What a Crazy World
- ️Thu Dec 05 1963
| What a Crazy World | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release quad poster |
|
| Directed by | Michael Carreras |
| Written by | Alan Klein |
| Edited by | Max Benedict |
|
Production
|
Capricorn [Michael Carreras Productions] |
| Distributed by | Warner-Pathé Distributors |
|
Release date |
|
|
Running time |
88 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £9,000[1] or £121,191[2] |
What a Crazy World is a 1963 film directed by Michael Carreras, co-written by Carreras and Alan Klein and based on the latter's stage play.[3] The pop musical features various late 1950s and early 1960s musical performers such as Joe Brown, Marty Wilde, and Susan Maughan,[4] and also includes an appearance by Freddie and the Dreamers, with Klein playing a minor role as a comrade of Brown's and Wilde's characters.
Unemployed working class lad Alf Hitchens has an on-off relationship with his girlfriend Marilyn Bishop whilst attempting to break into the music business by selling a self-penned song that describes heavy issues in his personal life. Michael Ripper appears in several cameo roles bemoaning the "bleeding kids" he encounters.
- Joe Brown as Alf Hitchens
- Susan Maughan as Marilyn Bishop
- Marty Wilde as Herbie Shadbolt
- Harry H. Corbett as Sam Hitchens, Alf's father
- Avis Bunnage as Mary Hitchens, Alf's mother
- Michael Ripper as Common Man
- Grazina Frame as Doris Hitchens, Alf's sister
- Monte Landis as Solly Gold, Doris' boyfriend
- Michael Goodman as Joey Hitchens, Alf's brother
- Jessie Robins as fat woman
- Freddie and the Dreamers as Frantic Freddie and The Dreamers
- Fanny Carby as Dolly
- Larry Dann as Chas
- Brian Cronin as Harry
- Barry Bethel as Dave
- David Nott as Lenny
- Alan Klein as Jervis
Kinematograph Weekly called the film a "money maker" at the British box office for 1964.[5]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The British 'New Wave' rides again, with Michael Carreras clambering incongruously on to the Joan Littlewood band-wagon in this would-be "musical with a difference", which turns out to be merely an amalgam of pop music, "Cockney sparrer" and teenage clichés. East End locations, Otto Heller's skill with a camera, an intermittent crude zest and a few amusing moments cannot compensate for the repetitive banality of the dialogue, the paucity of wit, the dullness of the musical numbers, and the tedium of the romantic interest. The direction is coarse and without flair, the performances are mostly indifferent (except for Marty Wilde's effectively loutish Herbie), and in general this is a tasteless and charmless entertainment, though it might just possibly appeal to those 'bleedin' kids' so constantly apostrophised throughout the film."[6]
Leslie Halliwell said: "Unsurprising star musical, quite lively of its kind."[7]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "With Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard making movies, it was only a matter of time before Joe Brown would have a go. The result is an amiable but outdated musical that is still worth catching to see Brown and the Bruvvers, Freddie and the Dreamers, Susan Maughan and Marty Wilde at the height of their powers. The longueurs between the musical numbers, which the more generous might call the plot, are distinctly dodgy."[8]
The film was released by Network Video July 2014 with the original theatrical trailer.
- ^ Bruce G. Hallenbeck, British Cult Cinema: Hammer Fantasy and Sci-Fi, Hemlock Books 2011 p. 145
- ^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 360
- ^ John Walker (ed) Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 2000, London; Harper Collins, 1999, p. 900
- ^ "What a Crazy World". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ Altria, Bill (17 December 1964). "British Films Romp Home – Fill First Five Places". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 9.
- ^ "What a Crazy World". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 30 (348): 174. 1 January 1963. ProQuest 1305823323 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 1103. ISBN 0586088946.
- ^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 1012. ISBN 9780992936440.