Bureau of Visual Records

    We have a saying Number 2, if the wind changes you’ll stay like that!

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A Favourite Scene In Dance of The Dead

   “Are you alright, you tried to go in…..by mistake? Its fussy about who it lets in…………. this is the Town Hall.”

   I bet Number 6 wasn’t expecting that, to be hit by an electronic force field! But then why should he, after all he had been in the Town Hall before. Unless of course ‘Dance of The Dead’ was to precede ‘Free For All,’ then it would have been right, Number 6 would not have known that this is the Town Hall, not having been in it before. However had ‘Free For All been preceded by ‘Dance of The Dead’ then there would have been no need for Number 6 to go to the Town Hall in order to witness the disillusionment of the out-going Council, because there would not have been an election. The fact that the Village political system has no opposition! In the first place, Number 2 is appointed, not elected by the people, and in the second place Number 6 knew that this is the Town Hall, Number 2 told him so during his aerial tour of The Village on the day of his arrival. But perhaps he had forgotten, after all there had been a great deal for him to take in that morning!

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Caught On Camera!

    Outside the Recreation Hall, Number 6 gives Number 6 a boxing lesson. He seems to have difficulty in deciding whether he’s orthodox or south paw, whether to lead with the left or the right. A punch to Number 6’s solar plexus sends Number 6 tumbling down the steps, while Number 6 stands looking down at Number 6 lying on the ground. He’s feeling pretty smug with himself, as it seems Number 2’s agents just aren’t what they were. Then there comes a blood curdling roar from the Guardian. Number 6 looks to his left and sees the approaching Guardian. The way the brief shot of Rover is cut-in to the film, it makes it appear that the Recreation Hall is next to Number 6's cottage! It is just a pity that they didn't think of filming a long shot of the approaching Guardian when filming on a back-lot at MGM film studios at Elstree. Then there would have been no need to cut-in that shot of the Guardian filmed at Portmeirion, and would have made for better continuity!

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Thought For The Day

    Poor old Roland Walter Dutton, I wonder where they pulled him from? He certainly wasn’t a field agent because he told them all he knew, being unable to withstand the doctors interrogation techniques. What or how much Dutton actually knew is not known however its on record as him say he didn’t have access to the vital stuff. So it’s improbable he worked in the records department. Perhaps he’s one of these people who know too little who Number 6 once mentioned to the Colonel that time. I can see Dutton as being a 9 to 5 Civil Servant, a pen pushing bureaucrat working somewhere in the depths of the Civil Service. And yet he knew Arthur, and the Colonel, who would have been on the same lines as Fotheringay and the Colonel, as well as Thorpe and the Colonel. But why they chose Roland Walter Dutton to be abducted to The Village is unknown, perhaps it was simply because he knew too little, and that would be reason enough! The Village being a place to put people who cannot be left around, people who know too much, or too little……had Dutton like Number 6, simply resigned?

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Caught On Camera!

   “Doctor I’m shocked! Do you think this is appropriate behaviour for someone in your position?”

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Village Life!

    “How is it with you man?”
    “Well I’m no end pleased that Number Two is well out of the way.”
    “Life here just didn’t suit him”
    “It doesn’t suit everyone.”
    “Wonder who we’ll get next as Number Two?”
    “Doesn’t matter who it is, as civil servants we have to serve each incumbent Number Two equally.”
    “We’ve had some decent Village Chairmen.”
    “And some have managed to last more than most.”
    “One Number Two was a proper statesman.”
    “Yes I remember him, he made out the Therapy Zone was a hideaway for alcoholics.”
    “Yes, Number Six managed to get himself elected as Number Two.”
    “He didn’t last five minutes in the job.”
    “Don’t tell me he resigned!”
    “No, he was pushed before he could jump!”
    “That first female Number Two who took his place.”
    “Oh yes I remember her, vicious she was. Imagine, going around impersonating Number Fifty-eight!”
    “Oh the things she would have done to Number Six if given half a chance!”
    “Yes but this last one….I had a feeling he wouldn’t last long!”
    “I’m going to visit him this afternoon.”
    “Are you, where?”
    “On the psychiatric ward of the hospital.”
    “So that’s where he ended up. I’d be careful if I were you.”

    “Why?”
    “Well being dressed as you are, and in his current state of mind, he might get the impression you’re there to measure him for a wooden overcoat!” 

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All The World’s A Stage!

      “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being the seven ages.” And now they’ve gone and tarted up {dressed up} the wall screen especially for this occasion, given new draperies {they’ve not been there before} at the top, thus creating a stage effect. The Butler in charge of properties has completed dressing the set, and now No.2 has made his entrance, only to be upstaged by a balloon {the Guardian} in his chair with delusions of grandeur!

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