Quincy's Quest is a 1979 British family film directed by Robert Reed, and starring Tommy Steele, Mel Martin and Charles Morgan.[1] A version was first shown on television on 23 December 1962 as The Tommy Steele Show: Quincy's Quest.[2]

Plot

In a department store, unwanted toys are set to be destroyed. One of the rejects, a doll named Quincy, goes on a quest to find Santa Claus who is the only person who can save them. The first room Quincy enters is for costume dolls, where he meets Mr. Perfect, who is disgusted by the fact Quincy is a reject. Quincy then proceeds to explain (through song) why he is happy being such.

Conn is informed via telephone that Quincy is a reject, and lures him into his ventriloquist dummy show Toy Theatre, allowing Quincy the chance to sing, but then convinces him to board a train, claiming it will lead him straight to Santa’s grotto. While driving it, Quincy runs headfirst into another, black train, causing both to explode. He is found by a doll named Rebecca, who takes him to her disappearing village made of building blocks. After Rebecca says that the man of her dreams would wear uniform, Quincy buys a soldier costume, and is mistaken as a real red toy soldier and sent to a battle with blue soldiers, although he is able to escape.

After the Witch makes a group of boxes block the way upstairs, Quincy considers giving up, before voices in his head encourage him to continue, throwing a rope up to the next storey. After a short rest, he meets a group of animals, Gerry the Giraffe, Larry the Leopard, Lionel the Lion and Ellie the Elephant, who live in a land of stuffed animals. Quincy convinces them to join him on his quest to save his friends, and ends up reuniting with Rebecca, however she is revealed to be in contact with the Witch, who kidnaps Quincy and ties him up to be attacked by robots, however he is able to use various tanks and missiles to defend himself, which causes the Witch to activate giant robot Archimedes, which Top reprograms to turn on the Witch and crushes her. Quincy carries Rebecca out into Santa’s grotto, and both turn back into regular dolls in time for a group of children led by Santa to find them, and despite Smithy claiming that they are rejects and attempting to destroy them, he is attacked by the children, who all grab toys for themselves, except for Quincy and Rebecca, who are picked up by Santa and kept as reminders of love and compassion being gifts to all, also deciding not to burn his friends.

Production

The film was shot at Shepperton Design Studios, who built Archimedes, a ten-foot suit with an unidentified actor inside. Although it was without fault, the block bridge proved controversial. Andrew Ainsworth wanted it to connect like real blocks, using Reaction injection molding, however due to the fact that the cast would dance on top of it, he decided to reinforce it with a welded steel structure, which due to the fuel energy contained within the bricks, caused a fire, which was quickly extinguished.

Andrew then painted the surface of the bridge with resin, which caused the cast’s shoes to come off their feet and stick to the ground.[3]

Cast

Book adaptation

In 1981, the same year Quincy’s Quest was repeated on ITV, Tommy Steele published a children’s book simply titled Quincy, based on the film.

References

  1. ↑ BFI.org
  2. ↑ "The Tommy Steele Show: Quincy's Quest". IMDb. 23 December 1962.
  3. ↑ "Shepperton Design Studios - Quincy's Quest". Retrieved 18 May 2023.


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