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The Prisoner - Set 5: The Girl Who Was Death/Once Upon a Time/Fall Out | 
 enlarge | Directors: Patrick Mcgoohan, Robert Asher, Don Chaffey, Pat Jackson, David Tomblin
Actors: Fenella Fielding, George Markstein, Patrick Mcgoohan, Angelo Muscat, Peter Swanwick
Studio: A&E Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $19.68
You Save: $20.27 (51%)
New (30) Used (10) from $18.00
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 30538
Format: Box Set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 156 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.6 x 1.3
MPN: D70181D
ISBN: 0767034023
UPC: 733961701814
EAN: 9780767034029
ASIN: B00005NKCP
Theatrical Release Date: June 1, 1968
Release Date: September 25, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new. Shipped from the UK by Airmail direct to 5 airports in the United States. Delivery takes approximately 5 working days from posting - we're frequently faster than a lot of US based sellers.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Perhaps no other series so confounded its loyal viewers as The Prisoner. Why did Patrick McGoohan's British agent resign? Where was the Village? And who, really, was Number 1? The Prisoner ends with its key riddles unanswered. It goes without saying that no Prisoner collection is complete without these final three episodes. A curiosity, "The Girl Who Was Death," isn't cricket for the series. It is a surreal fairy tale that plays like a long-lost episode of McGoohan's previous TV series, Danger Man, with Number 6 avoiding a series of assassination attempts before saving London "from the mad scientist." But "Once Upon a Time" and "Fallout," both written and directed by McGoohan, get back to business, as Number 6 suffers "Degree Absolute"--his most intense, last-man-standing, psychological probe yet--at the hands of Number 2 (Leo McKern, reprising his role from the episode "The Chimes of Big Ben") and at last prepares to meet the elusive Number 1. Those who just want to sample this cult fave series are advised to stick with the intriguing first episodes included in Set One. --Donald Liebenson
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 The Price of Finality??? August 18, 2008
Harvey M. Canter (tarzana, ca United States)
I love this show and I am finally collecting them on DVD, as the VHS versions I have jam up in the player, and have really been a waste of time!! But I have one question: why is the final volume of the set so much more expensive than the other four? They all sell for under $10 used and this one is nearly $25 used. I'm having some trouble making sense of that one. I guess they get you hooked and then you have to pony up if you want the solution to the puzzle....no escape from that one!!! At any price, though, this is one of the best TV drama series EVER, and you will get completely caught up in it.
Questions are a burden to others May 24, 2007
The Doctor (The TARDIS)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
SPOILER ALERT!!! What follows divulges show secrets. If you haven't seen The Prisoner, do NOT read on. (I am assuming that most people at all interested in a show as old as The Prisoner have already seen it.)
Now, with that said, The Prisoner is easily, hands down, without any reservations the single greatest TV show in history. (A close second, in my book, would be the first four Doctors on the ORIGINAL run of Doctor Who.) The Prisoner wasn't only entertaining, it was thought provoking. To call it "Kafkaesque" is now cliché, though its similarities to Kafka's The Trial are many and striking. In The Trial a man is told he must defend himself in a bizarre court but cannot learn what the charge is. He never does. In The Prisoner a man learns he is a prisoner in a place called "The Village," a bizarre prison disguised as a luxury resort. The reasoning behind the prison is that prisoners will be so taken with the luxuries at hand that they will find no reason to escape. For No. 6, the sheer fact that he is not free to escape if he wishes is reason enough to do it. He spends the entire series trying to escape.
After discovering that the man in charge of The Village is himself (yes, No. 6 is No. 1), he manages to leave the Village. Or does he? Notice that when he finally gets home his door opens on its own, just like the doors in The Village. For those who didn't catch on, McGoohan later (in an interview) told us what it all means: No. 6 never escaped. He's still in The Village. Society IS The Village. If you live in society, you ARE a prisoner. But you pretty much HAVE to live in a society, which means you pretty much HAVE to be a prisoner. There is no escaping this fact. As McGoohan had achieved fame with Danger Man, he discovered he was prisoner to a contract he deeply regretted signing. He wanted to escape. Ironically, he was playing a spy on Danger Man, and resigned as star of the show. He then made The Prisoner, about a man who quits his job as a government agent. This has created much debate as to whether No. 6 in The Prisoner is in fact meant to be Drake from Danger Man. McGoohan has said no, but The Prisoner's other main writer and script editor has emphatically said yes. You decide. (I'll go with McGoohan, as I think his ultimate point is that everybody is No. 6. He once said that at the end of the show, he wishes the words "The Beginning" had appeared.)
