Where Has Poor Mickey Gone?

WHERE HAS POOR MICKEY GONE? is an obscure little potboiler, obviously made on a very tight budget and set in just one location for the most part. It's notable for featuring a couple of TV favourites in the years before they came to fame, plus managing the tricky task of juggling both the thriller and horror genres. The story is about a group of juvenile delinquents - shades of THE BOYS - who go around town committing crime everywhere they go. They end up in a magician's shop, where they tie the magician to a chair before brutalising and tormenting him. However, there's a twist in store.

if I'm honest, WHERE HAS POOR MICKEY GONE? feels a bit dragged out at feature length. The plot reminded me a little of the Curd Jurgens segment from the Amicus anthology VAULT OF HORROR. It's very tame - U certificate, in fact - by modern standards, and quite slow and talky. Occasionally there are missteps, such as a screeching bit on the soundtrack that seems to go on forever. However, appearances from an on-form Warren Mitchell (TILL DEATH US DO PART) and a youthful John Challis (Boycie in ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES) make it watchable, and the twist ending still sends a few chills down the spine even today.

Tony Tenser and Michael Klinger, who ran Compton-Cameo Films, famously gave several young directors their first opportunities. One of them was Gerry Levy, who came to them with a script he'd written under the name Peter Marcus. The story of four tearaway lads who break into a fairground novelties warehouse and terrorise the owner (Warren Mitchell) before getting their come-uppance has a horror comic feel to it, but not a great deal of suspense. The business of a posh boy (Christopher Robbie) joining the other lads in their drunken spree takes up a lot of time but seems of marginal relevance. (Levy's brother has confirmed to me that this material was added to increase the running time, thereby qualifying the film for the government's Eady fund). Nevertheless this is a very unusual independent British spook film of the period. A good deal of time and effort was spent on it and this includes a lot of night shooting in London's Soho, the renting of a studio for the interiors, and a title song written and performed by Ottilie Patterson. Because it has few exploitable elements it was shelved after it was made in 1963 and eventually released as a second feature in 1966. Levy went on to direct "The Body Stealers" for Tenser's Tigon company, but then became a production manager. "Mickey" disappeared until a tattered print, with at least 20 minutes missing, turned up at BFI Southbank in 1997. A very good copy of the complete version is currently on the Talking Pictures channel. Two other points of interest are that it was Patricia Quinn's first film (can anyone confirm that she's one of two young women who come out of Portland Mews and reject the advances of the boys?) and that it was originally classified "X" but is now "U". The original certificate must have been awarded solely because the BBFC was still obsessed in the 1960s with the alleged influence of films showing juvenile delinquency.

Four young men are thrown out of a night club. They get rowdy on the street, injuring a man, then make their way to a side-street shop where an old Italian man (Warren Mitchell) makes props and games for fun fairs. They bust one of them, then discover his stage magician trappings, and insist on a show.

It's a Twilight Zone sort of short second feature, timing in at less than an hour, and a good one at that, as the dominance shifts from the hooligans to Mitchell, and the camera, wielded by Alan Pudney, scans in an increasingly uneasy fashion over the increasingly foreboding premises. Writer-producer-director Gerry Levy spent most of his film career as a production manager, and wrote a few scripts for horror movies. He died in 1996, aged 68.

As befits such a quizzical title like ships that pass in the night the paths of Alf Garnett and Boysie crossed in this fanciful little oddity that probably qualifies as an early home invasion film.

What follows promises to be a fairly commonplace tale of a bunch of yobbos victimising a senior citizen; but when one of the intruders curiosity gets the better of him the film changes gears and the tables are turned as the boys discover themselves well out their depth.

The ambiguous ending when it comes will have you wondering what on earth just you've just been watching and frankly my dear I'm as in the dark as you are.

This 'X' certificate short was originally shown at UK cinemas with Roman Polanski's 'Cul-de-Sac'. It's unavailable commercially but I've now had the chance to see it at last, having obtained a copy on video for private viewing. It tells a neat, effective story which holds the attention, with Warren Mitchell giving a memorable performance, and a very young John Challis (now well-known as a television and stage performer in the UK) as one of the thugs who terrorise him. The pay-off is really clever and satisfying. It's a pity this film has never turned up on television and is virtually a 'lost' movie. It's well-worth seeing.