Earl Cameron - Shore leave

Readers might be interested in the following.

   Born in Bermuda in 1917, Earl Cameron has been for more than sixty years a widely respected actor on stage and screen, his career spanning a range of British cinema from his 1950 film debut in the Ealing Studios production Pool of London, now recognized as a British neo-realist classic, to his most recent appearance in Christopher Nolan's Inception. However Earl's life is far more than a mere list of credits. One of the first black actors to be given serious roles in film, his whole life's journey reads like an adventure story with life imitating art and vice versa in a richly resonant double act.

 http://marcusthompson.com/thebook/?v=79cba1185463

Film Trailer

https://vimeo.com/210944585

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The Pri50ner!

    2016-2017 is the 50^th anniversary of the production of ‘the Prisoner, commencing with location filming for the opening sequence in August before moving to Portmeirion in September, and after that to MGM at Elstree film studios. Now 2017-2018 is the 50^th anniversary of ‘the Prisoner’ of the British screening of ‘the Prisoner’ which commenced on ITV’s regional network television on September 29^th. Of course it depended in which part of the British Isles you lived as to when you saw it, according to ITV’S regional television network. For example I myself didn’t see ‘Arrival’ until October 6^th on ITV’s Anglia television. Then both anniversaries carry over into 2018, seeing as how the production was still on-going, and catching up with the screening of the series, which finally ended for me on Feb10th {very appropriate}. While for others it ended a month later on March 1^st while others reached the conclusion at varying times in between.
   I think it’s pretty unique for any television series to have a 50^th anniversary of its production to span three years, and a 50^th anniversary of its screening to span two years. If there is a fault with ‘the Prisoner’ it is this. Some years ago I arrived at the conclusion that the series suffers due to the fact that so much was put into the first four episodes, and that the latter ones suffer monetarily. And yet I know enthusiasts who appreciate the latter episodes, such as ‘A Change of Mind,’ Do Not Forsake Me Oh my Darling,’ and ‘Living In Harmony’ more than ‘Arrival,’ ‘Free For All,’ ‘Dance of The Dead,’ and ‘Checkmate.’ For myself I think of ‘A change of Mind’ for Number 2, in that scene with Number 6, when they are talking quietly Number 2 says “I’m not angry with you my dear friend.” That always sends a cold shiver down my spine! ‘Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling’ I like for its incidental music. And ‘Living In Harmony’ I enjoy thinking of the action, the Man With No Name being dragged into town at the end of a rope. And all he does all alone in the town of Harmony! The fist-fight with Zeke and the boys, riding non-existent horses, not forgetting the gunfight in the saloon. We are all fans of ‘the Prisoner’ and get so much varied enjoyment from it. Personally my three favourite episodes are ‘Arrival’ because it sets the scene perfectly for what is to come. ‘Checkmate’ because of the picturesque quality of The Village, that and the chess match together with the music that accompanies it, music which personifies Prisoner Conventions held at Portmeirion. Finally ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ because of the rapport between Number 6 and Number 2.

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Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                     “Our Friend No.6”

BCNU

The Village

    The Village is a place where people turn up, people who know too much or too little, a place which has many means of breaking a man. A place of confinement, a prison, an internment camp, a place to put people who cannot be left to roam free. And yet it can be a place of peace, of refuge, a sanctuary, somewhere different, quiet, where a man can think. And yet alone in one’s cottage there is too much time for thinking, time for planning an escape, for now it is time to be free, free of enforced confinement, free of experiments, of conditioning, therapy treatment, human experimentation. And yet there is no escape, ever since the first prisoners arrived in The Village all ways for possible escape have been tried and tested, all resulting in either failure or worse. So give them the information they require and they will take good care of you, for as long as you live. Life in The Village is what you make it, for some it could be an opportunity, for others The Village is a way of life which they have come to accept. It’s a beautiful day, so feel free. Take part, settle down and join in. And while you are doing that wait and bide your time, and when opportunity presents itself take it. Number 6 did, he grasped every opportunity which presented itself to him, little good it did him. A Prisoner? Of course he’s still a prisoner, 50 years on he’s as much a prisoner today as ever he was. But he looks as good as ever he did, better in fact, the man’s not aged a day which is more than can be said of me. Number 6 is still 38 years of age, I was 12 when he first crossed my path, now I’m 62 and just as much a prisoner as he is, a prisoner of ‘the Prisoner.’

