WHEN THE QUIFF WAS KING

 

Front cover of my official VHS sell-thru videocassette of When The Quiff Was King (© Ashley Sidaway/Best of British Films and Television Ltd/M.C.E.G. Virgin Vision (U.K.) Ltd – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 26 September 2022, nursing a pounding headache that evening, I decided to relax by watching not a movie as such but instead a recently-purchased VHS sell-thru video compilation. Created by Ashley Sidaway, released in 1990 by M.C.E.G. Virgin Vision, and with a running time of 55 minutes, it was entitled When The Quiff Was King, which contains a diverse selection of no fewer than 26 song-featuring scenes from classic British rock'n'roll movie musicals from the late 1950s and the 1960s.

Some of these movies, such as various Cliff Richard ones like Summer Holiday and The Young Ones, are still famous today, whereas others like These Dangerous Years (starring Frankie Vaughan), Tommy the Toreador and It's All Happening (two longstanding favourites of mine, both starring Tommy Steele), and The Ghost Goes Gear (Spencer Davis Group), somewhat less so.

Yet all of them in my eyes – and ears – remain just as fantastic today as they were way back then, when they were the soundtrack to my youth. So I felt the years (not to mention my aches and pains!) slip away as I watched and listened to them, drifting back to the golden age of my childhood when I had my family around me, with so much of my life and theirs still to experience, and long before mobile phones and the internet (wonderful inventions though they are) had appeared on the scene.

Instead, there was music with melodies, foot-tapping rhythms, and lyrics that actually rhymed – remember them? And unforgettable performers like The Shadows, The Hollies, Billy Fury, Lulu, Dusty Springfield, Freddie & The Dreamers, Shane Fenton (who reinvented himself in the 1970s as Alvin Stardust), and Lonnie Donegan, not forgetting of course the various other artists already mentioned by me above. And as all of these, plus many more, are present on this superb video compilation, I was guaranteed a very enjoyable, nostalgic evening of superb sound and vision. Bliss!

Such a shame, therefore, that at least as far as I'm aware, this wonderful compilation has never been re-issued on DVD – but if like me you still own a VCR, and if again like me you hanker back to British rock'n'roll at its very best, be sure to look out for it online, as it quite often appears for sale at reasonable prices on various internet auction sites.

Meanwhile, however, you can get a free taster of what to expect by clicking here to view on YouTube a mini-compilation of excerpts from When The Quiff Was King.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

Back cover of my When The Quiff Was King video, providing a complete listing of the 26 song-featuring clips contained on it – please click picture to enlarge it for reading purposes (© Ashley Sidaway/Best of British Films and Television Ltd/M.C.E.G. Virgin Vision (U.K.) Ltd – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

JUST FOR FUN

 

American publicity poster for Just For Fun (© Gordon Flemyng/Amicus Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 22 November 2022, I watched one of those quite numerous early 1960s British juke-box-style teen musicals in which a minimal, largely incidental storyline links together a sizeable number of pop performances by big music stars of the day. I have a fair few of these nowadays largely-forgotten movies in my DVD collection, and the one that I watched last November and am now reviewing here today is Just For Fun.

Directed by Gordon Flemyng, and released in 1963 by Columbia Pictures, Just For Fun is an 85-min-long b/w film (segments from it have subsequently been colourised) whose story, such that it is, is about how Britain's dissatisfied teenagers (is there any other kind??) launch their own political party, the Fun Party, headed by Mark Wynter's lead character, Mark, in order to win the forthcoming general election – which, incredibly, they do!

But like I say, in typical teen movie musical style most of the film consists of song performances (presented in lieu of dull speechifying as the Fun Party's bright and breezy election campaign, and with the movie's title song serving as their campaign song!), by notable UK acts, including the afore-mentioned Mark Wynter, plus The Tornados, Jet Harris & The Jet Blacks, Joe Brown & The Bruvvers, Brian Poole & The Tremeloes, The Springfields (featuring Dusty), Cloda Rodgers (she later changed her name's spelling to Clodagh), Kenny Lynch, Lyn Cornell, and Karl Denver. There are some big-name USA singing stars appearing here too, such as Bobby Vee, The Crickets, Ketty Lester, Johnny Tillotson, and Freddy Cannon.

