Stepinac and Mindszenty (1/16/05) Dear Mr. Miller, Thanks to Mr. Guenzel for his kind words on my Mindszenty article. Regarding Boland's demurral, it is true that the cases of Mindszenty in Hungary and that of Aloysius Stepinac (1898-1960) in Yugoslavia are similar. Stepinac and Mindszenty both clashed with the pro-Nazi governments in their respective countries during the war, both emerged as folk heroes and both had to be destroyed by the Reds. But there are differences. At the time of Stepinac's frame-up in 1946 he was Archbishop of Zagreb and was not elevated to the red hat until years later. Further, Stepinac gave an impassioned speech at his trial, lashing out at his tormentors from the dock. By the time Mindszenty came to trial he had been so cruelly abused while incarcerated that (as revealed in his memoirs) he could barely understand what was happening and in no condition to excoriate the court. In the film version of "The Prisoner", the prelate stands trial in a catatonic daze, reminiscent of Mindszenty, not the animated Stepinac. Of the two films I mentioned, it is clear that "The Prisoner" borrows freely from the earlier "Guilty of Treason". A few scenes, such as the one where Mindszenty writes a manifesto of innocence prior to his arrest and another where he is arrested at Mass are practically identical with those from "Guilty of Treason." Finally, the Mindszenty trial was international front page news in 1949 and also carried in major news magazines with worldwide circulation such as Time (in which he appeared on the cover) and in LIFE. Surely the story wasn’t blacked out in England. In the end it is of little consequence that Guinness and Boland insisted "The Prisoner" was based upon the martyred Stepinac rather than the martyred Mindszenty, but for them to claim that they had never heard of Mindszenty prior to the filming of "The Prisoner" in 1954 strains credulity. Sincerely, Steve O’Brien

Mr. O'Brien's article (1/12/05) Editor: Steve O'Brien's article was quite a good read. As one who tried to persuade a number of sympathetic producers back in the late 70s and early 80s to do the Mindszenty story I can appreciate his longing for a proper version of the story. I seriously doubt there is anyone in Hollywood today (yes, you read that correctly) who could do justice to the Cardinal's story, artistically, spiritually or cinematically. There just aren't any original minds out there these days. Sorry to have to say that, but that's reality. One correction for Mr O'Brien. It was thought by some that Columbia's The Prisoner was a veiled telling of the Mindszenty case. I thought that myself for awhile, until I questioned Sir Alec Guiness about it. He wrote to me that it was in fact based on the story of Msgr Stepanec. He even went to the trouble of confirming that for me with Bridget Boland, the original author of the play upon which the film was produced. At about that time in Britain (1953-54) when the play was written very little info was available on the Mindszenty situation. Cordially, Dan Guenzel