WHERE HAS POOR MICKEY GONE? - Ottilie Paterson - "Damned Good Question" (1964)

Welcome to "Where Has Poor Mickey Gone" Wednesday! This is an interesting double feature poster pairing "Mickey" with a retitled version of "Werewolf In A Girl's Dormitory!"

So that's the question of the day, and not only where did Mickey go, but also why did he go there?

"Where Has Poor Mickey Gone?" can be viewed as one of two things, either it's a very elongated music video for Irish Blues singer Ottilie Patterson, or an evil version of the Bowery Boys in a "Twilight Zone" episode!

The killer theme song for "Where Has Poor Mickey Gone?" was written and performed by Ottilie Patterson, and is an odd amalgam of instrumentality! Joining Ottilie is her husband, jazz trombonist Chris Barber on bass, Eddie Smith on banjo, Graham Burbidge on drums, and none other than the legendary Sonny Boy Williamson playing the harp! What a combination punch! That's why I still like doing this blog; I've been a huge music fan of all ilks for years, and yet, just like a whole lot of weird movies, I had never heard of Ottilie Patterson until I saw this movie, and she's freakin' awesome! Trust me, after a couple of listens, you'll wonder "Where Has Poor Mickey Gone" too!! Why the IMDB has Cleon Laine listed as singing this song, I have no idea!  The movie's credits state Ottilie Patterson without a doubt!

In case you were wondering, that's Mickey over there on the left! He's just a cheap punk, so it's hard to conceive that somebody could actually be missing him! As far as I can tell, and from his behaviour in this movie, it should have been good riddance Mickey, you little jerk!!

This is the exasperated look of a bird whose boyfriend is getting the shit kicked out of him for no reason whatsoever! That's just the way Mickey and his boys roll!

This is Mickey's gang! On the left is Tim, and on the right is Ginger! Classically schooled John (The House That Dripped Blood) Malcolm is Mickey in the middle in his first film appearance! Tim is played by John Challis in his first ever screen appearance! For all the "Dr. Who" fans, John was Scorby in all six episodes of "The Seeds Of Doom" in 1976! Ginger was played by Ray Armstrong, who was also in a couple of "Dr. Who" episodes, and went on to be in a buttload of TV shows like "Z Cars," "Freewheelers," and  "Tucker's Luck!" No lack of talent here!

The fourth member of the gang is a new recruit named Kip played by Christopher Robbie also in his second role ever! Christopher Robbie was also in "Dr. Who" for five episodes as Cyberleader, and one episode as Karkus! Christopher was still acting up to at least last year! From the beginning, you just don't get the feeling that the smooth and handsome Kip is going to fit in and there's going to be some friction between him and the boys, but it never happens!

Walking the streets, and peering in windows, the boys spot Mr. Emilio Dinelli getting ready to close up shop for the night!

Since Emilio deals in carnival and fairground novelties, his business creates a great surreal backdrop for the antics these punks are about to come up with!

Emilio is played by Warren Mitchell who just turned 88 a couple of months ago! Where do you start with a guy like Warren Mitchell? His first role was in 1954 where he is credited as 'a laughing man in a bar!" He would go on working until 2006 with roles in movies like "The Crawling Eye," "Unearthly Stranger," "Blood Beast From Outer Space," and "Moon Zero Two!"

Tim and Ginger look major macho in their party hats!! Guys just wanna have fun too!

I get one of these every movie or two, this weeks candidate for the winner in the WTF?! Department!

These guys are so immature it's almost comical, No, it actually is comical!

Just your typical 28 year old punk out having a good time!  Free use of a carnival mirror? Hell Yeah!!

So one of Emilio's treasured items is under cover, and he pleads with the boys to leave it alone, or face the consequences, but instead they end up smashing up a good part of this wild lookin' Ballerama game!

What else could possibly happen? The boys figure out that Emilio is also a magician, so they untie him, so that he can put on a show for them while they kick back!

