Vacances d'été

I hate it when people review films like the "High School Musical" series as if they're supposed to be "Citizen Kane," so I'm happy to see that the reviewers here took "Summer Holiday" for what it was - teen fun in the sun with lots of music, dancing, color, and a plot so thin you could barely discern it.

It stars that British phenomenon, Sir Cliff Richard, who has the distinction of having top ten hits in the U.K. for every decade through the '90s and today, in his seventies, is still touring and selling out venues. Yet he barely made a ripple here in the states, with the exception of "Devil Woman" and "We Don't Talk Anymore." The story concerns three lads who fix up a double decker tour bus and travel through Europe, picking up three young women whose car has been damaged, plus a runaway (Lauri Peters) and later a St. Bernard dog along the way. The runaway is actually a well-known American singer disguised as a boy, and her mother tries to make it look as if she's been kidnapped in order to get publicity.

Strangely Lauri Peters is American and was the original Broadway Liesl in the Sound of Music - she sounded about as American as Queen Elizabeth. She is a wonderful singer and didn't get to show off her voice enough in this film.

There's a nice exuberance in this film and some very upbeat musical numbers. Richard, a huge teen idol, was adorable and still looks great, in fact. For biggest selling musical artists in the UK, Richard ranks third behind the Beatles and Elvis.

Supposedly the British Elvis, if one thinks of Richard that way, he comes in a poor second. There was only one Elvis, and Richard needs to be taken on his own abilities. He lacks the oozing sexuality in presence and voice of Elvis, though he considered Elvis his absolute inspiration. He could dance better than Elvis, and his singing is sweet and polished, with none of Elvis' passion. And had Elvis not been under the thumb of Colonel Parker, we would have seen more evidence of Elvis' ability as an actor, which was definitely there. Richard's? Handsome, magnetic, a wonderful presence, but acting, not so much. Had Elvis lived drug-free and lasted longer, he would have enjoyed Richard's amazing longevity. Strangely, Elvis had a spiritual bend, as does Richard, and Elvis was known for being a gentleman, as is Richard.

However, all that being said, Richard's films Summer Holiday and Wonderful to be Young and Elvis' films have things in common, two things especially: they were geared to young audiences and they were megahits. Enjoy. Enough said.

In the late fifties and early sixties Cliff Richard was widely regarded, at least in Britain itself, as our answer to Elvis Presley. Both were handsome, dark-haired rock-and-rollers who also ventured into acting, generally in lighthearted musicals designed to showcase their music. There was, however, one major difference. In the early part of his career Elvis was a surprisingly controversial figure whose overt sexuality meant that he was widely denounced in the media and from the pulpit as a degenerate influence on the nation's youth. Nobody ever denounced Cliff; even before he publicly came out as a born-again Christian in 1964 he was widely regarded as a wholesome, clean-cut young man who appealed not just to Britain's youth but also to their parents. (And, in my case, even to my grandmother who ranked "Congratulations" as her all-time favourite pop song).

"Summer Holiday" was one of a number of musical comedies from this period starring Cliff and his backing group, The Shadows. Cliff plays Don, one of four young London Transport bus mechanics who persuade their employers to lend them a double-decker bus which they convert into a holiday caravan. They set off for the continent, originally intending to holiday somewhere in the South of France. They change their plans, however, when they meet a trio of young female singers who are trying to make their way to a gig in Athens. Realising that the girls' clapped-out old car will never make it that far, the boys chivalrously agree to change their plans and to take the girls to Greece. They are also joined by a teenaged American boy named Bobby.

Five boys and three girls seems a rather uneasy recipe for a romantic comedy, even if Don seems uninterested in love and romance, declaring in song his intention to remain a "bachelor boy until my dying day". The odds are evened, however, when Bobby (real name Barbara) is revealed to be a girl in disguise. It turns out that Barbara is a successful pop singer who is running away from her overbearing mother, and this revelation is enough to make Don rethink his commitment to lifelong bachelorhood. The film then follows the four boys and four girls on their journey from France to Greece, via Switzerland, Austria and Yugoslavia, singing appropriate songs at each stop. 1960s Yugoslavia would, on the evidence of this film, seem to have been a rather primitive place, a backward peasant society which had not changed much since the 1360s.

