NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Arrow present Peter Glenville's 1955 "The Prisoner" on a dual-layered Blu-ray with a maxed out bitrate. The film (starring Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins) looks a little waxy and ill-defined in the opening (and closing) shots, but is mostly much clearer, showing better detail. There are moments of damage, with usually white blips or tiny scratches, which do not make much of an impression on the viewing experience, save for a few moments where it is distracting. The film's grain is somewhat thick throughout, giving the image a rather heavy film-like texture. The picture does seem a little on the light side of the spectrum when it comes to contrast, though there is a fair amount of variation within the grays and blacks. Not reference quality here, but nothing to be upset over.

Arrow have transferred the audio in the film's original mono via an uncompressed 24-bit linear PCM track. The music is thanks to Benjamin Frankel (notable for composing the music for the British version of Night and the City, plus some Noirish titles like Libel and Mine Own Executioner, The Man Who Watched Trains Go By, Footprints in the Fog as well as The Iron Petticoat and The Importance of Being Earnest) and underlines the various dialogue, which is clear and audible, since this is an adaptation of a stage-play, this is key. There are optional English SDH subtitles on this Region Free Blu-ray.


Arrow have included 2 brief yet thorough special features that are available via the disc's menu. The first is a typically incisive piece from author and academic, Neil Sinyard, entitled "Interrogating Guinness". The author spends 24-minutes discussing the film and its star. Following this is 15-minutes of select scene commentary with author and critic Philip Kemp. Kemp selected these scenes as he found them the most intriguing to discuss, his astute observations make one wish that he could give a feature-length commentary. There is a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain and the first pressing contains an illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mark Cunliffe.

The Prisoner is a suspenseful adaptation of Bridget Boland's stage-play. The film was faced tons of controversy and was even banned from the Cannes and Venice Films Festivals for being anti-Communist. Though much tamer by today's standards, the film still packs a hell of a punch and features one of Guinness' best performances. As Philip Kemp notes in his brief commentary, the film is often derided as being "too stagy" or "too theatrical", which is funny since this is an adaptation of a stage-play. The performance by Guinness in particular stands out for all the things he is capable of with his expressions, beyond words, something that would be sorely missing from the stage. Thankfully Arrow have released this picture on Blu-ray, and I would recommend this to any fans of Sir Alec Guinness.

Colin Zavitz