1963 Directed by Lance Comfort
A young postman, who fronts a pop group, dreams of being bigger than The Beatles. They record a demo tape, but things seem to be going pear shaped when he loses the tape. There is also his father to contend with who thinks he's wasting his time with all that pop music nonsense.
Sing and Swing
UKU
UK
Forget the nothing of a plot, which features a young David Hemmings trying to get places with his band, and just enjoy the numerous musical interludes.
Gene Vincent! The Outlaws! Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen! Heinz! This has cool 1960s written all over it. Directed by Lance Comfort and filmed at Pinewood, this mainly showcases acts produced by effects whizzkid Joe Meek (which explains the echo factor on the theme song and some of the other routines).
Squint at the drummer in Heinz's band, by the way: that's Steve Marriott who went on to become a pop star in The Small Faces and Humble Pie. And that lanky lad playing guitar in The Outlaws grew up to be Ritchie Blackmore.
A slice of historical cheesecake.
I have lovely Letterboxder Sharon L. to thank for introducing me to Talking Pictures TV, the channel for obscure and long forgotten films from yesteryear on Sky channel 343. Thanks to that tip off I watched this today, a British teen movie showcasing the music of one of my heroes, the great Joe Meek, and his many performers.
As with a lot of these quickies capitalising on the music of the day, the plot plays second fiddle to the pop star turns. A young David Hemmings stars as Dave Martin is a GPO despatch rider with a dream to make it big in the pop world with some of his mates down at the depot, including Meek star signing Heinz…
Giving it another star upon second viewing because it’s really not awful, just weird. Thanks, Joe Meek, for going into films, and everyone else for actually making it work
By no immodest margin versatile filmmaker, Lance Comfort's ludicrously likeable 'Live it up!' remains one of the perkiest, pop-tastic teen movie rave-ups Britain ever produced! This pop-packed 60s gem is given additional lustre by the presence of future Giallo icon, David Hemmings, hard rocking Humble Pie legend, Steve Marriot, and Ed 'Skippy' Deveraux delivers a credible performance as the stolid, fair minded patriarch of twitchy, pop-seeking son, Dave (David Hemmings). The score is exemplary, featuring outstanding contributions from, Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen, Sounds Incorporated, Gene Vincent, Patsy Ann Noble, The Outlaws, and bottle blonde rocker, Joe Meek protégé, Heinz Burt is in fine voice for the 'Smart Alecs' rousingly toe-tapping theme 'Live it up!'.
Remarkably well acted, with supremely engaging…
Every single time I hear a Joe Meek tune I think my earbuds are on the fritz. Great fun though, and short enough for its silliness not to annoy. There were some highly entertaining staged musical sequences - primo ridiculous dancing plus the dodgy saxophone shadows of the Jazzmen, the Outlaws pretending to be painters and decorators and Gene Vincent bizarrely cleaning a giant steam engine pretend-driven by a lady wearing a lampshade (was this the Mary Quant part?) And even more entertaining hair, especially Heinz & his gal's, & Jennifer Moss's (suddenly blonde, and then suddenly isn't- oops continuity!) . I rather liked the producer's snarky assistant, too.
