We braved the high cost of gas today and went across town to Arizona Mills, where they have a Virgin Megastore.
I managed to find this copy of scripts from “The Prisoner.”
So far it has been an interesting read. The Prisoner has always been a program in which a lot of the subtext is conveyed through visual means rather than dialog. Often that means that the director stamps that on the production. So far, from what I’ve read, a suprising amount of the visual style was planned by the writers.
Fascinating.
The Prisoner
The Original Scripts Volume 1
Edited and Annotated by Robert Fairclough
ISBN 1 903111 76 5
Printed in Great Britain
I cannot obtain this volume in the US (or can I?), but do you know if the line “he’s an old, old friend who never gives up” is in the “Many Happy Returns” script? Or was it improvised?
Dave
I cannot obtain this volume in the US (or can I?), but do you know if the line “he’s an old, old friend who never gives up” is in the “Many Happy Returns” script? Or was it improvised?
Dave
I found it on the bookshelf at the Virgin Megastore in Phoenix. I don’t know how many other Virgin Megastores are in the US (nor where, for that matter), but it can be had.
You can also locate it at amazon.co.uk, I believe they do still ship to the US. The second volume is due in December.
As for the quote, the printed script is slightly different. The Colonel is talking with a Group Captain instead of Thorpe, and the exchange reads:
Group Captain: Good Chap, Jimmy Lynn. Not Gone on your fellow, though.
Colonel: He’s all right. Never gives up.
According to the notes, the final dialogue was:
Thorpe: Interesting fellow.
Colonel: He’s an old, old friend, who never gives up.