Apart from a minor role as a delinquent in "Serious Charge", Cliff Richard made a splashy debut as Bert Rudge (a teenage singer, what else) in "Expresso Bongo". It had originally been a successful play on the West End - a biting satire on the music industry. It was voted the Best Musical of the Year. Paul Schofield had the Laurence Harvey part and James Kenney (who had the lead in a pretty nasty J.D. drama, "Cosh Boy") played Bert Rudge. The music was clever and wordy and inspired by song writers like Noel Coward. One song "The Gravy Train", had Shakespearian quotes while in another, "We Bought It", two shopaholics are described as "two eccentric socialites, dissipated sybarites". The play's depiction of Bert Rudge as a talentless idiot obviously had to be changed. Cliff Richard was Britain's latest singing sensation and couldn't be portrayed in that way. So, most of the songs had to go, to be replaced by ones written by Norrie Paramor (who wrote and produced most of Cliff Richard's hit songs).
From the beginning, this film is designed to cash in on Cliff Richard's rising fame. The opening credits feature the names of the stars - then Cliff Richards' picture appears on a juke box. The rest of the credits really evoke the sleazy, seedy atmosphere of Soho. Johnny Jackson (Laurence Harvey is absolutely fabulous) is a hustler par excellence, and you are taken on a guided tour as he talks and hustles his way around the coffee clubs. Maisie (a fantastic performance by Sylvia Sims) drags him to a "beat club" where he finds singer and bongo player, Bert Rudge, and proceeds to build him into the latest singing sensation - as "Bongo" Herbert. Johnny is also Maisie's manager, but so far he hasn't been able to lift her out of the sleazy strip club, where she is a featured performer. She has a secret ambition - she wants to be an opera singer!! "Bongo" is taken under the wing of Dixie Collins, an almost over the hill singer, who genuinely wants to help him but is bitter when he is given a singing engagement instead of her.
The film really slows down when Harvey takes a back seat in the last half - Cliff Richard, at this stage in his career, just didn't have the talent or charisma to hold viewers interest. Susan Hampshire, who was in the West End production of the play, may have "played the upper class twit to a T" (as one reviewer says) but she was a much beloved British actress who was Queen of Classic British TV. I can first remember seeing her in the television series "Katy" (1962), based on the "What Katy Did" series of books. She even made another film with Cliff Richard, "Wonderful Life" (1964) but the series that started the television ball rolling for her was "The Forsythe Saga", in which she played Soames' spoilt, willful daughter Fleur. After that it was almost as if she was forbidden to come into the 20th century with shows like "Vanity Fair", "David Copperfield", "The Pallisers" and "The Barchester Chronicles".
Recommended.
From the beginning, this film is designed to cash in on Cliff Richard's rising fame. The opening credits feature the names of the stars - then Cliff Richards' picture appears on a juke box. The rest of the credits really evoke the sleazy, seedy atmosphere of Soho. Johnny Jackson (Laurence Harvey is absolutely fabulous) is a hustler par excellence, and you are taken on a guided tour as he talks and hustles his way around the coffee clubs. Maisie (a fantastic performance by Sylvia Sims) drags him to a "beat club" where he finds singer and bongo player, Bert Rudge, and proceeds to build him into the latest singing sensation - as "Bongo" Herbert. Johnny is also Maisie's manager, but so far he hasn't been able to lift her out of the sleazy strip club, where she is a featured performer. She has a secret ambition - she wants to be an opera singer!! "Bongo" is taken under the wing of Dixie Collins, an almost over the hill singer, who genuinely wants to help him but is bitter when he is given a singing engagement instead of her.
The film really slows down when Harvey takes a back seat in the last half - Cliff Richard, at this stage in his career, just didn't have the talent or charisma to hold viewers interest. Susan Hampshire, who was in the West End production of the play, may have "played the upper class twit to a T" (as one reviewer says) but she was a much beloved British actress who was Queen of Classic British TV. I can first remember seeing her in the television series "Katy" (1962), based on the "What Katy Did" series of books. She even made another film with Cliff Richard, "Wonderful Life" (1964) but the series that started the television ball rolling for her was "The Forsythe Saga", in which she played Soames' spoilt, willful daughter Fleur. After that it was almost as if she was forbidden to come into the 20th century with shows like "Vanity Fair", "David Copperfield", "The Pallisers" and "The Barchester Chronicles".
Recommended.