Vacances d'été

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

It truly is incredible to think a film so good was made so long ago. Incredibly clever scenes were created with such limited special effects available, and the camera quality is watchable. The politics have not stood the test of time. From the border line kidnapping of women that attracts them to the men, to the lack of any pocs that aren't maids, there are serious 'room for improvements'. Although this does not really excuse the behaviour, I do think it's important to remember the period this was made in and not criticize the entire film for that. The songs may be the best bit, but after you watch it they will not leave your conscious mind for at least a month - you have been warned. With such and array of happy and sad songs, it may have one of the best musical numbers of that decade. All in all, it's a great film that everyone should watch at least once in their life.

Summer Holiday finds British pop sensation Cliff Richard cast as a London bus driver who along with three of his mates take a London double-decker bus to Europe and outfit it as a sleep in. If it's successful they want to get a franchise for a fleet of them. Nice entrepreneurship if nothing else. His mates just happen to be the members of the band who back him up.

There are so many numbers in this film that it would qualify as a full blown musical very much along the lines of what Colonel Tom Parker was arranging for Elvis Presley to star in. Personally after seeing two of Richard's films I think he's stylistically more like Ricky Nelson or Frankie Avalon. But the film is an Elvis type musical with a British twist.

Richard's a pleasant enough singer, but Presley beats him as an actor by light years. In his second film the very serious Expresso Bongo, Richard had his best role as essentially playing himself.

The budding entrepreneurs pick up Lauri Peters who was a performer herself and running away from her domineering mother Madge Ryan. If I had a mother like Ryan I'd run away too. Ryan chews two or three sofa beds in her performance, one of the most outrageously overacted I've ever seen. Second to her is Ron Moody who plays a French mime whom the boys pick up while making their trip from France to Athens. The presence of these two people show that like Presley in the USA, Cliff Richard's managers are making sure he gets good support in his films.

After doing up a London double-decker as a sort of mobile home, Don and his friends set out to travel across Europe for a fantastic summer holiday. Along the way they pick up a group of English girls and a young boy. However when the young boy turns out to be a missing female celebrity the group find themselves getting into many adventures as her agents try to keep her 'missing' for as long as possible to get her the headlines. Meanwhile, Don has his own problems as the self confessed 'bachelor boy' finds himself falling in love.

Given that the cassette soundtrack to this film was officially 'the first album I ever bought', I took the chance (for the first time since then!) to watch the actual film again. With the thinnest of connections to the Olympics (the group's destination is Athens) this film was screened during the day of the opening ceremony of the 2004 games and I took the opportunity to video it for later viewing. The film was pretty much what I expected it to be in that it was cheesy, silly and not that good – just what you would expect from a pop musical of the period that aimed to be nothing more than inoffensive family fun. The plot is basically a road trip with a very obvious romance acting as the driving force for a series of amusing antics and pop songs. None of it is very good but it is reasonably OK and is worth seeing as a piece of fun.

The antics are not that funny but they have a great sense of 'clean fun' – hard to describe but easy to get into if you are in the mood for it. Of course, modern, more cynical audiences will find it a major turn off but it is quite fun in a very basic sense. Likewise the songs are hardly great and can be best described as 'clean' and 'wholesome' with the odd one being memorable or catchy but mostly them just doing the job and nothing more. The cast also fit with this 'clean fun' family ideal and the plot never dares suggest that a bus load of young men and woman would do anything alone in cramped rooms around Europe! Heck – one of the guys even complains about the number of girls on the bus – sorry? what?! They fall into pure, clean love and that's about it, with the cast never doing more than smiling. Complain all you want though, about his appeal to older fans, but Cliff Richard was a consistent presence in the UK charts and here he shows that he has a real light, natural charisma that suits the film perfectly – he is hardly giving a great performance but he is well suited. Hayes provides some laughs but the rest of the guys are a bit lame while the women are represented with sexless and poor performances from the flat Peters and the 'too smiley by half' Stubbs.

So no, it isn't a good film but it is good, clean family fun that may suit you for an afternoon viewing. The songs, the tone and the cast are all cheap and light – not adding anything to the thin plot or material but they suit a film that tries to be nothing more than family fun and, as such, it is rather enjoyable even if I should really know better.

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.