Figure 1.--Saturday morning pictures with Harry in a dark slipover and open necked short sleeve shirt. Note the pattern of the slipover of the boy sitting to his left and the braces of the boy next to him.

" The Boy from Mercury " was set in Ireland during the 1960s. The film is an evocation of early 1960s Ireland. It tells the story of 8-year-old Harry Cronin who is trying to come to terms with the loss of his father. In doing so, he becomes a Walter Mitty like character, in the belief that he and his dog Max are aliens from the Planet Mercury, who have been sent to Earth to observe and report to the Mercurians about life on planet Earth. He does this at night by flashing his torch at what he believes is a spacecraft from Mercury, which passes over his council house at the same time every night, in reality it is an aircraft on a scheduled flight. His fantasy is enriched further by his regular visits to Saturday morning pictures (movies) at which he sees his hero in the form of Flash Gordon on the screen. Then one Saturday on his way from the pictures Harry meets Sean a boy no older than himself who comes from a more affluent family background and they become good friends. Life at the strict Catholic school that Harry attends is also turbulent in that he has to contend with not only the bully from his class, but also his stern teacher Brother Dowdall. Like all mothers, Harry’s worries about him constantly and she becomes despondent that she can’t seem to bring him out of his emotional shell. She appeals to her brother-in-law, Harry’s eccentric Uncle Tony for help, and it is he, who finally gets through to him. Not only that, Harry's older brother Paul sorts the school bully out for him and life takes on a new meaning for Harry.

Filmography

Directed and written by Martin Duffey, produced by Marina Hughes and filmed in colour.

Setting

The film was set in early 1960’s Dublin. Apart from the costuming, the period is also reflected in the music and transportation of the time.

Cast

Harry Cronin (James Hickey), Mother (Rita Tushingham), Paul (Hugh O’Connor), Uncle Tony (Tom Courtney), Sean (Sean Flanagan), Brother Dowdall (Ian McEllhinney).

Plot

"The Boy ftrom Mercury" tells the story of 8-year-old Harry Cronin who is trying to come to terms with the loss of his father. In doing so, he becomes a Walter Mitty like character, in the belief that he and his dog Max are aliens from the Planet Mercury, who have been sent to Earth to observe and report to the Mercurians about life on planet Earth. He does this at night by flashing his torch at what he believes is a spacecraft from Mercury, which passes over his council house at the same time every night, in reality it is an aircraft on a scheduled flight. His fantasy is enriched further by his regular visits to Saturday morning pictures (movies) at which he sees his hero in the form of Flash Gordon on the screen. Then one Saturday on his way from the pictures Harry meets Sean a boy no older than himself who comes from a more affluent family background and they become good friends. Life at the strict Catholic school that Harry attends is also turbulent in that he has to contend with not only the bully from his class, but also his stern teacher Brother Dowdall. Like all mothers, Harry’s worries about him constantly and she becomes despondent that she can’t seem to bring him out of his emotional shell. She appeals to her brother-in-law, Harry’s eccentric Uncle Tony for help, and it is he, who finally gets through to him. Not only that, Harry's older brother Paul sorts the school bully out for him and life takes on a new meaning for Harry.

Costuming

Harry is seen in various items of clothing throughout the film. In the scenes where he has to go with his mother and brother Paul to his father’s grave in the cemetery, Harry wears a light grey short trouser suit, while his older brother Paul is seen wearing a silver-grey suit with long trousers. Harry’s suit is seen three times in the film, twice in the cemetery sequences and once when he stays over night at the house of his friend Sean. In between times, Harry wears dark grey worsted short trousers, which are always held up by braces (suspenders) and a grubby brown Tweed sports jacket. He also wears slipovers and short sleeved shirts, this suggests that the time of year is the summer. Although Harry is never seen wearing ankle-socks, he always wears knee-length ones, which he pulls up his legs from time to time. When we first meet Sean, he is wearing almost knee-length blue short trousers held up by braces and a short sleeved shirt. In another he is wearing similar length dark grey worted or Terylene short trousers and an open long sleeved cardigan. All the boys featured in the film wear short trousers and in one scene at Harry’s school a boy no younger than 14 can be seen wearing short trousers.

Comments

I felt that The Boy from Mercury is a wonderful evocation of childhood life in the early 1960s. It is a film that every adult can relate to. We all lived in a kind of fantasy world when we were children and we all had our imaginary friends, in Harry’s case, they were from Mercury.

Reader Comments

An Australian reader writes, "This was a comical little Irish film. The boy Harry was a quiet and often troubled little soul with an overripe imagination in that he was the boy from Mercury and thus had make believe powers too. I rememberprtending that I was from another plannet myself at that age. I wore a round glass fish bowl on my head as a space helmet. I started doing this in April 1974 after my dear Italian/Australian uncle died suddenly. He was about to talk to my daddy about getting me in to soccer full time and out of silly footy. My teacher thought it was cute that I was now listening in class so I could gather information about earthlings. This was in part fueled by the TV-series "Dr Who". For some reason, I even took care to keep my school unniform easpecially tidy. -- Patrick

Anthony

Created: July 29, 2003
Last updated: August 1, 2003