Aptly, Just For Fun also features some lively turns from a number of great British comedy actors and actresses, including Irene Handl, Richard Vernon, Hugh Lloyd, and Frank Williams (the vicar in Dad's Army, not the F1 boss!). A stand-out, laugh-outloud performance is provided by the ever-wonderful Dick Emery, who plays four different judges on the panel in a hilarious Juke Box Jury spoof, including a young proto-punk memorably named Neil Sadistic, whose nomenclatural similarity to Neil Sedaka was entirely coincidental, I'm sure...

This movie musical's presenter/narrator, who also features extensively throughout it, is none other than famed DJ Alan Freeman (who still spoke in such a posh accent back then that when he introduced Cockney rockers Joe Brown & The Bruvvers, he insisted, amusingly, upon pronouncing 'Bruvvers' as 'Brothers'!), with fellow DJ David Jacobs appearing too (Jacobs was the host of the real Juke Box Jury TV show, and gamely did the same in best poker-faced manner within this movie's spoof version). But speaking of DJs… the only downside to a very enjoyable, relaxing 1960s music medley of a movie is the mercifully brief appearance of a third DJ, a certain white-haired cigar-chomping unmentionable & unspeakable freak in the role of compère at a party event – but I'm sure that a little careful editing could remove his loathsome presence from future releases of this film.

 

Australian publicity poster for Just For Fun (© Gordon Flemyng/Amicus Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

So yes, except for that, Just For Fun certainly lives up to its name, and showcases a very starry array of performers, as well as some fine, tuneful songs – but which for the most part were apparently specific to this movie rather than being released for the pop charts. One notable exception, however, consists of Bobby Vee performing his smash hit 'The Night Has A Thousand Eyes', which had reached #3 in the UK Singles chart in late 1962.

A video clip featuring him singing this song appears prominently on YouTube, but I'd never realised until now that it had featured in this movie (I think I'm right in believing that it had actually originated as a Scopitone promotional video for this song). So click here to watch said video of Bobby Vee, and here to watch an official Just For Fun trailer on YouTube.

Moreover, at the time of my posting this review here at Shuker in MovieLand (but for who knows how long afterwards?), if you click here you can actually watch Just For Fun in its entirety on YouTube for free! So do so while you can! Or, if you'd prefer simply to view (and listen to!) the song performances, here are links to some of them currently accessible on YouTube:

Click here for Mark Wynter & co performing this movie's title song (colourised).

Click here for Mark Wynter performing 'Vote For Me' (colourised).

Click here for Mark Wynter (with Cherry Rowland) performing 'I'm Happy With You' (colourised).

Click here for Bobby Vee performing 'All You Gotta Do Is Touch Me'.

Click here for Brian Poole & The Tremeloes performing 'Keep On Dancing'.

Click here for Cloda(gh) Rodgers performing 'Sweet Boy'.

Click here for The Crickets performing 'My Little Girl'.

Click here for The Crickets performing 'Teardrops Fall Like Rain' (colourised).

Click here for Freddy Cannon performing 'It's Been Nice (I Gotta Get Up Early In The Morning)'.

Click here for Jet Harris & The Jet Blacks performing 'Man From Nowhere'.

Click here for Joe Brown performing 'Let Her Go'.

Click here for Joe Brown & The Bruvvers performing 'What's The Name Of The Game' (colourised)

Click here for Johnny Tillotson performing 'Judy Judy Judy'.

Click here for Kenny Lynch performing 'Monument' (NB – no visuals from movie)

Click here for Ketty Lester performing 'A Warm Summer Day'.