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The Schizoid Man!

   Curtis “Number Six might be dead, but you and I are in a unique position!”
    No.2 “How do you work that out, things couldn’t be worse, when the General gets to hear about his…….”
    “The General needn’t get to hear about it, not if we use our heads. Number Six is still alive.”
    “But you said he was dead.
    “He’s here now.”
    “Where?”
    “Me.”
    “You?”
    “Me, I’m him, I’m Number Six.”
    “You are?”
    “All you have to do is send me back

    “Send you back where?”
    “I could infiltrate British Military Intelligence, posing as Number Six.”
    “And how are you going to manage that?”
    “I look exactly like him, I have his mannerisms, how he walks and talks, I’ve read his file so I know all about him.”
    “Alright then, why did you resign?”
    “Wh…what?”
    “You don’t see that as a hindrance then?”
    “Hindrance?”
    “The fact that he resigned.”
    “Ah, perhaps I could tell them I’ve changed my mind.”
    “Tell who?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “That’s the trouble, you don’t know enough.”
    “Perhaps the General could help.”

    “I think you’d be better off remaining here.”
    “As what?”
    “Not what……who, you said it yourself, Number Six.”
    “Just a minute I’m not Number Six!”
    “No but you will be, just a couple of slight amendments.”
    “Amendments?”
    “You can lose that badge for a start, and we’ll have to change that blazer.”
    “I’m not a number, I’m a person.”
    “Excellent Number Twelve, living the part already!”

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His Own Worst Enemy!

    That’s Number 6, his own worst enemy. When he’s not trying to escape he’s forever poking his nose into business which is none his concern. He’s always too keen to become involved, and not always for his own good. At times he’s gullible, just like anyone else. He thought if he won the election.....what election? If ‘Dance of The Dead’ had maintained its rightful position in the screening order, then by the time the election came along, Number 6 would have known there to be no democratic process in The Village, it being an irritation the administration had dispensed with.
    He refuses to give any information, he revisits Number 2 at every turn. Refuses to co-operate, to settle down and join in, refuses to wear, observe, or respond to his number, and only does so when it suits him. In short it’s as Number 12 once said “He’s a troublemaker!” A malcontent, public enemy Number 6, who has to be tolerated because he’s too valuable, too important, and is seen to have a future with The Village which isn’t easy to see why. But perhaps because Number 6 is a troublemaker, a goat, that’s reason enough to have seen him brought to The Village in order to shake the community up out of its lethargy, to bring a spark to The Village. Not to put Number 6 to the test, but for Number 6 to put The Village and its community to the test!

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The Therapy Zone

     It means what it is, perhaps the most profound words spoken by Number 6, it means what it is, but what is it exactly? A Church door? Well only because that was a suggestion put forward by one of the members of the Awards Committee and Number 6 agreed. The other piece of the same geometric lines but rather more abstract, what’s that? Well it’s how you look at it, represents freedom or a barrier. The barrier’s down, the door is open and one is free to go, free to escape to the symbol of aspirations, freedom, knowledge, escape.........a pole! That’s all very well of course, but why the cross piece? Well all the pole would be, is a pole without the crosspiece! But is that what Number 6 aspires to, to escape to freedom through knowledge? It’s as Number 6 said, if he knew where he was sailing from, he could calculate where he was sailing to. But the knowledge he gained didn’t get him very far, because it was bogus. Number 6 was too trusting, too keen to believe, such is his desperation for freedom and escape!

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