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Rewatching... 'Man in a Suitcase': Brainwash

My continuing mission: to watch classic television exactly fifty years after original broadcast date.

By Nick BrownPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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"I'm going to shoot you McGill."

Wednesday 27 September 1967

Actually I'm not rewatching this one, I'm seeing it for the first time.

So, it's September 1967 and there's a new action series starting from ITC. A former agent who's recently resigned is rendered unconscious, and abducted. He wakes up to find himself imprisoned in a furnished room, while his captors try to obtain cooperation from him using increasingly bizarre methods. Methods ranging from planting a pretty young maid to gain his trust, to big screens showing hypnotic brainwashing imagery. The man is quite hostile towards his captors, and to the girl. There's a catchy Ron Grainer theme tune and Albert Elms did the incidental music.

There's another new ITC series starting in a few days, something called The Prisoner, but I don't know much about that yet. The one tonight, however, is called Man in a Suitcase, and the agent in question is McGill. I don't know his first name, we're not told.

McGill is American but the episode is based in "swinging" London. He's a rather surly man, softly spoken, laconic, not the most charismatic action hero, looks prematurely grey haired, and I have no idea about his background as not much is explained. I guess his captors don't either or they wouldn't be trying so hard to get information out of him.

I'm not sure why it's called Man in a Suitcase; he hasn't climbed out of one, nor does he look as though he'd comfortably fit inside one. He does, however, carry a rather battered suitcase about with him, and seemed quite concerned to hold onto it himself, refusing an offer of help to carry it. So presumably the title has something to do with that.

McGill's captors are Colonel Davies who was formerly the white leader of an African nation called Iquala, and his sadistic associate John. Just John, no surname given. Or perhaps John is his surname. Colonel Davies is a bitter old sod who just won't let go of the past and wants his own form of justice. Coincidentally there's another one of those types in the new series ofTheAvengerswhich also begins this week, that one played by Peter Cushing. But back to the Colonel. He's miffed that he lost his position after a coup, he and his colleagues went into exile and he wants a signed confession from McGill (who he believes was there at the time) that the coup was organised by American and British Intelligence.

McGill was apparently abandoned by the Americans so might understandably want to go along with the Colonel's wishes but actually he's having none of it, and turns out to be pretty tough. Quite brutal in fact, such as in a scene where watched by John from a hidden screen he tries to bait his captors by strangling the girl Judy, after she lets slip she's the colonel's daughter. He doesn't go through with it and eventually lets go of her neck, but it's hard to imagine other recent action heroes such as The Saint's Simon Templar behaving that way.

Despite this, Judy starts to feel sorry for their prisoner. John, however, does not strike me as a man who would feel sorry for anyone. He seems to enjoy his work, smirking and grinning as he carries out his sadistic tasks.

As with many spy series from this era, all the usual interrogation methods are employed. First they drug his food, then electrodes to the head, injection with truth serum, endlessly looped propaganda film on a huge screen, solitary confinement, and deprivation of basic comfort. It all starts to get surreal when McGill temporarily overpowers John and races around the maze-like corridors of the house, flinging open doors revealing nothing but mirrors and projector screens displaying that same propaganda film.

There's an effective scene where McGill is disoriented by a POV projection of a speeding car crashing, sixties style flashing lights and sound effects, and an enormous image of the colonel pointing a gun and shooting at him. "I'm going to shoot you McGill," he repeats over and over, with McGill ducking and rolling around the floor as the man fires from the projector screen.

In the end it's revealed that Colonel Davies is ill and close to death. He actually wants McGill to kill him, making him a martyr for his cause in the process. John realises that McGill won't do it so he tries to shoot the colonel himself, but McGill is quicker and he and John shoot each other. McGill is the luckier of the two, being only wounded. He staggers out of the building while the colonel implores him to kill him. From "I'm going to shoot you McGill," to "Why don't you shoot me McGill?"

The episode ends with the escaped McGill in the street, bloody and battered, muttering about his suitcase and being cradled by a policeman.

I enjoyed the episode but felt as though I'd joined the story part way through. Still, it intrigued me enough to want to watch more. McGill is a slightly unusual character for this type of thing; like a combination of Clint Eastwood and Columbo. Looks promising anyway, and hopefully we'll find out more soon.

Now I wonder what this new Patrick McGoohan series is about...

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About the Creator

Nick Brown

I've embarked upon an open ended mission, pretending to travel back in time and watch classic television on (or close to) the fiftieth anniversary of original broadcast date; getting a sense of the context, the magic of that first viewing.

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