Click here for Lyn Cornell performing 'Kisses Can Lie'.

Click here for The Springfields (featuring Dusty) performing 'Little Boat'.

Click here for The Tornados performing 'All The Stars In The Sky'.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

Colourised still from Bobby Vee's performance of 'The Night Has A Thousand Eyes' on Just For Fun (© Gordon Flemyng/Amicus Productions/Columbia Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

 

THE LADY IS A SQUARE

 

Publicity poster for The Lady is a Square (© Herbert Wilcox Productions/Embassy Pictures/Paramount Pictures/StudioCanal/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Associated British-Pathé/Loew's Inc – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

During December, I always watch more movies than any other time of the year, because this is the month that for me contains both the Christmas holiday period and my birthday, and last year was no exception. I've already reviewed here on Shuker In MovieLand some of my watched movies from December 2020, so here is another one, which I viewed on 28 December – The Lady is a Square.

 It was on the British retro-movies TV channel Talking Pictures that I watched a rare vintage British comedy musical that even I'd never heard of before, despite the fact that I very much like this specific movie subgenre. Directed by Herbert Wilcox, made in glorious b/w, and released in 1958, it was entitled The Lady is a Square, and featured an infectiously catchy title song that was also new to me.

The Lady is a Square stars the late great Frankie Vaughan as upcoming popular singer Johnny Burns (with Anthony Newley as his long-suffering agent Freddy), who takes a job as a butler in a swanky London town house owned by Mrs Frances Baring (played by Anna - later Dame Anna - Neagle in her very last film role), partly because he needs the money but mostly because he is extremely attracted to Mrs Baring's pretty daughter, Joanna (Janette Scott).

However, whereas Joanna secretly likes popular music, her mother despises it, being a resolute lover of classical music only. So Johnny has to keep his singer lifestyle and in turn his love for Joanna (which is mutual) hidden from Mrs Baring – especially as she is struggling financially and her one chance of making some money, by funding a series of what she hopes will prove to be very lucrative concerts featuring a renowned Russian conductor, is falling apart. Needless to say, the secrets all come tumbling out eventually, and Mrs Baring is further angered by the title and theme of Johnny's hit record, assuming (wrongly) that 'The Lady is a Square' is a direct, denigrating reference to her.

But this movie is a musical, and a light-hearted comedy musical at that, so naturally it all works out well in the end. Moreover, in the closing scene Mrs Baring even reveals that she is something of a groovy hip-chick herself!

If I'm honest, I'd never realised just how good a singer Frankie Vaughan was. I'd hitherto known him only from his 1961 UK #1 single 'Tower of Strength', which, imho, is hideous - a kind of semi-yodelling horror that sets my teeth on edge whenever I hear it (yodelling singing should be left strictly to Frank Ifield and Slim Whitman). But in this movie, his vocal performances are extraordinary, and not just limited to pop songs either – his version of Handel's majestic aria 'Ombri Ma Fu' (backed by the National Youth Orchestra) near the end of the movie is superb.

The Lady is a Square also features some famous British actors in supporting roles These include Wilfred Hyde-White (best known as Colonel Pickering in the movie version of the smash-hit stage musical My Fair Lady); John Le Mesurier (Sergeant Wilson in the long-running UK TV show Dad's Army as well as countless other British TV and movie roles); and Kenneth Cope (forever remembered as murdered private detective Marty Hopkirk's white-suited ghost in the cult British supernatural TV cop show Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), which originally ran from 1969 to 1970, and was retitled as My Partner the Ghost when screened in the States).

If you'd like to see the swinging finale from The Lady is a Square when Anna Neagle's elegant Mrs Baring finally gives in to her long-suppressed inner rhythm alongside a very young Anthony Newley's bespectacled Freddy (plus music by Newley, although this song doesn't actually appear in the movie), please click here; and click here to listen to Frankie Vaughan singing the movie's extremely catchy title song.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!

