Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter

I have always loved Herman's Hermits, and I really liked this movie. I don't suppose that I would have liked it when it first came out because it would have been bunched in with all of the other `rock' musicals of it's time, trying to compete for the `young' in-crowd. Nevertheless, as I look at it now, I see it as a charming film from another era.

The plot itself is very interesting and different. It is not your typical `garage band goes to the big city and gets discovered' type of film. They are looking for fame and fortune by way of the champion Greyhound, Mrs. Brown. The rock band thing was just a side interest in this film, much different from other rock musicals of its time. Other `rock' star films of that era were used merely as a publicity showcase for the band to play their music. This film actually had a decent story with some music in it.

The cinematography was fabulous in this film. If for anything at all, you should watch it for this aspect alone. I enjoyed the whole film, but the ending was a bit vague. I was able to figure it out after a while, but it jumped from scene to scene without smooth transitions of ideas.

I was ten years old when the British Invasion reached the shores of North America in 1964, and I was fourteen when the Hippie Revolution took-off in 1967-68. I think this Herman's Hermit movie was a bridge between the two time periods. It reminded me of how the Monkees attempted to jump from the mod to the flower power era during the second season of their TV series.

I was crazy about the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Gerry & the Pacemakers and the Dave Clark Five, but I always looked down at Herman & his pals as an overly cutesy girl band. My sisters, Pat & Barb, loved them. However, I found myself rather enjoying this film for many reasons. One thing that stands out is that it is moodier than one would expect from Peter No one. I also enjoyed the scenes with the lads trying to earn money as construction workers. Most of all I liked seeing the Hermits (without Peter) getting down with some semi-hard tunes in a London night club). It seems to me that the Hermits toured my native Wisconsin in 1977 as an instrumental group.

After all of these years I have come to have more of an appreciation for Herman's Hermits and their calmer, happier brand of British Invasion music. This movie could very well be the swan song of a cooler time before we got caught up in Viet Nam, Norhern Ireland, campus demonstrations, drugs, race riots and the rest.

I wonder if any our British counterparts out there have any idea where I could get a copy of Gerry and the Pacemakers movie, FERRY ACROSS THE MERSEY? Thanks, mate

By 1968 Herman's Hermits had become passe to their teenybopper fans, so it is not a surprise that this picture was barely released. It was one of the last of a subgenre of building a movie around a British Invasion musical group. Mrs Brown in this case was a greyhound that the band try to make into a racing champ. The redoubtable Stanley Hollaway provides some professionalism as the band's wealthy sponsor. And he just happens to have a daughter that Peter Noone takes a shine to. Do you think she will toss off her arrogant fashion photographer boyfriend to be with Noone? If you don't know the answer to that one , you haven't seen too many movies! Still this has some nice color photography and it's always amusing to see Hollywood's idea of "hippies" from the late 60's.

This movie has some fun scenes and I enjoyed some of the character actors, but it never finds a narrative drive to make it fully engaging. Still, I like seeing pieces of swinging London, as well as the parts of England that weren't swinging at all. My favorite bit is when Peter No one is running about looking for the missing Mrs. Brown, and the rest of the Hermits jam on a somewhat psychedelic number in front of a bunch of hippies grooving to the beat. It was almost like the Hermits were playing the UFO Club. Early on the advertising scenes were sort of funny but the film never follows through with this part of the story which seemed typical of the film as a whole.

...it's not. The sad thing is that there WAS an interesting (at least serviceable) idea for a rock and roll film in there, but it is hashed up with at least one too many "bright ideas". The fact that Peter No one's character is attempting to make it at an advertising firm, and that his band's is having a go at club success was more than enough. The greyhound racing scenes are immeasurably uninteresting, and the fact that the dog is actually named "Mrs. Brown" is almost beyond forbearance! But taking off from the fact that advertising is almost the precise opposite of the 60s ethos could have been fun, and would be able to expand on George Harrison's short experience with such callow types in "Hard Day's Night" to nice effect. The songs (by the talented Graham Goulding, who wrote "For Your Love" and "Bus Stop" among many more fine tunes) are not mainly his best work (although "A Kind of Hush" is perfectly decent), but they are pleasant, and - combined with the music hall performances that drift in and out of the film, the soundtrack could have been at least strong enough to support an less-crippled plot. Of course, one probably couldn't expect a trenchant (or even a tepid) satire from folks who are obviously only rushing out a product themselves, but hope springs eternal. And there are enough bad club date stories to fill fifty movies. But greyhound races take up ENTIRELY too much film space, and renders the movie almost unbearable, unless one tapes it and rushes from song to song, stopping also for Sterling Holloway, and some other such older talents. Otherwise, not recommendable.