It just so happens that the main trick in Emilio's act is a coffin that makes people vanish! The boys are too stupid to believe it, so one by one, they go behind the curtain never to be seen again, except for Tim who bolts out the door and goes to the police!

There's no proof to substantiate Tim's wild claims that some olde man disappeared all his pals, so the question does indeed remain unanswered, "Where Did Poor Mickey Go?" (Spoiler Alert: The box's invisible passage just might lead straight to Hell!) Now go back and take another, but closer look at the title card!!

~ 13 MORE OF TABONGA'S FAVORITE SIXTIES MONSTERS ~

It's Sixties Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Here's another batch of my favorite horror and sci-fi flicks from long ago, it's amazing how much things had changed from the previous decade, basically, no more rubber monsters!

BLOOD BEAST FROM OUTER SPACE aka NIGHT CALLER FROM OUTER SPACE - 1965 / I love this British movie starring John Saxon and sultry Patricia Haines! This is Dr. Morley when the Blood Beast exits from the strange orb recovered by the military after it crashed to Earth.

DARK INTRUDER - 1965 / Here's a rare movie starring Leslie (FORBIDDEN PLANET) Nielson and Mark (AGENT FOR H.A.R.M.) Richman, and, the ancient monster. It was a failed TV pilot produced by Jack Laird, who went on to produce NIGHT GALLERY.

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS - 1968 / I chose this Toho classic because so many of their giant monsters are featured. That's the thing about these Japanese flicks, you definitely always get your money's worth!

DIE, MONSTER, DIE! - 1965 / Eegah!! and I saw this one when it came out, possibly the best Lovecraft story on film. What I like the most are these caged mutant creatures created by the strange irradiating meteorite from outer space!

DOGORA, THE SPACE MONSTER - 1964 / What an imagination those Toho writers, producers and special effect technicians have, the Dogora amoeba space monsters look absolutely fantastic on the big screen as they devistate parts of Japan!

EARTH DIES SCREAMING - 1964 / Another British sci-fi feature that Eegah!! and I saw in the theater, love the robot aliens and the reanimated dead humans that help the invaders root out the remaining Earthlings!

FIRST MEN IN THE MOON - 1964 / Ray Harryhausen was at the top of his game for this excellent production when it came out in 1964. The shots of the Moon's surface after they land their spacecraft are the finest ever!

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACEMONSTER - 1965 / Even though this flick is pure schlock, you can't help but love it for all it's zany content! I like the captured bikini babes and Dr. Nadir's horrible makeup on his ears! And, don't forget the great tunes by Bob Crewe and The Poets.

HAND OF DEATH - 1962 / This is another weird little flick I dig the most, it stars John Agar and features Joe Besser and Butch Patrick. The first time you see John's transformation in the bedroom still gives me the chills!!

MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND - 1968 / I have ALL the Blood Island movies because they are so damn insane, this shot shows the monster recovering its head after being torn off!! Besides starring John Ashley, this one has the super sexy Angelique Pettyjohn in a topless scene!!!

MR. SARDONICUS - 1961 / Eegah!! and I loved this one when we saw it at the theater, Guy Rolfe and his dead dad gave us a real jolt, we were 13 years old at the time. A funny part for us was at the end when William Castle was counting hands for the Punishment Poll, he tells a kid in the audience to sit down, he seemed to be looking at Eegah!! who was actually standing up!!

THE SHIP OF MONSTERS - 1960 / Wow, what can you say about this totally nutzo movie, it's about a spaceship transporting three imprisioned bad space monsters! Photo shows Ana Bertha Lepe and the monster with my all-time favotite monster name... OOK! Also, it has a number of very cool tunes.

TALES OF TERROR - 1962 / We also saw this great Corman trilogy of horror in 1962, the part with Vinnie melting was a damn cool makeup job! Eegah!! and I saw all of the Corman Poe productions when they came out!

Tune in next Monday for my last installment in this series... EVEN MORE OF TABONGA'S FAVORITE FIFTIES FLICKS!

