Live It Up!

Forget the plot. Forget the acting (which isn't that bad). I finally found a remastered DVD of this film in excellent quality. I acquired the title track "Live it Up" on a 45 by Heinz, which made me want to see this movie. I love Joe Meek's music anyway, but to have clips of some of his stars (I don't care that they're miming) plus Gene Vincent!! well it makes this short film well worth having a look at.

It's short enough that you won't get bored if you're not really keen on the trivial amateurish story lines they had in these types of movies. The music interupts it regularly anyway.

Search out the DVD as the commentary is also worth listening to. A wonderful period piece, no doubt!! I gave it a 9 just because of its wonderful feel as well as the great music and the rarity of seeing any footage of these early 60's singers & groups.

Sit back & enjoy!!

I saw this movie in 1964 at the local theatre when I was 14 years old. Its about a bunch of young British teens who want to form a rock band. No doubt the Beatles were an inspiration for this movie and one of the players mentions the Beatles by name in one scene. Nobody in America had heard of the Beatles when this film was made. The plot is pretty forgettable. What I really enjoyed most was the musical numbers that would come up every few minutes. The two groups I remember most were The Outlaws and Sounds incorporated. They were instrumental bands and the two numbers performed made an impression on me as the sound was so very indicative of British pop music of this time.I was always big on pop music from England and there are many fans out there who would really get a charge out of the musical sequences. As a matter of fact Sounds Incorporated opened up for the Beatles during the 1965 Shea Stadium concert.For fans of this specialized kind of pop this movie is a must. I wish I could remember the other acts in this movie. The musical numbers are well staged and the movie has a good professional feel about it. At last check this film is not available in video. Too bad. Its all but forgotten really.

David Hemmings and three other GPO Express riders form. Band and try to make a go of it, despite the doubts of his father, Ed Devereaux.

Lance Comfort directs the first of two movies he did, with a thin plot eked out to length by many musical acts. The story, such as it is, takes up perhaps 40 minutes, while a pop music piece by various 'guest artists' range from a fine blues number "Hand Me Down My Walking Shoes" to a Dixieland version of Mozart, with stops in between at bubblegum pop. Cameraman Basil Emmot shoots the musical numbers in a wide variety of looks to lend them some individuality.

Comfort, Hemmings and Emmot would team up again a couple of years later for a similar movie, BE MY GUEST.

As someone who lived through it, I am mortified to read some of the history of British rock and roll. It did not start with The Beatles. At the time that this film was being put together, The Beatles were just gathering their phenomenal momentum. And - although Cliff and the Shadows, Jet Harris and Tony Meehan and Helen Shapiro are omitted - this is what the British rock scene was like. There are some familiar people here: Australian actress/singer Patsy Ann Noble, Heinz from The Tornadoes is the singer in David Hemmings's band. Also watch out for cult band The Outlaws which contains Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, and Chas Hodges from Chas and Dave.

Some people think that all the music is by Joe Meek. Although the film is a must for Joe Meek fans, I know for a fact that Patsy Ann Noble was under contract to Norrie Paramor at EMI. So far as I am aware, she had no connection with Joe Meek at all.

If the story of the film is good or bad, and if the bands are miming, who cares? The film is a time capsule, and a look at a British pop industry that was about to undergo a huge revolution and would never be the same again.

Since I was only four in 1963 the actor who's presence in this film is for me most evocative of the early sixties is dear old Peter Glaze from 'Crackerjack'. But there's someone for everyone to watch out for in this agreeable time waster by veteran director Lance Comfort; including Kenny Ball and Patsy Ann Noble (stars of Pinetree Studio's 'Don't Give Me That Jazz').

And of course there's the 21 year-old David Hemmings, already capable of carrying a feature film on his young shoulders while convincingly playing a teenager.