Showing posts with label The Great Escape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Great Escape. Show all posts

Saturday 30 March 2024

Hatching Plots

Watch for The Sign --
Soon, all Prisoners 
shall be released....

Any Man, who would be alright,
and Follow a King --

Follow Me.....
'Cuz, I've been Down-in-here before,
so, I still know The Way Out.

TWO :
Do You still Think 
You can Escape?

SIX :
I'll do better than that.

TWO :
Oh?

SIX :
I'll escape and 
come back.


TWO :
Come back?

SIX :
Escape, come backwipe This Place 
off the face of The Earth -- 
and Youwith it



Great Escape Plan
Plot #1 - Codename : TOM

Plot #2 - Codename : DICK

Plot #3 - Codename : HARRY

Plot #4 - Codename : The ZEPPO

Plot #5 - Codename : GUMMO  



Your move, young man.

Ahh, Yes.

- You know what I'll do?
- Resign?

That announcement,
the exhibition of arts and crafts.

These aren't all they might be.
I'll make a set.

Used to be quite a handyman.

- You entering?
- No.

You're a fool, Number Six.
That's my opinion.

- Really?
- You'll be here as long as you live.

How ever long that is?

Try to settle down.
Don't be uncooperative.

Was there a time
when you were not co-operative?

Don't fight lost battles.

- You came here voluntarily?
- Impudent, too, eh?

Wish I'd had you in my regiment.

Which regiment was that?

Which army?

Good morning, General!

- The General seems a little sour.
- Mate in seven moves.

Ohh.

How many do you know?

- A few more.
- We must play.

Certainly we must - by post.

I must add
sense of humour to your file!

They tend to leave out
such important things.

- What crime did she commit?
- Just nervous tension.

She's here to recuperate.

How much are you charging?

I really must
bring your file up to date.

Sit down, my dear chap!

File number six, section 42,
subsection six, paragraph three.

Add "sense of humour
strong and unimpaired."

Thank you. That will be all.

- One lump or two?
- Read the file.

Yes, but it would save time
if you just answered.

Are you out of time?

Does not take sugar.

Frightened of putting on weight?

No, nor of being reduced.

That's excellent! I am glad you're
here. You really are a model.

But I don't run on clockwork.

You will, my dear chap.
You will.

Do you think so?

TWO :
Do You still Think 
You can Escape?

SIX :
I'll do better than that.

TWO :
Oh?

SIX :
I'll escape and come back.


TWO :
Come back?


Escape, come back, wipe this place 
off the face of The Earth -- 
and you, with it

Subsection six, paragraph four :
Add "Persecution Complex
amounting to mania;
Paranoid delusions of Grandeur."
Don't worry, Number Six,
You'll be cured. I'll see to it.

If you have so much as a bad dream,
You'll come whimpering to tell it 
to me.Whimpering.

Watch. Just watch.

Why?

She's your new neighbour,
that's all, the new Number Eight.

Where's the old one?

He vacated the premises.

He escaped?

No funeral?

You need A Body.

Look, she's getting up!
It's like old times, isn't it?
Do you remember your first day?

Thank God, I'm Home.

- An exact replica of her own room.
- Of course.

Number Eight, please.

- Hello?
- Good morning.

Quite recovered?
No ill-effects from the journey?

Who is it?
Where am I?

There's nothing
to be afraid of, my dear.

Come and have lunch with me -
Number Two, the Green Dome.

Hello?

A most pleasant addition.
I'm sure you'll agree.

- Hello?
- Will you be neighbourly?

I'll do a deal with you. Tell me
one thing and I'll release you.

- Why did you resign?
- Release me?

From the Village?

That's not much to ask, is it?

If you insist on staying, I do
hope you'll attempt to settle down.

This exhibition that's coming up...
Wait a minute.

There! "At the age of 1 5,
top of his class in woodwork."

That's the sort of thing. Join in!

I'll make you a door handle.

You'll be back!

Whimpering.



Blimey,
this one's a weight!

You two take that side.

Watch it, this is supposed
to be fragile!

- Evening, Colonel.
- Evening.

Everything's gone to plan.

Our friend will be with us
any minute. Right, get it open.

- Colonel...
- All right?

- Fotheringay...
- Hello, old man.

Allow me to introduce you to Nadia.

How do you do, my dear?

Right. Leave us to it, old chap.

- See you later, I hope.
- Yes, I hope so, Fotheringay.

- Are we here?
- Shh.

Is that it?

Yes...

That's it.

Would you mind waiting
in the other room? Peters?

It's all right. Go with them.
See you later.

Well, the return
of the prodigal son.

I don't see any fatted calf.

- Did you expect one?
- No.

Tell me, who's she?

Nadia Rakowski.

Oh? What was her name when she left
Peckham to train for the Bolshoi?

You haven't changed, have you?

She told me she was Estonian.

- In the Village.
- Village?

She was Number Eight.
Don't you know about it?

- I ask the questions.
- That's what Number Two said.

- Number Two?
- Chairman of the Village.

- What village?
- I forgot. You don't know.

The Village is a place
where people turn up

who have resigned
from a certain sort of job,

have defected,
or have been extracted.

The specialised knowledge
in their heads is of great value.

Are you sure
there's no Village here?

