Man In The Mirror

    You may recall a previous piece of blog regarding the 1936 British comedy film

‘Man In The Mirror.’ At the time I had not actually seen the film, however a few days ago the film was shown by ‘Talking Pictures’ television channel, and so now I know how the film ends.
    As I wrote previously the film concerns a withdrawn Jeremy Dilke, a meek, mild-mannered businessman who allows everyone to use him for a doormat. One evening Dilke is surprised when his reflection in the mirror, not only speaks back at him, but actually steps out of the mirror and telling him he is his brusque assertive alter ego. “I am the man you have always longed to be”  Armed with his new found confidence, Dilke becomes a go-getting dynamo, he sets about the downfall of his business partner, not only that, but his wife is pleased with his new found assertion, who knew he had it in him all along, and enjoys the new loving attitude towards her.
   The two Dilkes meet up in their own home, at work, and at night clubs, and they converse with each other, and it is in a bar when Dilke finds he no longer has a reflection. His reflection, his other self, is at home with his wife! Dilke decides to leave the country because it’s not big enough for the two of them, despite not having a like to travel in foreign parts. This is because of what his other self has done to him, having gotten him, them, into an awful lot of trouble.
   “You ought to be grateful, think of what I’ve done for you, me, us. That now you are a better business man than Talkington, shown you how to live in peace with our mother-in-law, and manage our little wife.”
   “This country isn’t big enough for the two of us.”
   “That’s just the point old man, there aren’t we’re just a reflection of each other. You can’t do without me, and I can’t do without you together we make the perfect whole.”
    The two Dilke’ agree and shake hands, at which point they are absorbed into the one, and his reflection is restored in the mirror.
    ‘Man In The Mirror’ is a light-hearted comedy version, on the lines of ‘The Man Who Haunted Himself,’ although the latter came many years later. With regard to ‘the Prisoner,’ this film has demonstrated to me that Number 1 cannot do without Number 6 and he without him. That at some point, like Jeremy Dilke, the two halves of the same person somehow became separated. Why and how? Well that’s open to supposition and speculation. Perhaps 1 having brought 6 to The Village he was trying to teach him strength of character, and resilience, to build the instinct of survival within him. His only problem with that is, Number 6 has those values anyway! Patrick McGoohan said of Number 1 that he was the alter ego of Number 6 who he was trying to beat. But why, both make up the whole, like Dilke they need each other to be whole. But in the end they both escape The Village at precisely the same moment, what happens then? Are they somehow made whole once more, or does the one survive whilst the other must surely die horribly either in the vacuum of space, or upon impact with the ground!
   Finally, in ‘Fall Out’ Number 6 is given the opportunity to meet Number 1, it is a physical meeting of the two selves. This being the case, it occurred to me that like Dilke, shouldn’t Number 6 have been unable to see his reflection in the mirror when he’s shaving on the morning of ‘Dance of The Dead,’ and cleaning his teeth on a night in ‘Checkmate?’

Be seeing you

Quote For The Day

    “Oh your costume came.”
    “Don’t I get a choice?”
    “Other people choose, it’s a game.”
    “I expect its something exotic.”
    “What is it?”
    “My own suit specially delivered for the occasion.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “That I am still myself!”
    “Lucky you!”
                 {The maid-Number 54 and Number 6 Dance of the Dead}

    I don’t know if the question has been asked before, as it made me wonder who it was who chose Number 6’s own clothes as his costume. Most probably it was Number 2 herself. As for Number 6 still being himself as he suggests, then lucky for him. Because he’s been put through the mill a few times by the time of ‘Dance of the Dead.’ He’s been briefed and de-briefed, numbered. Tricked and cajoled. Fooled into thinking he had escaped when he’d done nothing of the kind. Betrayed by his ex-colleagues. Coerced into running for public office, made to think he was just the kind of candidate they were looking for, and when he’d won, they dashed away his hopes, and beat him up for his pains! More then that, they had got into his dreams, and manipulated them. Taken away his identity, and made him out to be someone else brought to The Village in order to impersonate Number 6. So Number 6 ended up impersonating himself! And then one day Number 6 woke up to find The Village deserted. So he set about escaping himself, and set out on a voyage of discovery only to end up back where he started. So if by the time of ‘Dance of the Dead’ Number 6 reckons he’s still himself, then he’s doing pretty well. But then on the other hand, seeing as ‘Dance of the Dead’ was supposed to have been the second episode according to the production/library order, then Number 6 should still be himself at that time, because his ordeal in The Village would have only recently begun!

