wanted patrick mcgoohan + susan hampshire to kiss so badly in this movie
...and they didn't!
bummer!! i mean, come ON, disney.....a simple embrace/kiss on the lips?!?! you couldn't even give us THAT??!!
Oh, I know, JeniferAnne; it would have been so perfect! But I don't believe it was Disney who 86'd smooching in this film; plenty of them other Diz films (although quite pure, of course!).
No, I believe this was a stipulation of the late, great and beloved Mr. McGoohan. As I recall reading years ago, he never kissed women in his films or television shows. (Correct me on that "never;" this may have only been after he became a star, and had enough cache to call his own shots on certain things.) The reasons are a little hazy in my memory. I believe it was because he felt it would embarrass his wife and daughters, and/or because he was a staunch Catholic. Anyway, you'll note that he never kissed anyone in either "Secret Agent" (aka "Danger Man") or "The Prisoner." He certainly could have; he was gorgeous enough for love scenes, no question! But the man had his boundaries, and this was one of them. Actually makes him all the more admirable, I think!
I wanted to kiss Susan Hampshire in this movie.
Polls... One of the Main Stream Media's Jedi Mind Tricks.
The 'staunch Catholic' thing gets bandied about a lot by fans when discussing just *why* Patrick didn't get close with his leading ladies on-camera, but I think the real reason is probably more to be found in the fact that he felt that the films and television work that he did which would have a large audience among kids was not an appropriate venue in which to put up displays of physical passion; he once said in an interview that he wouldn't be particularly comfortable with having his young daughters seeing him kiss a woman who wasn't their mother, and I think he was able to sympathize with the discomfort a lot of average parents might feel with having *their* kids watching a too-passionate display onscreen. Also, I think he felt that most of the time screen displays of physicality were just time-killing plot devices thrown in when the writers/director couldn't think of anything better to do storywise.
He did play several roles in his pre-"Secret Agent" days (when he was under contract to Britain's Rank Studios), in which he kissed women, and a couple of those films had him portraying some quite nasty characters--one of these films in particular, "High Tide at Noon", had his character not only *very* passionately kiss the girl, but go on to attempting to rape her as well! Some of McGoohan's aversion to screen carnality could very well be traced to dislike of these kinds of devices being got up to by the screenwriters as a sort of way to shortcut plot and character development, rather than making the effort to write more closely and carefully to explicate matters.
He might also have simply felt--as I often do--that what is *suggested* is oftentimes far more erotically evocative than what's explicitly *shown*. Witness a lot of the subtle (but often quite sexy) interaction between him and a number of his female costars in "Secret Agent". Body english and exchanged glances between them frequently convey a lot more heat than I think any number of phony, closeup lip-lock shots could ever have managed to do.
He might also have simply felt--as I often do--that what is *suggested* is oftentimes far more erotically evocative than what's explicitly *shown*. Witness a lot of the subtle (but often quite sexy) interaction between him and a number of his female costars in "Secret Agent". Body english and exchanged glances between them frequently convey a lot more heat than I think any number of phony, closeup lip-lock shots could ever have managed to do.
Nice observations overall.
With respect to Patrick McGoohan's female co-stars in Danger Man (AKA Secret Agent) and your excellent point about subtle-but-sexy interactions that don't have to involve any "lip-lock," he had two of those with the very same Susan Hampshire. The first was in "You're Not in Any Trouble, Are You?" with Hampshire playing a Holly Golightly-like debutante staying at the same hotel as John Drake (PM). The second was in "Are You Going to Be More Permanent?" with Hampshire now a suspected double agent sparring with Drake on a couple of levels. Both episodes were directed by Don Chaffey, also Thomasina's director who would go on to work with PM in The Prisoner; each was also written by Philip Broadley, whom I thought was the best Danger Man writer.
Speaking of The Prisoner, I wish that Hampshire had guested on it as did a few of the female guests from Danger Man such as Angela Browne, Rachel Herbert, and Jane Merrow.
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"Meretricious persiflage!" -- D.H. Lawrence share
Agreed. They had a great working chemistry together, and that's sexy.
50 Is The New Cutoff Age.