Sing and Swing (1963) Poster

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7/10
Fascinating pre-Beat document
meeksville5 July 2004
This movie dates from the pre-Hard Day's Night era when Britpop movies were less concerned with a cohesive plot than simply assaulting the senses with as many potentially chart-making musical numbers as possible. It is particularly interesting because of the high ratio of musical numbers written and/or produced by legendary British maverick pop mogul Joe Meek, including songs by Heinz, Gene Vincent, Kim Roberts, Andy Cavell & The Saints and Coronation Street actress Jennie Moss as well as some of the background music. Too many people think of the British Invasion as starting with the Beatles in 1964; this movie showcases an earlier version of it and is a valuable document as such to anyone genuinely interested in studying the rise of popular music, fashion and teenage attitudes in Britain in the early 1960's.
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6/10
What British Rock Music Was Like Before The Beatles
loza-111 July 2005
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.
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6/10
charming film of British pop music made during Beatlemania
kiljanja22 June 2000
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.
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"Nostalgic fun!"
jamesraeburn200326 January 2004
The late David Hemmings plays teenager Dave Martin, a postman who fronts his own group called The Smart Alecs who dream of being bigger than The Beatles. They record a demo tape at a recording studio to take to the record companies, but things seem to be going pair 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.

A minor British pop musical made at the height of Beatlemania. There are some well staged musical numbers from Kenny Ball & The Jazzmen who perform Hand Me Down My Walking Shoes, Heinz sings the title song and Don't You Understand while Patsy Ann Noble's in there too with Accidents Will Happen. The direction by Lance Comfort is smooth while the musical numbers are composed and arranged by the legendary British pop producer Joe Meek who made hits such as Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton, Just Like Eddie by Heinz and Have I The Right by The Honeycombs. All in all nostalgic fun!

I bought this film on video in Oxford just before Christmas on the same day that the press announced David Hemmings had died! Incidentally, the cast includes Nancy Spain and the film was shown at our local cinema on Grand National day in 1964 when my father saw the film - the day that Spain was sadly killed in a car crash.

Live It Up was followed by a sequel, Be My Guest, which is in the same dated but entertaining and nostalgic vein as this one.
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6/10
Take a peak at Meek
MartynGryphon16 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
There is always a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I have to watch, (and then review), a British musical. Let's face it guys, we absolutely suck at this kind of thing and we always have as this 1963 offering shows.

Live It Up was basically an opportunity for maverick producer Joe Meek to showcase his rostrum of stars on film. Meek's major successes were already behind him by this time, but he remained a prolific songwriter and record producer (although totally tone deaf by all accounts), recording and releasing records from his makeshift studio/flat on the Holloway Road from the early 1960's through to his murder/suicide death in 1967.

His records and artists seldom bothered the charts with the notable exceptions of songs like Telstar, Johnny Remember Me and A Tribute to Buddy Holly.

By the time Live It Up was released in November 1963, his style of, shadows style rock and roll and bubblegum pop was well past it's sell by date, supplanted over the course of the year by the beat style music of bands such as Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Hollies and four other guys from Liverpool, whose name escapes me at the moment.

The plot is quite forgettable and mostly uninteresting, but the treat here IS actually the music, mostly performed by Meek's entourage of talent. Notably missing from this star line up of Meek artists is John Leyton who at the time of filming was off making a low budget escapey movie with some guys called Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.

A very young David Hemings takes the lead role, whose band 'The Smart Alecs' are looking for their big break. They record a demo which Hemings subsequently loses leading to discontentment within the ranks. As the focus of the movie was the musical acts, the plot didn't really have to be anything more complex than that I guess.

Heinz Burt is also placed front and centre. Heinz had been the bass player in the Tornados at the time of their monster hit 'Telstar' and Meek was....ahem....'grooming' him for stardom, despite his awkward stage presence and distinct lack of any talent whatsoever.

In addition to Heinz and Hemmings, you can also catch sight of some fledgling stars right at the start of their careers that before too long would all become musical superstars in their own right. Such as Steve Marriott, (later of the Small faces and Humble Pie), Mitch Mitchell, (Later drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience), Chas Hodges (Chas and Dave) and an 18 year wunderkind guitar GENIUS named Ritchie Blackmore (later of Deep Purple/Rainbow/Blackmore's Night).

Whilst Marriott and Mitchell both show off some credible acting chops, Hodges and Blackmore are strictly musical acts, only seen performing with Meek's preferred 'house band' The Outlaws. Sadly, they only appear in one scene, (although their music is heard throughout), but at least we get to see the slick haired Blackmore give us a masterclass in some 'I need to go the toilet' dancing.

