Customer Reviews

The Prisoner [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
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Sir Alec gives a riveting performance as an imprisioned cardinal psychologically tortured into questioning himself and his beliefs circa WWII. Jack Hawkins is the perfect foil to witness and instigate Guinness' character's slow deterioration of mind and spirit. In the process, Hawkins' character begins to question his own humanity. Deeply moving and beautifully done. A great study into the mind of man and the dance between good and evil.

"The Prisoner" is an underappreciated yet nonetheless superb and gripping drama revolving around two outstanding British actors Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins. Guinness plays a austere and principled cardinal in an unnamed Eastern European country. His views are apparently not in line with those of the state. He is arrested by the police to be psychologically tortured by interrogator Jack Hawkins. Hawkins must break down the resolve of the impenetrable Guinness so as to have him renounce his beliefs during a well publicized trial.

The dialogue between the men causes both to question their convictions as the lines between prisoner and interrogator becomes muddled.

The acting by both Hawkins and Guinness is at an extremely high level of professionalism. British character actor, Wilfrid Lawson, playing the jailer also gives a very effectine performance.

This movie, now 52 years old, is a still classic in every sense. It tells the story of a situation painfully similar to the real ordeal involving Cardinal Mindzenty. The dedication of the Cardinal (Guinness) to his post is valiant and the unending attack by the accuser (Hawkins) is engrossing. Guinness and Hawkins were 2 of the finest actors in the past century and they rose to peak performances in this work. PLUS all of the background represented the prevailing atmosphere in parts of post- WWII Europe very well.

Wonderful acting. Foreshadowing trajic real life death of Jack Hawkins. The Cardinal down trodden, held in captivity, brainwashed, and abused rises through psychological catharsis to prevail over his "analyst"/"captor".

Very good interpretation, as usual, of A. Guinness. This movie remembers the real history of Cardenal Wichinsky on times of the brutal dictatorship under J.Stalin over the countries of the Iron Courtain. Looks very real in every aspect.

This is a wonderful film with superb performances by both Guinness and Hawkins.

Set in an unnamed eastern European communist state post WWII, and obviously patterned on the experiences of Cardinal Mindszenty. The actors are all obviously British, and no attempt is made to adopt eastern European accents. This sometimes gives the impression that we are viewing an alternative history view of post WWII Britain which fell to communism.

It's also interesting to speculate on the influence this film may have had on the celebrated 1960s series of the same name, starring Patrick McGoohan. Like the Cardinal's character, Number 6 was persistently interrogated using psychological techniques in addition to force (in the TV series, by a rotating series of interrogators (the Number 2s), often superficially friendly and with a disarming frankness (like Hawkins' character)), as they attempted to gain knowledge of the protagonist's past. The interrogator himself lives in fear of his own commanders, and lives under the threat of punishment if he fails to produce a confession. Both interrogator and interrogated joust intellectually, with one attempting to avoid psychological disintegration and the other trying to avoid the displeasure of his superiors.

I've never heard this discussed, but it would seem likely that McGoohan (as both an actor working in the British film industry at the time of its release, and as a lifelong Catholic) would have seen the film and possibly been influenced by it.

This is a film that is not well known but is well worth seeing on its own, and also by fans of McGoohan's TV series as a possible prototype for many of its themes.

This is a timeless movie. The writing and acting doesn't get any better than this. Too bad it was shut down by many film festivals when it came out. It should be on the top of everyone's list of best movies, especially for those who enjoy religioius movies, psychological study movies or BOTH!

Few actors have such a glowing record of fine films to his credit as Alec Guinness. Here, he is again excellent, but even he was unable to overcome such a weak script. The story involves the Communist tactic of arresting and breaking down a man mentally. The script is pretentious, inconclusive, wordy, and unpersuasive. The production itself is low budget but competent. Hawkins overacts at times, but that's nothing new. One comes away from the film with perplexity and disappointment. Yes, the Cardinal confessed everything. And his inquisitor is apparently ready to commit suicide--for having succeeded. Who cares? There is nothing inspirational or even informative here. It's like an acting school, with two veterans of stage and film displaying their prowess. A film best forgotten.