Other than the justly celebrated films of Cliff Richard and The Beatles, British pop musicals of the early 60s are not highly esteemed. They are generally seen as having been blatantly derivative at the time and hopelessly dated now. If "Summer Holiday" and "A Hard Day's Night" represent the very best of this somewhat narrow genre it is likely that "Every Day's A Holiday" would be considered - if at all - as one of the very minor also-rans. Having watched a recent repeat of this film, however, I found it highly entertaining. In essence it is a Cliff Richard film without Cliff, who is replaced, insofar as he can be, by John Leyton, a young actor-turned-pop star (and sometime Joe Meek protege). As in the Cliff films, the musical numbers are strung along a purposely lightweight romantic plotline, and both Ron Moody and Richard O'Sullivan are held over from the Cliff entourage. The cinematography, courtesy of a young Nic Roeg, makes this film a pleasure to watch, and the musical numbers, if undistinguished by the high standards of The Beatles and Cliff, are enjoyable. As in so many films of this period, the choreography - performed by an accomplished dance-troupe - betrays the unmistakable influence of "West Side Story". The likeable cast includes Mike Sarne, Grazina Frame, Liz Fraser, Nicholas Parsons, the late Michael Ripper and the late Hazel Hughes. Sarne (improbably but effectively cast as a young aristocrat-about-town, Tim) vies with the decently working-class Gerry (Leyton) for the attentions of the no less high-born Christina (Frame). Disappointingly for sociologically-minded film buffs there is only the most superficial investigation of the class issues inherent in the situation, but, of course, this is entirely as it should be in an escapist entertainment of this sort. (Indeed, in the naively optimistic mood of the mid-60s, class was starting to be perceived as not especially problematic, with an overall youth culture transcending such ancient barriers.) Unlike Gerry, who is hopelessly smitten, the vain and self-regarding (but strangely appealing) Tim casts his romantic net rather more widely, notably demonstrating - albeit with somewhat qualified success! - the "beatnik approach" to wooing. His dalliance with holiday camp manager Mr Close's (Charles Lloyd Pack) ripely sexy secretary Miss Slightly (Liz Fraser) prospers somewhat better, given her enthusiasm for sex (made evident early in the film), and her equally evident eventual inebriation. Indeed, in its rather innocent way, "Every Day's A Holiday" is pre-occupied with sex (as distinct from chaste romance) to a far greater degree than most of the youth films of the time; certainly far more than the Cliff films that it otherwise resembles. Most noteworthy among its various set pieces is a mind-bogglingly brilliant and surreal sequence featuring Freddie and the Dreamers as chefs. Nicholas Parsons plays a pretentious and overwrought TV director, first cousin, so to speak, to Victor Spinetti in "A Hard Day's Night", although from internal evidence (an allusion to Harold Macmillan during a bingo game), "Every Day's A Holiday" would seem to be the earlier of the two films. In addition to the "in-house" performers and Freddie and the Dreamers, there is a fleeting appearance by The Mojos. Despite the presence of these two bands, however, the ethos of the film is more Cliff/Shadows/Meek than Merseybeat. Highly recommended.
