Featured Blu-ray Review: The Prisoner

June 10, 2019

The Prisoner: Special Edition - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray

The Prisoner is a film from the 1950s that was based on a play of the same name, which, in turn, was based inspired by the real life trials of a couple of cardinals. When the film was initially released, the response was mixed, to put it mildly. On the one extreme, the film earned five BATFA nominations and even won the Best Foreign Film at the National Board of Review that year. On the other hand, it was banned in a number of countries for being pro-communist, anti-communist, and anti-Catholic. Being controversial isn’t the same as being good, but the contradictory nature of these bannings is what drew me to the film.

The Movie

The film begins with a Catholic service about to begin with all of the parishioners bowing in respect, leaving one man in the back conspicuously still standing. As the Cardinal gets ready to to lead the service, he’s is handed a note. “Police here to arrest you.” When the service is over, he is indeed arrested for Treason. His valuables are collected and cataloged before he’s brought in to the Interrogator, who happens to an old friend. Both men were instrumental during the resistance against the Nazis, but while the Cardinal is still loyal to his homeland, the communist government doesn’t feel the same way. The Cardinal is Catholic and they fear that makes him loyal to an outside organization. However, he’s also a war hero, so they can’t just execute him, they have to break him and extract a false confession first. The Interrogator knows it won’t be easy and that the Cardinal won’t break through traditional violent means, but he has other methods.

That’s the essence of the plot and for the most part, the movie is just the Cardinal and the Interrogator in a room talking to each other. There are some other characters, like the Jailer, who provides a romantic subplot of sorts, but that doesn’t have a real impact on the main story.

Review

The Prisoner is based on a play by Bridget Boland, who adapted her own play for the big screen. It was directed by Peter Glenville, who also directed the play, and one of the two stars, Alec Guinness, starred in the play. It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that the film feels a little stagey and that perhaps fresher eyes would have come up with a film that was more cinematic in nature. Some critics have even gone so far as to complain it was essentially just a filmed version of the stage play. I wouldn’t go that far, but I do see where these complaints are coming from, as much of the movie is just two people in a room talking and if you were hoping for a more cinematic experience, you could come away disappointed.

However, I have two main complaints about this criticism, not all of which works in The Prisoner’s favor. On the positive side, the dialog is fantastic and Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins are compelling to watch. There are also a few scenes that are more cinematic, including the opening shot of the catholic service and the pomp and ceremony associated with that. On the negative side, there’s a side plot added into the movie that is little more than a distraction. Perhaps trying to distance itself from the play even more would have weakened the play’s natural strength even more.

The Extras

There is a 24-minute featurette with author and academic Neil Sinyard. There is also a audio commentary track on select scenes with Philip Kemp, author and critic. There are 4 scenes with a total running time of 15 minutes. This is not a lot, but given the film’s age, it is not a bad selection of extras.

The Verdict

The Prisoner is a compelling film that tackles some deep topics. It is clearly adapted from a play, but since the dialog and acting are top-notch, this didn’t bother me. The extras on the Special Edition are not that special, but they are enough to be worth picking up.

C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Video Review, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Peter Glenville, Bridget Boland, Wilfred Lawson