 

THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL

 

Official video for The Little Matchgirl (© Michael Custance/HTV/Picture Base International – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for reproduction purposes only)

Exactly a year ago today, on Boxing Day 2019, I had just finished watching a chance discovery on YouTube that was both festive and thoroughly charming, yet, tragically, is all but forgotten nowadays. Indeed, although I'd heard of it. I never expected to ever see it.

I refer to The Little Matchgirl (aka The Little Match Girl), directed by Michael Custance, the 1986 TV film version of Jeremy Paul and Leslie Stewart's 1975 stage musical Scraps, which resets Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale in a Dickensian Christmas where the action and songs all take place in and around a London square. Yet despite starring such luminaries as Sir Michael Hordern (who introduces the movie) and Stratford Johns (as the Rich Man), The Who's lead singer/actor Roger Daltrey (Jebb Macklin, the little matchgirl's widowed father), model-turned-actress Twiggy (singer Josie Roberts), and veteran British comedian Jimmy Jewel (the Rich Man's butler), as well as introducing Natalie Morse in the title role, if known at all today it is due entirely to one particular song featured in it.

For when this song was brought to the attention of a certain Cliff Richard in 1988, it was instantly recorded by him (albeit with somewhat altered, more religious lyrics), and became not only the UK's Christmas #1 single for that year but also the bestselling single in the UK for that entire year. The song? 'Mistletoe and Wine'.

As for the movie, this is both moving and entertaining, and special mention must go to Russell Lee Nash, who plays the little matchgirl's slightly older friend Arthur with delightful Cockney charm. Equally, plaudits are due to Roger Daltrey, who plays her father, once quite the dandy but now, as described in the title of a song sung by him in the movie, reduced to a ragged man, near-penniless and an alcoholic, on account of his continued grief at the death of his wife, the matchgirl's mother.

Anyone who has read the original fairy story knows what a poignant tale 'The Little Matchgirl' is, and that it does not end happily (although a brief upbeat finale has been tagged onto it here in this movie musical), and the film retains this semi-tragic quality throughout. However, it is interspersed with several joyful and magical musical segments, and deserves very much to be revived on television, to become as much a festive favourite as The Snowman and The Wizard of Oz.

I am very happy indeed to have discovered The Little Matchgirl, a veritable gem of a film musical that was even nominated for an International Emmy in 1987, and so will you be if you watch it. So here is a clickable link to the entire movie as currently viewable for free on YouTube. I have since succeeded in purchasing it on DVD – it was earlier released on video too, as seen in this review's opening picture – so that even if it suddenly vanishes from YouTube, I shall still be able to rewatch it whenever I choose.) Finally: beginning at 43 min 53 sec into the movie is the original version of 'Mistletoe and Wine', featuring this song's nowadays rarely-heard, rather more secular lyrics than those in Cliff's modified version.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!

 

CATCH US IF YOU CAN & WHAT A CRAZY WORLD - A COUPLE OF CULT BRITISH ROCK 'N' ROLL MOVIES FROM THE 1960S

The official DVDs that I own for Catch Us If You Can and What A Crazy World (© John Boorman/Anglo-Amalgamated/Warner Bros. Pictures / (© Michael Carreras/Capricorn/Warner-Pathé Distributors – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

I returned to my childhood last weekend by watching a couple of cult b/w British teen/rock'n'roll movies from the 1960s on DVD.

The first of these was Catch Us If You Can (retitled Having A Wild Weekend in the USA), which was the first movie directed by John Boorman, and was released in 1965. It stars one of my all-time favourite British bands, London's totally awesome Dave Clark Five, who were also exceedingly popular across the pond in the States (hence this movie's release there too). However, expecting a light-hearted romp akin to some of the Beatles movies and containing a sizeable number of their very popular hits, I was disappointed at how few DC5 songs actually appear in it (other than its two title songs), as well as by how oh-so-serious and deep this movie tries so hard to be, only to come across instead, at least imho, as frequently po-faced and pretentious.