These rising stars get to wave as they pass by another artist whose star was very much on the wane at this time in the form of the already ailing Gene Vincent performing the OKish Meek penned song 'Temptation Baby'

Trisha Noble (billed here as Patsy Ann Noble), gives us a couple of punchy numbers and watching her songs are definite highlights of this early 1960's time capsule, especially the catchy earworm 'Accidents Will Happen'. Also along for ride is the very fine, yet distinctly out of place Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.

There's no getting around the fact that this film was dated even before the first foot of film was in the can, but it's a harmless watch, and the music is great, (if you like British pre-Beatles Rock n Roll and American style bubblegum pop). However, the film will leave you with one unanswered question.....

If you have Steve Marriott in your band, why in the name of all that's holy would you ever let Heinz Burt sing?

Enjoy!
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1/10
A 1963 Look At The UK's Swinging 'pop' scene/showcase/story
psp77710 December 2006
Quite a weird one this! Maninly revered for the Joe Meek production of pop, appearances of Steve Marriot, David Hemmings, Gene Vincent, and Meek's understudy 'Heinz'.

Squeaky appearance of the girl who played Lucile Hewitt in Coronation Street around the time, as well as an appearance of Peter (Crackerjack!) Glaze ! Yes really!

Its a mish-mash of pop songs of the time, and follows a shallow story line of a guy who is in a band called "The Smart Alecs" & works for the Post Office! who loses a tape that his band makes but is accidentally found by a producer - the story is small fry compared to the delights of the performers popping up, including Gene Vincent.

A real wacky short film, that catches the imagination.
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6/10
Mixed Semi-Revue Musical
boblipton29 May 2023
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.
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5/10
Smart Alecs
richardchatten7 November 2019
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.
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3/10
Lightweight and dull showcase of British pop music pre Beatles
geoffm6029517 April 2022
I found this film very hard going to watch, as the songs went from mediocre to awful. The thin, tedious storyline of some lads working for the GPO wanting to get into the pop music scene, together with the dire acting, left me totally underwhelmed. This was 1963, before the Beatles wave of music filled the radio airwaves, and frankly it wasn't before time, as British pop music was frankly yawn inducing. This is a cheaply made film, and it shows, directed by Lance Comfort, where scenes are cobbled together to act as a prelude to pop artists like Patsy Ann Noble, Heinz and Helen Shapiro, all warbling forgettable songs. I even spotted Gene Vincent, an American relic of the 50's early rock and rollers, who by 1963, was past his sell by date. He had a few hits, but by the early 60's, his style of rock and roll music had became unfashionable to teenage audiences. The only singer of note, was Helen Shapiro, who had a great singing voice, but she deserved a much better showcase to display her vocal talents as opposed to appearing in this very low grade film.
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9/10
wonderful 1963 UK rock-and-roll film, with David Hemmings and distinctive Joe Meek music, but not for all tastes!
django-125 March 2005
I've been watching some of the US (dating before Hard Day's Night) rock and roll movies over the last few months, and this UK effort from 1963 is much better than virtually all of them. First, it's very well acted and the script is full of little details that make the characters seem real--the Dad who works the night shift and rides on his son, but privately hopes that the son proves him wrong and stands up to him; the Mom who once had been an entertainer of some sort and understands her son's need to perform, but is also grounded in the real world; the hilarious American TV and film producer who is a tasteless and boorish man (kind of like Jack Palance's character in CONTEMPT but funnier) yet incredibly creative in his own strange way (a shame he didn't arrive on the scene 30 years later, he could have worked for the Fox Network!). David Hemmings does a fantastic job as the young messenger-service worker who buys all the music magazines, practices the guitar, listens to records all the time, and has the burning desire to play rock and roll. UK singing sensation and Joe Meek protégé Heinz Burt, whose records I always enjoyed (and who sings a few songs here), handles the acting well also as a member of Hemmings' band (as is a young Steve Marriott). As for the music, well, how much do you like Joe Meek's patented other-worldly production sound? I played my fiancée a few of the songs, and she asked "is that sea of echo and all the distortion intentional?" Yes is the answer. Meek also wrote virtually all the music in the film, including one number sung by Gene Vincent (I thought I had most of Vincent's records, but I sure as heck do not have this Meek-produced song, which Vincent sings while polishing some huge steam-powered locomotive or something, and while flirting with a young lady). Some of the female Meek vocalists are a little imprecise in the intonation department, and on the whole the rockers work better than the ballads, which tend to be of the moon/June variety. But the rockers are incredible, including the title track, LIVE IT UP, which is performed a few times in the film. Some of Meek's fine instrumental units perform too, and it's fascinating to see a world depicted where the musical backdrop is produced by Joe Meek. It's like some kind of alternate universe. My copy is a few generations removed from a UHF TV broadcast in the early 80's (probably the last period when one could see something like this on TV), and it also sports the much less interesting US release title SING AND SWING. For any fan of Joe Meek or of David Hemmings, this is an amazing film, and as an American I find the depiction of the up and coming British rocker quite convincing. I wish that I had seen this film as a child back in the 60s--I didn't see it at all until the late 1980's. It is crying out for a DVD release. Fans of 1960's rock and roll films should track this one down...
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4/10
Cheapo musical
Leofwine_draca26 March 2020
Warning: Spoilers
LIVE IT UP! is another one of the light musical dramas that did the rounds in the UK in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This one's by cheapie specialist Lance Comfort and boy, does it feel cheap. A series of mildly toe-tapping numbers from long-forgotten singers and groups are interspersed amid a mild and totally unengaging plotline involving David Hemmings and his biker gang and their loves and relationships. It's dry stuff and utterly insignificant, although perhaps worth a look for genre aficionados (if there are any).
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8/10
Take it for what it is, you'll then have no problem! **Spoilers**
naseby19 May 2017
Warning: Spoilers
David Hemmings stars as the lead in a light-hearted look at the new teen revelation of bands starting up and wanting to taste stardom. You know, the days BEFORE X-Factor and Britain/America's Got Talent, where the realities of trying to get your foot in the door in the music industry involved gigging in backwaters in your beaten-up old van etc., were the norm, before today's 'kids' think they can get automatic stardom themselves via the social media and the erstwhile progs I mentioned. Dave and chums (including a young Steve 'Small Faces' Marriott and the upcoming, but not-really-made-it-big, 'Heinz'(Burt))form a band, have the odd-parent not believing in them, all along holding down the day-job (they're all GPO delivery bike riders, before the minimum waged Eastern Europeans took over). They try their best to get, rather cheesily, contacts by sticking their necks out as best they can by freak introductions with studios bosses and record producers, etc., etc. Nice, fair acting of excitable kids trying to make it big, having to say to 'Dad' : 'We can make it' etc, when 'Dad' would rather promise 'getting Hemmings a 'proper job' at his Hotel!