- Where is this Village?
- Lithuania, the Baltic.

- How did you find out?
- Nadia told me.

- How did she know?
- She came across a secret file.

On catching spies?

I risked my life to come back here
because I thought it was different.

It is, isn't it - different?!

My dear chap, I do apologise.
You've had a long journey.

I expect you need
a decent drink. Scotch?

- 24 work units.
- What?

- It cost that in the Village.
- Ah, the Village.

Surely you know?

You resigned
from a highly top-secret post,

then promptly vanished.

- I was kidnapped.
- Really? How dramatic.

And then after a gap of months
we hear you're coming back

from behind the Iron Curtain...

- You think I've gone over.
- And come back to carry on.

- No.
- "No," he says. "No"?

Nyet. What sort of imbeciles
do you think we are?

- What do you want me to do?
- Quite a lot of things.

Let's start at square one.
First, why did you resign?

- It was a matter of conscience.
- Listen, sonny boy...

Do you think you are safe in London?

If they thought it worth kidnapping
you, it's worth killing you.

I doubt if you'll be alive 24 hours
outside here without protection.

- Do you want it?
- And the girl?

- If you co-operate.
- Political asylum guaranteed.

- That depends.
- No, it's guaranteed!

So long as you keep
your part of the bargain.

- All right.
- Why did you resign?

I resigned...

because...

For a very long time...
Just a minute.

It's eight o'clock.

That's right,
and there are many questions.

First, why did you resign?

Big Ben has just struck eight.

- My watch says eight.
- So?

I was given this watch in Poland.

I wanted to check the time
to make sure the trip

tallied with a journey to London.

Which it presumably did.

Explain to me how a man in Poland
had a watch showing English time...

...when there's one hour's difference!

Maybe he was slow.

I'll bet he was.

Well done. Back to London before
embarrassing questions are asked.

- What's my next assignment?
- The Colonel will give you your orders.

Be seeing you.

Good evening, citizens.

Your local council is announcing
another exciting competition.

The subject this time -

seascapes.

File on Number Six,

section 42,
subsection one, paragraph one.

- Back to the beginning.
- You were right about him.

- I told you.
- Don't worry.

It was a good idea.
You did your best.

I'll stress it in my report.

Thursday 8 June 2023

Quidditch









Steve McQueen - 
The Great Escape 
(motorcycle scene)



The Battle of Endor

 
* It is of some real interest to note — particularly in relationship to the discussion of the dangers of Creativity presented in Rule I — that The Seekers chase The Snitch both inside and outside the playing field that provides boundaries for all the other players. 




While outside, they can careen through the wooden foundation of the Quidditch stadium. This would not be a problem, if they weren’t simultaneously being chased by a Bludger, a solid, massive, flying ball capable not only of knocking them off their brooms, but of crashing through and seriously damaging that same structure. 




If they succeed in catching The Snitch, as we have indicated, they generally attain Victory. But they risk damaging the very foundations of The Game while doing so — just as creative people do when they pursue their innovative yet disruptive visions.

  * It is also of great interest to note, in this regard, that the metal Mercury can be used in the mining and purification of Gold —



Gold dissolves in Mercury, and Mercury can, therefore, be used to draw out the small amounts of the precious metal typically found in ores. The Mercury is then boiled off (it has a low boiling point) so that only The Gold remains. 



The proclivity of Mercury for Gold has given rise to the symbolic idea that the liquid metal has an “affinity” for What is most precious : that Mercury will seek What is Noble and Pure and Incorruptible — like Gold itself, speaking symbolically once again — and concentrate it in usable amounts




So, the fundamental idea is that The Pursuit of Meaning, guided by Mercury, Messenger of The Gods (The Unconscious, as far as modern people are concerned), will enable The Seeker to collect what is, like Gold, of The Highest Value. 



For The Alchemists who created drawings like the one we are analysing, that Highest Value came to be the ultimate development of The Psyche, or Spirit, or Personality.
 
* This is part of the reason science developed so long after religion and ritual — so incredibly recently, and by no means everywhere at once.
 
 * Furthermore, in the mythological world, unlike the objective, logical world, things can be one thing and their opposite at the same time. 

And this representation in the mythological world is more accurate than the objective, in the experiential manner described previously : Nature, for example, is Creator and Destroyer, just as Culture is Protector and Tyrant. 

It might be objected : Nature and Culture are not singular things. They can be differentiated, so that their paradoxical components are separated, understood, and dealt with. 

This is all True : but the paradoxical components are often experienced simultaneously and so unified. This occurs when anyone is betrayed, for example, in a love affair. 

Beast and Man, Medusa and Beloved-Woman are often united experientially in the same hypothetically unitary figure. 

This can be a terrible discovery when made in real life.
 
* The same idea is expressed in Taoist cosmogony, when The Yin and The Yang differentiate themselves into the Five Elements : Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. 

The ancient Greeks believed, similarly, that Earth and Sky (Gaia and Uranus) gave birth to The Titans, elemental deities of great Strength and Power.
 
* E pluribus unum.
 
* Ea makes Man from the blood of Kingu, the most terrible of Tiamat’s Monsters. A bright graduate student and later colleague of mine once suggested that this was because of all God’s creatures, only Man could deceive; only Man could voluntarily bring Evil and Discord into The World.