6
demonstrates affection. The affectionate embrace enjoyed and kisses between
Janet and her fiancé No.6, on the occasion of her birthday party. Well this
isn't really correct, it was No.6's mind, if not his body, and the way he
kissed Janet which made up her mind to exactly who the man she was sharing an
embrace was. Well it certainly wasn't Patrick McGoohan, but that of Nigel
Stock, which just so happened to be a disappointment for actress Zena Walker,
who thought when reading of the shared embrace and kiss in her script, that she
would be embracing Patrick McGoohan. Poor Nigel Stock! I'm sure that had
McGoohan not been in America
filming ‘Ice Station Zebra,’ but here filming ‘the Prisoner’ that scene would
still have been with actor Nigel Stock, how would it have been otherwise?
I was reminded by
a line in the 1955 film ‘The Sea Chase’ starring John Wayne as Captain Karl
Ehrlich and Lana Turner as Elsa Keller, a German Intelligence agent. When Elsa
Keller tells Captain Ehrlich "Prison is a state of mind."
Well I wonder
sometimes just what state of mind No.6 is in, or Patrick McGoohan for that
matter, if The Village is as it is said to be. "Not a materialistic place,
but symbolises the prison that is man's own mind." I think I much prefer
the materialistic form of The Village!
And in mentioning
The Village, the place does suffer in quality in the latter episodes where the
village is featured, ‘Hammer Into Anvil,’ ‘Its Your Funeral,’ ‘A Change of
mind.’ Too many designed Village "backdrops" used in the MGM
studios to help create scenes in The Village away from Portmeirion. They are
easy enough to spot, when in ‘A Change of Mind’ we see No.6 and the "Lobo
man" together. As you look down the hedge lined cobbled path towards the
Town Hall, that is a painted backdrop, as it is when No.2 is perused by the
citizens for being unmutual. And the speech balcony in ‘It’s Your Funeral’ is a
set on an MGM sound stage, and not at
Portmeirion. However although one knows that the back episodes had the least
share of funds spent on them, it does not depreciate either the episodes
themselves or their enjoyment.
And that is what I
like to do these days, sit back and watch episodes of the Prisoner for their
enjoyment alone, and not always in the accepted order. Three and a half years
of research into the Prisoner helps you enjoy the episodes for what they are,
pure entertainment and escapism.
‘The Vicious
Circle,’ a 1957 John Mills stars Dr. Howard Latimer, a Harley Street specialist
who becomes the prime suspect in a murder hunt when a German film actress Freda
Velda, who he has been asked to meet at London Airport by film producer Charles
Caufmann, is found dead in Latimer's flat. Dr. Latimer is left to solve the
mystery himself in order to prove his innocence.
There are a couple
of distinctive parallels to be drawn between this 1958 film Vicious Circle and
the Prisoner. Firstly the Prisoner begins and ends with a clap of thunder and
the grimaced face of the Prisoner behind the wheel of his Lotus 7. Vicious
Circle ends and begins with a telephone call for Dr. Howard Latimer from
Charles Caufmann, wanting Latimer to meet a film actress at London
Airport. Also during ‘The Chimes Of
Big Ben’ No.6 discovers that the London
traffic noise, he thinks is outside, is actually being played on a tape
recorder which he finds hidden in a cupboard. And when No.6 pulls the plug the
sounds of the London traffic falls
silent!
Again in Vicious
Circle when Dr. Howard Latimer pays a call on a friend to return his latch key,
he hears the notice of a party going on inside the flat. Using the for said
latch key, Latimer lets himself in on the party going on in the flat. Only when
he closes the door and strolls into the lounge, there is no party, the flat is
empty, save for the disembodied voices of the party goers and the pianist
playing the piano! Latimer goes over to the radiogram and sliding the door
open, he discovers that both the voices he hears and pianist are being played
on the record. Lifting the tone arm reduces the flat to absolute silence!
Be seeing you
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