Noticed a few similarities with 'The Prisoner' TV series, which was first shown in 1967; specifically the identification of the hitmen as No. 1, No. 3, etc, and the way the numbering subsumes individual identity. "You are No. 1, etc"
Is it possible that Patrick McGoohan could have seen this film before making The Prisoner; or that Suzuki saw The Prisoner before making Branded To Kill?
i think it had to do more with a fixation on rank and the obsession to be the best more than anything. I've never seen The Prisoner, but in that series, are number identifications malleable, that is, can one go from being number 4 to number 1?
shareThe twist in The Prisoner [SPOILER ALERT] is that the hero, Number Six, is obsessed with finding the identity of Number One; in the last episode he discovers that it's himself.
shareAlthough both feature rankings I don't think there's any connection. In The Prisoner, there was an idea behind what the numbers represent far beyond simple rank. The fact that in this movie there IS a number one, and the protagonist wants to usurp him, makes it quite different.
"I have an idea that's so dastardly it's beautiful."
It seems unlikely that there could be any direct influence between The Prisoner and Branded as both were being filmed at around the same time ('66/'67)and McGoohan would've almost certainly never even have heard of Suzuki, a Japanese B-movie director, let alone seen any of his films.
However, having just seen Branded, it is eerie hearing that familiar refrain "Who is No. 1?" repeated several times throughout. And when you look closer you'll also find another strange connection: Branded to Kill's Japanese title is 'Koroshi no Rakuin'. Koroshi (meaning 'a murder')was the title of the first episode of Season 4 of Danger Man and also of the TV movie constructed out of it and the following episode which concludes the storyline. As most Prisoner-buffs will know, after filming these episodes in early '66 McGoohan abruptly 'resigned' from the role of John Drake and pitched Lew Grade The Prisoner which immediatlely went into pre-production.
The Koroshi storyline is set in Japan (although no filming took place there)and features the character of Potter, Drake's agency contact, who also appears in The Prisoner and is thus one of the strongest reasons to believe that the unnamed No. 6 is actually John Drake. It also features George Colouris and Kenneth Griffith who later played very significant roles in The Prisoner, so it seems pretty clear that Koroshi is a important part of Prisoner lore.
Having said this, I still tend to think that McGoohan and Suzuki were independently dramatising and satirising similar post-war anxieties about capitalism, careerism, regimentation, dehumanisation, computerisation etc. that were present in most technologically advanced societies at the time. They just happened to come up with the same emblematic phrase to represent it.
It does make you wonder though, if anyone knows of any deeper links I'd be happy to hear it.
What a bizarre notion.
shareSometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a number is just a number. Do you see Jesus on toast bread, as well?
shareI doubt it was intentional, but BTK reminded me of the Prisoner when I was watching it. It had the same sort of surreal tone.
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