A STUDY IN TERROR - "Keep Your Fingers Crossed And Hope You Can Afford The Cost" (1965)

 

Tonight's Saturday Night Special is a real study in terror, so much that it's even titled "A Study In Terror!"

 "A Study In Terror" is an interesting little movie on a number of levels! The basic premise is a battle of wits between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, and another character well known in British history, Jack The Ripper!

 This is the first of the many victims of Jack The Ripper's blade! The viewer gets the immediate sense that maybe this Ripper fellow is not such a nice guy!

 Here they are, Donald Huston as Dr. Watson on the left and John Neville on the right as the always calm, cool, and collected Sherlock Holmes! Both actors do an exceptional job, and John Neville's Sherlock Holmes is every bit as good as Basil Rathbone or Peter Cushing's version, and quite possibly even better!

 That's one thing I like about 1960's English films, there's almost always going to be a scene set in a pub! I don't know the name of this place but it's particularly lively with more than it's share of drunks and whores! Without a doubt, these people knew how to party! Georgia Brown sings a rousing version of the insane sing along classic written by Henry J. Sayers, and heard in over 25 movies and videos, "Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay!"

 This is quite the bawdy and risque joint! Georgia Brown does what is basically a turn of the century lap dance for this shoulder, and then when he gets just a little bit frisky, she pours her drink over his head while singing the whole time! You can't really see it in this shot, but after the song is over, everybody goes back to what they were doing, heavy petting!! This whole place is make-out city!

 This cheap whore lifts this dude's wallet while they're swapping spit, so when it comes time to pay for the drinks, and he's got no money, he's got a pretty good idea what happened to it, and turns her upside down and shakes his wallet out of her cleavage! That's the kind of movie this is!

 All these murders are really starting to interfere with all these people's good times! The whores are dropping like flies!

 Most of the dialogue between Holmes and Watson is borderline genius, but there's also strange comic book overtones! It's no wonder one poster from the movie, had pop 'Biff' 'Pow' 'Bang' symbols and included a tagline that states, "Here Comes The Original Caped Crusader!"

 This hooker gets kicked out of her room for non-payment, so in a desperate attempt to get off the streets, she offers it to one of her regular customers for free, but he's busy gutting pigs, and isn't in the mood!

 I've lost count, maybe that's five or six, Jack is a very busy fellow!

 Holmes disguises himself as a holmesless person that looks a lot like Mick Fleetwood, and even fools Dr. Watson!

 "A Study In Terror" is filled with late night foggy scenes like this, and that's one of the reasons that Jack can get away with so many murders and not get caught, plus there's not a whole lot of police intervention since this is a notorious lowlife district, so nobody really cares that much!

 

Robert Morely puts in a sterling performance as Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes! Their verbal dueling is a lot of fun to watch! What kind of parents would name their kids Sherlock and Mycroft anyway? Wouldn't that be considered child abuse in today's politically correct world?

 This case is really bugging Sherlock, so he hasn't talked for 24 hours and only sits around and plays his violin very badly! Mycroft is totally dismayed by the fact that Sherlock has had a violin since he was a young boy, and yet he still is unable to play the damn thing!

 Georgia Brown performs another number, and is quite animated while doing it!

 This short scene explains a lot about this film!  While listening to Georgia perform, the camera pans around the room, and at this one table, this sweet innocent looking little olde lady sneaks a drink from her companion's glass!

 Probably a good part of why "A Study In Terror" is so lively is because one of the producers was Herman (I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN, BLOOD OF DRACULA, I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER, HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM, KONGA,  BLACK ZOO, BESERK, CRAZE) Cohen!

 This whore is so desperate and dumb, she even invites Jack The Ripper up to her room! Anyway, I think you get the general idea!! I liked "A Study In Terror" a lot because it's probably the funnest slasher movie I've ever seen, and I would highly recommend going to see it if it ever comes to your local theatre! Big Thanx to Darren S. on this one!!