The music is mostly cheerful sixties Britpop, although there are occasional ventures into other genres. "Bachelor Boy" shows the influence of folk music, "Really Waltzing" is a parody of Viennese operetta and "Foot Tapper" the sort of instrumental number in which The Shadows specialised. In "Let Us Take You for a Ride" the lyricist achieved the difficult feat of turning a report on the mechanical condition of a motor-car into a witty number. "The Next Time" is a wistful ballad which, like "Foot Tapper" and the title song, got to number one in the British charts, although today it is less well known than "Bachelor Boy" which was released as its B-side.

The film was a major hit in Britain, grossing more at the British box office than any other film of 1963 except the Bond film "From Russia with Love". It was not, however, a success in America, partly because it opened there two days after the Kennedy assassination but also because the "British Invasion" of American pop culture did not really start until the following year. That invasion was very much spearheaded by the Beatles, and Cliff, along with the other leading figures of the pre-Beatles British rock scene, was never really part of it. Even after 1964 he only had one big American hit, "Living Doll".

Today, "Summer Holiday" might seem to be of historical interest only except for those old enough to remember Cliff Richard in his heyday, for whom it will also have nostalgic value. I must admit that I am not quite old enough to fall into this group, but even so I found a lot to enjoy in it; it is good-natured, tuneful and often amusing. Quite honestly, I found that it stands up better today than do a lot of those Elvis musicals from around the same period. 7/10

Summer Holiday has the distinction of being the first film I saw on TV which I had previously seen during its first run at the cinema. That little black and white TV picture wasn't half as good as the big widescreen colourful film at the cinema.

But the film was always fun. Naive fun, to be sure, but fun nevertheless. An undemanding plot carries just enough dramatic tension to hold together the travelogue across Europe, the leads perform adequately, and the songs contain several classics (The Next Time is one of the all-time great ballads, and the Parthenon setting does it spectacular justice).

Cliff's movies were, for the most part, entertaining, and an important part of a career where he has always tended to keep moving. A shame that his most recent move has been providing free holiday accommodation for Teflon Tony and Cruella.

Redefines family entertainment. I had totally forgotten about this mini-musical until I came across it on the IMDb just five minutes ago, whilst looking for something else that I really don't care about now.

Dear old Sir Cliff! What a time to be 18/19! I was actually just 17 when this came out and so hopelessly in love with my cousin there WAS nothing else in my life at the time. God was feeling charitable towards me in those days and orchestrated events so that she happened to come to my hometown and stay over. I asked her to go to the local theater with me and we sat in the back row watching this film....least SHE did, I had other things on my mind! What does the plot matter? Cliff as a bus driver taking his friends (Cliff's backing group - The Shadows...how odd I can remember those names...Jet Harris, Tony Meehan and Hank Marvin....and I haven't even thought about them for forty years!) on a European vacation and picking up girls on the way - between songs of course.

God! I'd like to see this again! I still have the original 45 rpm release! (for those of you could really care).

If you didn't like the story, of which there was very little, you would have enjoyed the songs and the sheer teen exuberance of the whole idea - going on a summer holiday tour in an old London double-decker.

In my case, it was just the right amount of medicine for a thirteen-year old with bad case of angst and weltschmerz. I felt the song "The Next Time" was all about me. At the time Cliff Richard was the British counterpart of Pat Boone - clean cut, a little naughty sometimes but generally a "good boy." No parent complained about him.

Cliff's songs were very big hits in my country and we made good although somewhat senseless use of his "Bachelor Boy." As senior scouts we went camping at Mount Makiling, the former site of a World Scouting Jamboree. At 10:00 p.m. after taps when all lights should be out and everybody should be asleep, we would sing it boisterously and a scoutmaster would go up our camping ground, a long way from the tourist lodge where he was staying, to scold the delinquents into piping down. Only he didn't know it was us because the boys from other schools in the other tents never squealed on us. They must have enjoyed our singing.