Be seeing you

The Therapy Zone

   As an equation, or mathematical sum ‘Hammer Into Anvil’ won’t go! Better the title ‘Hammer And Anvil,‘ or ‘Hammer Or Anvil.‘ But either way one has to be one or the other. But in all probability it’s the hammer which will be broken by the anvil, and as it happens that’s just that way it turned out in the episode!
    In both series of ‘the Prisoner’ the Therapy Zone is nothing more than a cave. In one it’s a place where supposedly one can be an alcoholic in perfect privacy, just as long as you return to the flock in good time. In the other Village of course it’s a nightmare world. A dark place with mad barking dogs, where people are sent for treatment, although what form of treatment takes place there, is anyone’s guess.  And yet, over the years The Therapy Zone became to be thought of as a place where ideas about ‘the Prisoner’ could be exchanged. A place for discussion and debate, basically it was a column in a Prisoner based magazine called Number Six, a magazine long since departed.
   So what kind of ideas would pervade this Therapy Zone? Well how about Number 6 and his remarkable hearing! There he was taking a walk passed the Old People’s Home, when suddenly he hears a scream. It was Number 73 who screamed, about to be molested by Number 2. But how could Number 6 hear 73’s scream when he was nowhere in the vicinity of the hospital? But there he went running off, into the hospital, up the stairs and bursting into the hospital room, just in time to see a woman jump out of bed and out of the hospital window to her death. Playing Devil’s advocate Number 2 hadn’t laid a hand upon 73. In fact she didn’t even jump out of the bed until she saw Number 6 come bursting into the room! If anything it looks like 73 committed suicide because she saw Number 6, well that is what it appears like. As for Number 6, 73’s suicide must have conjured up an old memory of Cobb, when he had supposedly committed suicide by jumping out of a hospital window. But this time Number 6 looks out of the window to see the body of the woman lying on the ground. Just making sure perhaps.
    Apart from Number 2’s paranoia, he hated for Number 1 to think he could not cope, that’s why he turned down Number 1’s offer of assistance. Besides Number 2 already had an assistant, Number 14, pity that he was kept at arms length more often than not by Number 2! Neither could he stand people making suggestions to him, “Would you like to sit in this chair?” he barked at the psychiatrist when he made a suggestion to Number 2. I don’t know how Number 243 the bomb disposal man who dismantled the suspected Cuckoo clock, got away with it, tilting that wooden Cuckoo towards Number 2, suggesting that it’s he who is cuckoo! When the Supervisor-Number 26 got it wrong about Number 6’s birthday, when he read out the message to Number 6 “May the sun shine on you today and everyday” from Number 113. It wasn’t Number 6’s birthday, and Number 113 didn’t exist! She was an old woman in a wheelchair who died a month ago! Well perhaps the Supervisor simply didn’t know, but he soon paid the price, and Number 26 was swiftly removed from the position as Supervisor. Number 14 soon went after, accused of being traitor! 14 was quickly followed by the Butler just for being suspected in being in on the conspiracy. So I don’t know how that bomb disposal man got away with what he did, because Number 2 didn’t react at all. All he did was to give a sigh, and look a little non-plussed, and walked away without saying anything at all to the bomb-disposal man. Anyone else who crosses Number 2 in any way, gets his head bitten off and accused of being in on some conspiracy against him, but not so Number 243. Number 2’s reaction to 243 seemed to be somewhat out of character. 

Be seeing you

A Favourite Scene In The Chimes of Big Ben

    One egg or two? What was it Number 2 once said, oh yes, how perfectly domestic. Before Number 6 had his breakfast brought to him on a tray by a housemaid. But it seems by the time of ‘The Chimes of Big Ben’ Number 6 has lost that privilege, and has to cook his own breakfast. Well except the time Number 8 took pity on him. The trouble with this is it breaks up the continuity in the screening order. Because going by the library order of ‘the Prisoner’ both episodes ‘Dance of The Dead.’ And ‘Free For All’ both have Number 6’s breakfast brought to him on a tray, and precede ‘Chimes.’ I have wondered what would cause Number 6 to lose that privilege, but of course there is no way of knowing. Mind you, there would have been no room for this charming little breakfast scene had breakfast already arrived!

Be seeing you  

Exhibition of Arts And Crafts

                        “Ah You React!”

                       Well I ask you, who wouldn’t!”

 BcNu

Thought For The Day

   According to one of the doctor’s reports in ‘Checkmate,’ during the tests carried out on Number 6 he showed a negative reaction to pain. Number 2 said “He wouldn’t be able to fake that,” to which the doctor replied “I’ve never met a man that could, it would take superhuman will power.” Well Number 6 soon lost that ability to show a negative reaction to pain, because when Number 2 in the next episode prodded Number 6’s forehead with the tip pf a blade, he reacted! It’s the same with Number 6’s wristwatch. In ‘The Schizoid Man,’ Number 2 said of Number 6, “Number Six has a very strong sense of territory, you won’t shake him on his possessions.” It is unclear whether or not Number 6’s possessions are those of his own from his London home. But one possession that Number 6 did bring to The Village with him, is his wristwatch. This same watch is swapped by Number 100 in ‘It’s Your Funeral’ for an identical one that had stopped. It must have been an exact copy of Number 6’s wristwatch, as it certainly fooled him, Number 6 having lost his “strong sense of territory, you can’t shake him on his possessions.” For them to be able to do that the general wear and tear, possible scratches on the glass, the wear on the inside of the leather strap, must have been exactly the same as Number 6’s own wristwatch. Number 2 once said they’re clever, damned clever!

Be seeing you

Village Life!

    “That’s terrible doctor, and you say you can do nothing for him?”
    “No, it’s a hopeless case, the worst I’ve ever encountered.”
    “Where do you think he caught it?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “It must have been while he was in the sewers.”
    “What was he doing in the sewers?”
    “Looking for a way out.”
    “He was trying to escape then?”
    “No, he was just trying to find a way out of the sewers.”   
    “Oh.”
    “He might have been bitten by one of the rats.”
    “Have you seen his ears?”
    “No, what’s wrong with his ears?”
    “They’re pointed and furry.”
    “I didn’t know, but that tail.....”
    “Yes that is worrying.”
    “What do you think is happening doctor, is he metamorphosising?”
    “I don’t think it’s as bad as that, but he is changing into a rat!”
    “And the rat?”
    “We caught it. All its furs fallen out, and its tails dropped off.”
    “What have you done with it?”
    “Seeing as it shouts I am not a number, I am a person. I had it dressed in a piped blazer, beige trousers and deck shoes, and put it in a cottage!”
    “You did?”
    “What would you have done?”

Be seeing you