McGoohan is obviously a libertarian. He despises bureaucracy, authority, and big government. He has said he loves the first amendment, adding emphatically that there can be no freedom without privacy. Thus we see why the greeting in The Village, "be seeing you," is so ominous to No. 6. Sure, it sounds like "see you later," but is really a way of reminding everyone in The Village that they are always under surveillance.
The show and No. 6's character traits and struggle has stayed with me, ever since I first saw it as a child. McGoohan is easily my favorite actor, and it is a true shame he did not star in more movies. I've always loved his devotion to his wife and children, how he never lets his work come before them, how he refuses to film any type of love scene because he doesn't want to kiss anyone but his wife, etc. He is truly a remarkable man. It saddens me that he had to turn down the parts of Gandalf and Dumbledor, due to his bad health, as he would have been perfect in both of them. I am very glad for his part in Braveheart, however, especially considering that before this he had spent much of the early 90s in a coma! Mel Gibson wanted McGoohan in the film as he is also a great Prisoner fan, and even (supposedly) toyed with the idea of helping McGoohan make the film version, playing No. 6 himself. Though I simply cannot think of any other actor who could "become" No. 6 (the role being a pure expression of McGoohan's rare personality), Gibson is about as good of a choice as one could make given the current options. In fact, AMC is currently toying with remaking the entire series, and guess what their greatest obstacle reportedly is? Surprise, surprise: they simply can't find anyone who can pull the role off. The actor would almost have to share McGoohan's convictions to be able to do it, becoming almost an embodiment of pure defiance and anger. The Prisoner is, after all, the single greatest showdown of the individual vs. the collective ever put to film, in my book trumping even The Fountainhead, Bullitt, and Enemy of the People (though Ibsen profoundly influenced McGoohan).
Interestingly, McGoohan and fellow Prisoner star Alexis Kanner later made a film together. Like much of McGoohan's film work, it's not available on DVD (which here is an absolute shame given that 1: McGoohan is one of the best actors alive and 2: this film is simply brilliant.) It's called Kings and Desperate Men, and has many of the same elements that The Prisoner contained. I've always been shocked that Prisoner fans haven't rallied for this film to be released on DVD. Perhaps they've never heard of it. In it, McGoohan's character is taken prisoner (literally) by a group of idealistic youthful liberal misfits. He laughs that they think they're in control simply because they have a shotgun, and proceeds to unravel them all with his wits. His libertarian views come out here as much as in The Prisoner, as his character scoffs at the moral crusaders' silly liberal ranting, and exposes the fact that their leader really doesn't know what he's talking about, and that if what he wanted actually occurred, chaos and anarchy would result. (Now that I've brought Prisoner fans' attention to Kanner and McGoohan's followup to The Prisoner, let's see how fast all 8 copies that exist on Amazon are snatched up. If you like it, try to do something to help get this released on DVD. I've written Anchor Bay several times.)
Where all your questions DON"T get answered. April 9, 2005
David H. Downing (West Chester/Exton, PA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Here concludes Patrick McGoohan's classic miniseries about ex-secret agent "No. 6," and his struggles to understand and escape from "The Village," where he's held by unidentified captors. Here is where the series transforms from offbeat spy thriller to surrealistic allegory.
In A&E's revised, "fan-preferred" order, "Girl Who Was Death" remains immediately before the two-part finale. This supports my theory that "Girl" is more than a comedy (with one disturbing detail -- children as interrogation tools) thrown in to fill space. Instead, "Girl" seem deliberately intended as part of what's been called "one of the cruelest juxtapositions in the history of television"*. "Girl" also indirectly foreshadow the final episode by using both actors and sets appearing therein.
A&E's order IS unique in pairing "Girl" with "Living in Harmony" (set 4), which seem like serious and comic treatments of the same scenario; No. 6 is placed in an imaginary setting and given an imaginary identity to get information from him.
