CONTINUING our journey into the world of movies filmed in Weymouth and Portland this week, we're going to turn our attention to more local celluloid magic thanks to film buff Mike Lee.

He has made us aware of Petticoat Pirates starring Charlie Drake.

Again, this is another nautical adventure which Weymouth and Portland proved the perfect backdrop for.

Mike said: "Charlie, you may remember, was very big on TV for some time in a programme similar to Some Mothers Do Have 'Em. The whole family watched.

"I remember one week when he was thrown through a bookcase and actually injured himself but carried on with the sketch.

"The film story involves stoker Charlie helping 150 Wrens hijack a frigate to prove they're as capable as the men."

Previously in the Echo we mentioned that Charlie, who also starred in showtime in Weymouth three years earlier, was arriving for filming at Portland aboard HMS Grafton.

Mike added: "another interesting fact was that Guy Henry, who stars in Holby City, mentions in the magazine article that his father had been a straight man to Charlie and Arthur Haynes and that Charlie was his Godfather."

We've previously mentioned The Damned starring Oliver Reed and Shirley Anne Field, which was filmed in 1961.

We met Derek Peach, of Weymouth, who got in touch to tell us that he was a stand-in for the actor Brian Forbes in the film.

Mike tells us: "In the book The Hammer Story, the director says he chose Weymouth and the austere, forbidding Portland Bill for the locations.

"Unusually Weymouth is called Weymouth in the film unlike other films.

"One of the stunts nearly went wrong when at the climax of the film a sports car driven by Oliver Reed, actually a stunt man, crashes through ferry bridge railings and ends up in the sea.

"The car inadvertently flips over and the driver only just managed to release the seat belt.

"This story has regularly been featured in the Echo."

In the film, Oliver Reed plays the leader of a gang of teddy boys.

Mike continues: "His gang members were only featured in frontal shots, all the actual riding was done by Weymouth lads who worked for Pankhurst because other actors who were considered for these parts could not ride.

"The manager at Pankhurst agreed to let the lads appear providing they used Pankhurst bikes and was paid £400 which was a lot in the '60s.

"Shirley Anne Field couldn't ride and her frontal shots on the bike were done on a trailer with a bike strapped on and she sways from side to side.

"Her driving role was taken by Anne Loder from Loders."

Mike said he was working in WH Smith when the film was being shot around the King's Statue.

He said: "When they finished they came in the store and I managed to get their autographs.

"The main story of the film centres on finding an underground cave and complex at Portland where children whose parents have survived some nuclear accident are being trained to live after any forthcoming nuclear disaster."

After the filming of The Damned was completed the film company wasn't particularly happy with the end result and the film stayed on the shelf for two years, Mike said.

It was eventually released in 1963 as part of a double bill with a film called Maniac.

Mike added: "Recently several of us went to see the film back on the big screen at the Bridport Film Festival.

"We really enjoyed it with its shots of the train going along the quay, two way traffic up St Mary Street and St Thomas Street, Fortes, etc."

n See Looking Back next week for more movie memorabilia

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