Farewell Performance

BFI Most Wanted: the hunt for Britain's missing films

Directed by Robert Tronson, 1963

No encore for this unholy fusion of murdered pop stars, poison throat-spray, performing chimps, jugglers and the other-worldly music of Joe Meek's Tornados.

Pop star Ray Baron (David Kernan, left) living the high life.

Credits

Director Production Company Producer Screenplay Photography Music Score/Direction	Robert Tronson Sevenay Productions Jim O'Connolly Aileen Burke, Leone Stuart Michael Reed Joe Meek
Cast: Delphi Lawrence (Janice), David Kernan (Ray Baron), Frederick Jaeger (Paul Warner), Derek Francis (Raven), Alfred Burke (Marlon)
73 mins, 6,570 ft, sound, black & white

Why are we so keen to find it?

Though troubled and tone deaf, legendary eccentric 1960s independent pop producer Joe Meek conceived The Tornados' international smash hit instrumental 'Telstar', and conjured up umpteen bizarre echo-drenched space-age pop records in his Holloway Road flat before his life ended in tragedy. This film, for which he was musical director and which features a selection of his artistes, includes a rare record of The Tornados - one of his most successful acts - at the height of their popularity.

What's it about?

Described by Kinematograph Weekly as a "crime-doesn't-pay melodrama telling of jealousy, intrigue and murder behind the footlights of a London variety theatre", this murder-mystery B picture promised thrills, variety acts and the latest pop sounds. In August 1963, The Daily Cinema provided the following story outline:

"Pop singer Ray Baron neglects his wife Carol, dallies with unhappily married Janice without telling her about Carol, puts a private detective on to his crooked manager, Warner, and generally makes himself as obnoxious as possible. When Ray is poisoned in his dressing-room, Janice's jealous husband, Marlon, a chimp trainer, is arrested by Superintendent Raven. A second murder leads to the revelation that Janice put cyanide in Marlon's throat-spray, but was seen by Warner who, knowing he was going to be sacked, gave the poison to Ray."

A bit dry in its bare bones, but there was more to the film than the plot, of course. Also crammed into a breathless 73-minute running time were pop music performances by The Tornados, Heinz and 'Ray Baron' (voiced by Chad Carson), along with jugglers and a performing chimp. They don't make 'em like that any more.

Last seen?

Sometime in the decades after its release as a supporting feature late in 1963, Farewell Performance took an unnoticed final bow, when the 35mm reference print originally held by Rank Distributors mysteriously vanished from the shelves. Despite attempts to locate it made by the growing army of 'Meekians' - Joe Meek devotees - the film remains missing.

Does anything survive?

The BFI National Archive holds a copy of the script, a press book, stills and a music cue sheet.

Reviews

The Monthly Film Bulletin was not impressed, sniffily dismissing the film with a condescending paragraph:

"Although the routine plot is supported by a number of pop music interludes, presumably inserted with the object of appealing to teenagers, the backstage murder theme, and even much of the dialogue, harks back to the early Thirties. The number of suspects is more limited than usual, and the identity of the murderer is not very skilfully concealed."

All of this may well have been true, but surely misses the point, and The Daily Cinema may have been more on the money when it concluded: "It's no great shakes as a murder mystery, but the juke-box fans might get a kick out of it." Today's juke-box fans certainly would.

Vic Pratt, Curator (Fiction), BFI National Archive

You can find more about British films of the early 1960s, including entries on surviving films and video clips for users in UK schools, colleges, universities and public libraries, at BFI Screenonline. You can also view similar titles at the BFI Mediatheques.