After a driving accident, Drake finds he has a £500 gambling debt at a club he has no knowledge of, yet the staff seem to know him, and the club's manager, Mr. Alexander knows all about Drak... Read allAfter a driving accident, Drake finds he has a £500 gambling debt at a club he has no knowledge of, yet the staff seem to know him, and the club's manager, Mr. Alexander knows all about Drake's career with M9, and plans to blackmail him.After a driving accident, Drake finds he has a £500 gambling debt at a club he has no knowledge of, yet the staff seem to know him, and the club's manager, Mr. Alexander knows all about Drake's career with M9, and plans to blackmail him.
Photos
- Casino Patron
- (uncredited)
- Casino Patron
- (uncredited)
- Woman at Party in Silk Gown
- (uncredited)
- Casino Patron
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- Casino Patron
- (uncredited)
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- Writers
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- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA copy of the James Bond novel "From Russia with Love" is clearly shown as part of Drake's library. The edition used is the movie tie-in paperback featuring a photo of Sean Connery on the cover. Bond regular Desmond Llewelyn also appears in this episode.
- GoofsWhen the doctor is examining John Drake (at around 18 minutes), the clapper board is visible in the doctor's head mirror.
- Quotes
Mr. Lovegrove: [after taking up Elaine Peasson's off of coming in for a nightcap, he's surprised to find it isn't Ms. Person's home, nor is she the reason for Drake being asked in. Sitting in the den is Mr. Lovegrove, who's now out to raise his bet against John Drake] Now to business.
John Drake: The day I do business with you, Mr. Alexander, is, uh, a long way off.
Mr. Lovegrove: [Mr. Alexander's sitting on a setee facing Drake] I admire you, Mr. Drake - professionally, of course.
John Drake: [Calmly lighting his cigarillo] I can't imagine our businesses have very much in common.
Mr. Lovegrove: Of course not. My word, I am enjoying myself. Now I feel that you could be a very dangerous enemy, Mr Drake, so I'm so very delighted that you're on my side.
John Drake: [Barely looking up from lighting his cigarillo] I think you ought to see someone about your fantasies.
Mr. Lovegrove: [Mr. Alexander chckles] Mr. Drake, you should talk about fantasies. I beg you
[laughing]
Mr. Lovegrove: not too much my doctors assure me that my heart is in the right place. It hangs there rather precariously.
John Drake: [the clock next to Drake starts to toll] It's late. I have a hard day tomorrow.
Mr. Lovegrove: [Drake sees Alexander's reflection, as he gets ready to leave] Of course you have. That's one of the things I admire about you - your restless energy, your constant drive.You chose an interesting profession.
John Drake: [Slightly nervous] The travel business Is as good as any of earning a living.
Mr. Lovegrove: I know. But there's one thing that has puzzled me though.
John Drake: [Still speaking to Alexander's reflection] What's that?
Mr. Lovegrove: How it is that the impeccable John Drake of Chelsea Mews, South, often travels under an assumed name, and indulges in... what shall we call them... 'unusual activities.'
[Drake walks up next to Alexander]
Mr. Lovegrove: [Close up of Alexander's hand, holding a deck of cards, he starts to deal] what were you doing in Cannes now, as Mr. Simons?
[Drake sits opposite Alexander and looks down at his picture on the card just dealt. Alexander continues]
Mr. Lovegrove: Cairo as Mr. Ryder? Maxwell Ryder? And in Africa as Major Sullivan?
[Drake's 3 fingers are nervously tapping]
Mr. Lovegrove: I've followed your career for more than a year now.
[Drake's staring at Alwxander, his usually calm, detached face showing a hint of uncalm]
Mr. Lovegrove: I just wanted to make sure my original hunch was correct.
John Drake: [Drake lowers the cigarillo, and says in a voice rarely heard; nervous] Which was?
Mr. Lovegrove: [Drake's now standing, facing a mirror] You work for the government, Mr. Drake. Oh, not by selling stamps over a post office counter. 'Spy' is a melodramatic word. 'Agent' is nicer.
John Drake: [Looking down at Alexander] Travel agent.
Mr. Lovegrove: No, Mr. Drake. Shall we say an 'agent who travels.
John Drake: You're out of your mind.
- ConnectionsReferences The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- SoundtracksSymphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74: I. Adagio - Allegro Non Troppo
Written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
But it's true. This is the most Prisoner like episode of the entire run of the Danger Man series. Besides the similarities pointed out by the others (like a #6 on Drake's apartment door), what jumped out at me, beyond the whimsical funhouse-gone-wrong motif, is the scene about halfway through with Drake banging his fist on the desk of his supervisor Mr. Lovegrove in frustration. Prisoner fans of course know this scene is mimicked in the opening credits of The Prisoner. The unnamed but soon to be 'Number six' angry man is fed up, he's had enough, and tenders his resignation.
Now, we don't have to look very far to locate any number of Danger Man/Secret Agent episodes to find a John Drake disenchanted with his superiors. Just watch the ending of "It's up to the Lady", with Drake standing frozen at the airport terminal after the escaped bureaucrat he just recovered is snapped out of his grip to face the trial that was promised not to occur. Or the end of "Yesterday's Enemies", when the spy who came in from the other side is assassinated by M9 rather than returned to England as promised. And of course there is the masterpiece "Whatever Happened to George Foster", where Drake's entire organization abandons him when he attempts to dislodge a corrupt industrialist from the country whose government the man is trying to overthrow. It's just business you know.
Drake was in fact just the kind of spy to be to be intercepted and sentenced to a term on a remote island when he had finally had enough of that demoralizing system!
So did the theme of this episode become something of a template for The Prisoner? Is fist-pounding Drake launched from here into the Village as Number 6? In later interviews McGoohan insisted that Number 6 is NOT Drake. That assertion is mitigated though upon learning that due to the legal ramifications of the show's creator Ralph Smart owning the name "John Drake", Patrick may not have been in a position to confirm the connection between the two characters.
None the less, we the audience *know* the answer, don't we? Number 6 IS Drake! So, just as McGoohan was inspired to shoot The Prisoner at Portmeirion Village in Wales after discovering the location in the very first Danger Man episode "View from the Villa" did the actor in a similar fashion take inspiration from Danger Man episodes such as 'The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove' when creating The Prisoner? It certainly can't be any more than mere inspiration because after all, McGoohan didn't write the Lovegrove episode.
Or did he? The writing credit goes to a 'David Stone'. But who exactly is David Stone? If you check IMDb, Stone has almost no writing credits, EXCEPT seven 1 hour Danger Man Episodes (including "Whatever Happened to George Foster"). Who is this guy that wrote mostly for Danger Man? My take is that David Stone may well be Patrick McGoohan. I posed this question in the IMDb forums, and someone pointed out that McGoohan did in fact write, and that when he did he would often use a pen name. So is Patrick McGoohan to David Stone possibly an analog of Samuel Clemens' Mark Twain?
Perhaps instead of asking; 'Is Number 6 Drake?' (of course he is), we should instead be asking; 'Is David Stone Patrick McGoohan?' If so, we would indeed have a direct connection between the two series. :>
- CoastalCruiser
- Jan 9, 2016
Details
- Runtime51 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1