What a Crazy World

OK, it was great to see a very young Joe Brown, Marty Wilde and sexy Susan Maughan but other than that it was SO dated. It is of my period but there is no way I would have paid to go and see this when it was released.

I'm sorry, but pop films of this era British or American just look like something the local school threw together with and 8mm cine camera.

The only thing I like to watch this type of film for is to see the cars of this period when I bought my first one.

An early Sixties star vehicle for Joe Brown, Marty Wilde and Susan Maughan, What a Crazy World turns out to be rather better than it might have been. As so often happened with musical films of that period, fashions had moved on by the time it was released, with solo singing stars of the late Fifties being supplanted by beat groups, led by the Beatles. The appearance here of the novelty act Freddie and the Dreamers is a harbinger of what was to come. A Hard Day's Night was released only a year later and occupies a completely different world from this film, which must have seemed quaintly old-fashioned to young cinema-goers.

However, times have moved on and we can now appreciate WaCW for its virtues, which are many. It's lively, fun, and well shot in B&W CinemaScope, and most if not all of its outdoors scenes were shot in genuine London locations, giving it a feeling of authenticity and avoiding staginess, despite its theatrical origins. It's pretty clear that none of the principals is a trained actor, but in the context of the admittedly hackneyed story this doesn't really matter. Stalwarts of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop (like Harry H. Corbett) provide a steady bedrock for the juvenile leads.

There is perhaps a little too much chirpy Cockney on show and, apart from the title number, the songs are not terribly good. Unfortunately, near the beginning of the show there is a jaw-droppingly racist sequence set in a Labour Exchange where it's made clear to the Sixties audience that foreigners (a) talk funny (b) are lazy and (c) are nevertheless after native Brits' jobs. All we can do now is gasp.

The print I saw on Talking Pictures TV was in immaculate condition and I expect that it would very good in HD.

In 1961 Michael Carreras took a sabbatical for a couple of years from, literally, his parent company Hammer Films to try his hand at something different. That he certainly did with this breezy little pop musical preserving early sixties London in CinemaScope with current pop idols Joe Brown and Marty Wilde (with Harry H. Corbett ironically playing the heroine's father, since he was on the verge of a lifetime of typecasting as the son in 'Steptoe and Son').

As a friendly nod towards his films for Hammer, Carreras brought along with him dear old Michael Ripper, whose ubiquity in Carreras's productions for Hammer inspired his presence in nine small parts throughout this film as 'The Common Man' (including as a member of the audience watching - what else? - 'The Curse of Frankenstein').

From the plot you would expect a potboiler of a film but its stars bring it to life. Harry H. Corbett (AKA Harold Steptoe) and Joe Brown are such likeable characters that you can't help enjoying the movie. Add a live performance from Freddie and the Dreamers and it just can't lose.

I watched this black and white film thinking it must have been made in 1959 - 1960 and was somewhat surprised to find it was 1963!

Perfect for those who like to look back at a London in black & white and full of bomb sites. It's the usual working class scenario of bored kids hoping to make it rich with a pop song, and parents in mundane jobs. The film is a good period piece and shows pretty much what the 60s were really like for those who think it was 'swinging' for anyone other than a select few.