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German expressionism
and film noir ... influences?
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Attempts are often made to "explain" The Prisoner and over the last 30-odd years, many people have chosen to see "hidden meanings" and mysterious things lurking deep below the surface. Whether you subscribe to all of this or not, the series certainly presented an complex mixture of surreal images and ideas.
Despite the widespread belief that Patrick McGoohan was virtually the sole creator of all these strange and wonderful things, the series was really the sum of all the people working on it. Many of them brought their own ideas, imagery and fantastical thoughts to the table, and one can see all sorts of influences from the world of literature, television, film and theatre.
Art director, Jack Shampan, admitted that early German expressionistic films  had a direct influence in his designs when he created the 'look' of the underground complex beneath the facade of The Village. Some of the films which have the same sort of "painted pointy arch" designs include "The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari" (1919) and Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1926).
These early films were to influence much of German cinema in the next decade and effectively create the 'film noir' blueprint: the dramatic play of light and darkness, distorted and exaggerated settings and stylised performances seeking to express the inner psyches of the characters. The style spread, and the French almost adopted it as their own. Hollywood likewise turned out dozens of "Private Eye" films in film noir style. "The Prisoner", "Blade Runner", "Dark City", and many other more modern films still use this formula almost without change. We just add a splash of colour today, that's all.
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Rhapsodies on a theme by
Rachmaninov
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So . . . who wrote the "Prisoner Theme" then? Why, Ron Grainer of course, everyone knows that! Hmmmm, yes, I thought so as well until Jonathan Felton from Houston made this rather interesting discovery.
"One night I was listening to the local classical music station and I
heard a composition which I thought anyway sounded an awful lot like the
title theme in places. The work I'm referring to is 'Vocalise' by Sergei
Rachmaninov. Could it be possible that Ron Grainer was influenced by or borrowing from that
work? Or could McGoohan have maybe played a recording of it for him
and said "I want the theme to sound something like this," While not in
the main melody itself some of the repeated notes sound similar. The
mood is melancholy and though I dont know much about music it sounded
uncanny to me."
So, Coincidence? Or blatant plagiarism?
Judge for yourself, play the midi-file of 'Vocalise' below and see what you think. I've also provided a pseudo-classical version of the Prisoner Theme itself for comparison purposes.
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"I declare it's marked like a large chess-board!" Alice said at last. "There ought to be some men moving about somewhere-and so there are!" she added in a tone of delight, and her heart began to beat quick with excitement as she went on. "It's a great huge game of chess that's being played-all over the world-if this is the world at all, you know..."
Lewis Carrolls "Alice" stories can also legitimately be considered to have had influences on the 'Prisoner' series. They both feature a disjointed storyline, with the action taking place in surroundings which appear real yet are unreal at the same time.
Like Number Six, Alice constantly struggles to retain her sense of identity, despite constant distractions, drugged food and drink, and characters who appear and disappear without rhyme or reason. Shes constantly thrust into complex situations which seem to have been created just for her, which have little or no connection with what went before and which make very little sense when considered out of context.
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While there's no direct Lewis Carroll text in The Prisoner, there's the "Checkmate" episode which seems to have been influenced by "Through The Looking Glass" in that the story is based on the concept of a human chess game.
Both Alice and Number Six take the role of the Queens pawn and both ultimately achieve their goal, only to have their victory - and their elevated positions - taken away from them by higher powers. The chess board and "pawn" analogies feature in other episodes as well.
Jonathan Millers adaptation of "Alice In Wonderland" was made for BBC television just prior to  "The Prisoner" and it features Leo McKern, as The Duchess. At the point in the story where the Queen Of Hearts gives her "Either you or your head must be off." speech, the Duchess turns to go escorted by two diminutive people, one of whom is no other than Butler-to-be, Angelo Muscat. The departing figures present an eerily familiar silhouette.
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