In the wake of the recent death of the Pacemakers' lead singer Gerry Marsden, I've been listening lately to some of the recordings of the group and decided to look in on this, their debut and indeed only feature.
Released in the considerable slipstream of the Beatles' hugely successful "A Hard Day's Night", in truth, the Pacemakers' popularity, like that of many other Merseybeat bands of the time, was already on the wane as the Liverpool sound was overtaken by tougher, more R 'n' B / blues / rock-based sounds from other parts of the country of the likes of the Animals, Rolling Stones and Kinks, to name but three and indeed by mid 1965, they had already enjoyed what would turn out to be their final top 20 hit either here or in the States.
Made on a low budget in black and white, the film is short in duration and even then is considerably padded out to extend its running time. This is manifest in the obvious insertion of a local song contest, featuring two other local acts, who both get a song to sing, the Fourmost and Cilla Black as well as a mini-set by the Pacemakers themselves to finish.
The plot, what there is of it, makes much of lead singer Gerry Marsden's cheeky face and sunny disposition. He's given a pretty young girlfriend, daughter of a rich, out-of-town businessman with all the trappings of financial success (country house with butler, fancy car with chauffeur etc) presumably to contrast with our kid's working class background, staying as he is in his aunt's flat and zipping down to art college on his little motorbike. But of course Gerry's real talent lies in music so that any chance he gets, he hooks up with his three band mates to make music wherever they happen to roll up, be it on a coffee break at the local toilet-manufacturing factory where one of them works, a nearby record shop when they're buying some new instruments or even at the big fancy house of Julie Samuel's monied father. These appearances are usually accompanied by a group of screaming, adoring young fans, mostly teenage.
It's all very light and undemanding, the group attempting the comedic naturalism in their speaking part of their more famous city rivals but ultimately falling short and being reduced to unfunny slapstick, saying "fab" and "gear" whenever they can and generally mugging at the camera. The plentiful original songs are brief, bright and energetic but ultimately lightweight apart from the excellent change-of-pace title song which has deservedly worn well down the years. While it was welcome also to see the local sites of Liverpool at the time, including a rare glimpse of the vaunted Cavern, it was likewise unpleasant to clap eyes on the disgraced disc-jockey Jimmy Savile compering the closing talent competition.
The film can't escape its cheap, rushed cash-in feel but it's impossible to dislike. I understand it often went out originally as the second feature on a double-bill with that other film mentioned above and it does pale considerably on all levels in comparison, but it's still probably better than the bland music-related films the likes of Cliff Richard and even Elvis were churning out at the same time.