After the relatively lighthearted "Girl" comes the dark, grim, and intense "Once Upon A Time" -- an episode stressful enough to give guest star Leo McKern a heart attack. "Time" is the first half of the series finale, written and directed by McGoohan.
A returning No. 2 insists on "Degree Absolute," the ultimate last-resort method that carries the risk of death for either No. 2 or No. 6. It's a kind of perverted psychoanalysis performed in a subterranean chamber designated The Embryo Room, under a one-week time limit. The descent into The Embryo Room begins a motif of descent that will continue into the final episode.
Through electronic brainwashing, No. 6 is regressed back to childhood, then brought forward to the pivotal decision his captors want explained -- why he resigned. But the process must be repeated many times, and No. 2 grows increasingly anxious with each failure as the deadline approaches. As the final seconds tick by, a voice commands, "Die, six, die." But it's No. 2 who gasps, "Two ... one ... " and falls over dead. What's puzzling is that there's no apparent cause, except possibly a bottle of liquor. My speculation is that No. 2 is somehow physically and mentally linked to No. 6 during the initial brainwashing, so that either one of them can push the other one over the edge.
"Time" concludes with a cliffhanger that I feel should have made it into TV Guide's 100 Greatest Moment in Television --
-- which brings us to "Fall Out," the episode that forced McGoohan into hiding because it so angered viewers who wanted concrete answers, not an enigma.
"Fall Out" replaces the standard introduction with a recap of "Time." We then find out where the series was filmed -- in the grounds of The Hotel Portmeirion in North Wales. I find it ironic to learn the real location in the episode that forces us to question whether The Village is really a physical place.
The motif of descent continues as No. 6, the Silent Butler, and the Controller descend from the Embryo Room to yet a lower level. The dreamlike logic of the episode begins immediately as we hear The Beatles "All You Need Is Love." This is one of several unexpected musical items encountered in "Fall Out," two other of note being two pop/rock-oriented bit of incidental music, one upbeat, the other balladic. The music and the elaborate soundtrack in the fourth act make me really wish this episode had been remixed for surround sound.
The first three acts of "Fall Out" concern an official proceeding -- which No. 1 appears to be watching from a remote location -- inviting No. 6 to either lead or leave The Village. We're warned the affair will be be tedious, but it's also downright bizarre. No. 2 is resurrected, using a technology that involves shaving his beard and cutting his hair. Another sort of resurrection is seen in No. 48, played by Alexis Kanner, who was "the kid" in "Living in Harmony." The OFFICIAL word is that there's no relationship to that character, but I like to think otherwise. And since McGoohan has given everyone permission to find their own meaning in this episode, I feel free to do so. At one point, No 48 and the entire assembly of robed figures dance to the spiritual "Dry Bones," A fully orchestrated performance of the song is heard on the soundtrack, and presumably in the assembly room. This is the most direct religious reference in the series.
Finally, it's time for the meeting with No. 1, which involves yet another level of descent, into a room we recognizable from "Girl." From this point forward, I can't really describe the action, partly because "That would be telling," and party because it involves the same sort of challenge you face when trying to tell someone about a nightmare that scared you to death, only to have them say, "THAT scared you??"
The main point to be made is that if you're looking for a concrete resolution such as "It's the Russians," or "It's his own people," you'll be frustrated. The ending forces you to rethink the whole idea of The Village as a physical place, run by any sort of external, real-world organization. Instead, we must see The Village in a more spiritual/psychological light. It's a state of being -- a physical manifestation of the darker sides of humanity.
"The Prisoner Companion" is a decent introduction to the series, but watch it AFTER you've seen "Fall Out," because it contains one major spoiler.
"Behind the Scenes" is an interesting collection of "home movies," shot during the making of the series, and explained by production manager Bernie Williams. Among the items is footage of the original Rover, before they decided on the weather balloon. My only complaint is that I wish this feature and the interview with Williams in set 3 had been combined.
*THE OFFICIAL PRISONER COMPANION, by Matthew White and Jaffer Ali.