I have to say, that although many of today's 'kids' would laugh at how awful the music is, this really lets you into a world as it was THEN and in that ilk, it's an eye-opener, or something we had forgotten.

This could, in these days of 'kids' wanting the quick avenue to celeb status, be remade.

As I say, take it for what it is, as one reviewer says a 'time- capsule' and you'll not really want to judge it. Capture and take in its innocence and you'll love the way it comes across, love its atmosphere etc! Got to be seen. Somewhat similar and 'revisited' with Hemmings playing the same character in 'Be my Guest' (Just two years later) where he creates angst with the chums in his band. Worth your time on that wet Saturday or Sunday afternoon!
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9/10
Wonderful time capsule!
boppinjohn5 September 2007
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!!
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It Makes you want to cringe
Fiona-3922 September 2003
Good God, this shows us why the British film industry was never really going to be able to rival Hollywood. I kind of liked the bizarrely unmotivated musical numbers - especially one scene which featured abeehived girl in a rather fetching synch waisted dress but the plot was contrived in the extreme. The scene with his father was handled with an admirable restraint, but on the whole this film is just too embarrassed, too self-conscious, too aware of its own limitations. Hard to believe this comes from the same decade as Blow-Up - far more savvy about fashion and 'swinging' London
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9/10
one of the perkiest, pop-tastic teen movie rave-ups Britain ever produced!
Weirdling_Wolf16 March 2023
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 performances from, David Hemmings as the avid music fan, GPO delivery boy, wannabe rocker, Dave Martin and his adorably gobby cockney Sparra chum, Steve Marriott is a hoot! While dramatically sound, the real buzz of 'Live it up!' is the undeniably fabulous, eminently frug-worthy, wall-to-wall spaced-out echo-delic sounds of eccentric D. I. Y music impresario, Joe Meek. I strongly predict future cult status for the fiendishly frothy, exhilarating 'Live it up!' It would be remiss of me if I failed to highlight, David Bauer as the serially scheming Mephistophelean producer, Mark Watson, who makes Kevin Spacey's sadistic, Buddy Ackerman in 'Swimming With Sharks' look like a timorous tadpole!
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