Its plot sees the boys play TV stuntmen who become disenchanted with their unrewarding, unappreciated jobs, resulting in Dave's character Steve going awol in a stylish E-Type Jaguar with Dinah, a TV meat advertisement's beautiful starlet (played by Barbara Ferris), followed by the other boys, with Dinah's agency in hot pursuit of all of them, and everyone becoming entangled in all manner of unexpected situations en route to a small island that Dinah is thinking of purchasing. True, there are a few attempts here and there to inject some much-needed comedy into the proceedings (especially the scenes featuring Robin Bailey and the always-wonderful Yootha Joyce as a pair of unhappily-married, constantly-bickering socialites who become temporary hosts to absconding Steve and Dinah). Yet in my view even these often seem half-hearted or laboured.

Knowing how jovial and genial the DC5 always appeared (most especially their very personable lead singer Mike Smith) in their many interviews and guest appearances on numerous TV shows during their 1960s heyday, however, I certainly do not believe that the fault for such perceived shortcomings in Catch Us If You Can lay in any way with them. Instead, I personally feel that it stemmed from this movie's basic concept – apparently striving to be highbrow, rather than simply settling for humorous, like most movies in this particular genre tend to be.

Nevertheless, it's still great to know that this superb band are forever preserved in feature-length movie format at the height of their much-deserved fame and popularity, during the exciting decade of the Swinging 60s that I grew up in and which they so extensively helped to define musically. Moreover, Dave Clark himself is unquestionably one of the most influential figures of all time in British music.

The official DVD for Catch Us If You Can that I own (© John Boorman/ Anglo-Amalgamated/Warner Bros. Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

The other movie was What A Crazy World, directed by Michael Carreras, released in 1963, and set in London's East End. Adapted for the big screen from an earlier stage play by Alan Klein, it stars British rockers Joe Brown and Marty Wilde in their heyday, alongside Susan 'Bobby's Girl' Maughan as well as Freddie and the Dreamers, plus a number of familiar British character actors – most notably Michael Ripper who plays multiple characters, all of whom are put upon somewhat amusingly by the unruly local youth contingent.

Thankfully, this film follows the much more traditional comedy-propelled course for such flicks, and also features a sizeable selection of specially-written songs. Unfortunately, however, with the sole exception of the very catchy title song (which was a minor hit in the UK singles chart for Joe and his backing band the Bruvvers), they are all instantly forgettable, as indeed, sadly, is the film itself to a large extent.

The plot revolves around working-class family the Hitchenses, with likeable if feckless youth Alf Hitchens (played by Joe Brown) very much an initially work-shy Jack the Lad figure, much to the disgust of his belligerent father (Harry H. Corbett), and made even worse by the hero-worship that Alf receives from his younger brother Joey (Michael Goodman). Alf's friends are equally irresponsible, especially the ostensibly loveable but invariably troublemaking layabout Herbie (Marty Wilde), none of which pleases Alf's on-off girlfriend Marilyn (Susan Maughan). Needless to say, however, after a few spills (and fewer thrills), it all turns out right for these Cockney salt-of-the-earth geezers and birds.

What A Crazy World is certainly a pleasant enough film for whiling away 85 minutes, but, as noted earlier, is mostly unmemorable, except for the scenes featuring Marty Wilde, and only then because of how huge he appears, towering over all of the other stars like a latter-day Lemuel Gulliver in a London-based Lilliput! Although I've always been a fan of his music, I had no idea that he was so tall!

In summary: although I'm glad to have watched both of these movies hailing from my very distant past, the ineluctable truth revealed from having done so is that nostalgia's simply not what it used to be! But don't let that stop you from checking them out for yourself, by clicking here to view and listen to the title credits scene and track for Catch Us If You Can, and here for a What A Crazy World trailer.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE! 

The official DVD for What A Crazy World that I own (© Michael Carreras/Capricorn/Warner-Pathé Distributors – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)