"Them Bones, Them Bones, Them... Dry Bones!" January 26, 2004
Axel Law (Wichita, KS, USA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Back in 1967, an allegorical television show emerged that has yet to be topped by any other English television series. The show: The Prisoner. Starring Patrick McGoohan, he plays the role of No. 6, a former secret service agent who resigned for unknown reasons and then finds himself knocked unconscious and trapped in a seemingly peaceful place called "the Village." Each episode features a new No. 2 (with a few exceptions), who watches his every move and strives to find out why he resigned. The only superior is the unseen No. 1, the supposed ruler of the Village. The only other characters that reoccur are The Supervisor (also called Controller), played by Peter Stanwick, and The Butler, played by Angelo Muscat.In "The Girl Who Was Death," Number Six avoids a series of assassination attempts while "on duty" as a secret agent. An offbeat episode that was probably meant to parody the previous Danger Man series. In fact, one character from that series appears here as the same character, same actor... ... ah... now we get to the last TWO episodes of the series! Finally! How do they measure up you ask? Read on... In "Once Upon a Time," Number Six deals with the same Number Two from "Chimes of Big Ben" (played by Leo McKern, from "Candleshoe" and "Ladyhawke") as he undergoes Degree Absolute. It is a one-week, last-man-standing psychological struggle in which Number Two hopes to FINALLY break down Number Six. A STRANGE episode, filled with mindboggling clues is meant only to be viewed once you've viewed the others. TRUST ME. And finally, "Fall Out" has Number Two revived and Number Six placed before an underground court. They allow him the ability to leave whenever he wishes and to lead the Village as he sees fit. Alexis Kanner, who played The Kid in "Harmony," returns in a different role as Number 48. Both Number Two and 48 show signs of rebellion, and the Butler follows Number Six. Most likely represents how people automatically follow the strongest leader like blind sheep. The final episodes upset the fans... and for good reason! Where is the Village?! Who is Number One?! In the episode, he meets Number One, who is holding a glass ball. In it, it shows The Prisoner's face and suddenly, Number One is revealed to be... him?! How is he Number One, and why? That's never answered. My theory is that it's symbolism for every man's desire to be "Number One" in life, to be the top dog. After all, his address is 1 Buckingham Place. Not a coincidence. Even if you don't really know why he resigned, McGoohan almost plainly tells you... In "Chimes of Big Ben," he says he "resigned out of conscience." In "Once Upon a Time," he says he resigned "for peace. Peace of mind. I know too much." He probably felt the pressures of his job. Can you imagine the pain of being a secret agent and knowing EVERYTHING about someone, plus on top of that, people will always be out to get you?? This probably represented his feelings at the time. After all, he was fed up with "Secret Agent Man" and wanted to do something different, something surreal. With that theory in mind, I have no qualm about McGoohan revealing why. Of course, at the end, people think the cycle started over. I don't want to believe that; I prefer to believe that he actually escaped the Village, but he has a new "Village" to face... an even larger one. The song "Dry Bones" is actually taken from a Biblical passage in Ezekial. It talks of Jesus resurrecting skeletons in the desert and then they were covered with flesh and blood again, as if they were anew. When Number 48 sings the song, the underground society grows wild. The Prisoner Companion referred to this as The Prisoner being The Prophet, an unordinary man sent to make change in the world. Whoa, the Prisoner... the equivalent of Jesus? No joking. Oh man, this series is one of the most mind-warping series ever devised. It's a great allegory and impressively produced. I will never forget it and it's such an inspiration for me to write stories with hidden symbolism and overtures. Mr. McGoohan, I thank thee for such a fine show.
 Difficult for younger audiences December 14, 2003
Sara Swihart (Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA)
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
Having watched this DVD for one of my college classes, it really was quite confusing, especially when compared to modern, episodic TV (Friends, Law & Order, etc.).Once Upon a Time - This episode didn't have the bubble, but not being aware of what "absolute zero" was made the show hard to follow. When Number 2 abandons his method to find out why Number 6 resigned, he starts to develop a friendship of sorts, not realizing that Number 6 is really in charge. Number 2 dies and Number 6 wants to meet Number 1. Fall Out - This is probably the most bizarre episode of them all. With the trial of Number 48 and Number 2, the robed representatives have very strange reactions, maybe the proceedings annoying. When Number 2 gives his speech, they repeat "I" over and over again, making it impossible to understand him. I do like the way this one ends, it is silly, but it makes sense. We are all prisoners to society. Because of the class that I was in, we only watched "Arrival," "Once Upon a Time," and "Fall Out." Perhaps my opinion would have been different.
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