Summer Holiday (DVD)

I have been a fan of Cliff Richard since he first started making records back on the late 1950's. My mom and dad also liked Cliff; I suppose he was wholesome and not likely to corrupt my young mind! Anyway the upshot of this is that they took me to see his early films and even queued to get tickets to see him in Blackpool one year too, but that's another story altogether! I didn't get to see Cliff's first two films (Expresso Bongo and Serious Charge) at the cinema as I would have been a bit too young to make sense of them. I was taken to see The Young Ones and then in 1963 we all went to see Summer Holiday. I am guessing that this is the best known ...  Read the complete review

I adore Japanese horror films. Anything by Nobuo Nakagawa, Takashi Shimizu and Hideo Nakata floats my boat. And yet, the film that’s been sitting at the top of my favourite film list for the last 20 years is, what some would call, a thoroughly "British" horror film. THE CLIFF PHENOMENON Frontman Cliff Richard, and his band, The Shadows, appeared in several films in the early 1960s; most notably the Young Ones, Finders Keepers, Wonderful Life and the film I’m reviewing here - Summer Holiday. To anyone under 30, it's important to point out that back in the 1960s Cliff was not the cringe-worthy oldest Christian bachelor in ...  Read the complete review

Bored at home the other day when it was raining I actually ended up watching the film for what must have been the third or fourth time, for some unknown reason I really do enjoy it even though a part of me thinks that should not. This is a musical and stars the rather young looking Cliff Richard and it is very much a showcase for his singing and dancing talents and in film terms can be seen as an attempt to rival the Elvis films that were so popular with his fans. Cast list Cliff Richard ... Don Lauri Peters ... Barbara Winters Melvyn Hayes ... Cyril Una Stubbs ... Sandy Teddy Green ... Steve ...  Read the complete review

Summer Holiday just evokes so many childhood memories for me. Now Cliff Richard makes me kinda cringe and I am almost embarrassed if he comes on television or I hear him singing. But if you see him in this film, along with the shadows, you realise what an amazing talent he was at his time - a time that has, sadly, long since passed. What a great concept, though. Group of guys get a London Bus and go on a holiday, managing to find themselves in a series of adventures, usually involving hot but virginal girls. In this day and age it would be an American Pie style sex romp but in the hands of these people it is an innocent and highly amusing movie. The London Bus to ...  Read the complete review

A firm family favourite, light-hearted and fun with, thankfully, no violence, sex and overblown special effects within. A Cliff classic with some great sing-a-long songs, lovely scenery and a heart-warming storyline which one should watch at the beginning of the summer, to put you in the ultimate feel-good mood for the season ahead. Made in 1963, the film is timeless. Cliff swooned onto the screen looking dapper and smart and one forgets quite how much charisma, charm and sex-appeal this guy had! It's not profound in any sense but simple, pure, wholesome (and somewhat nostaligic) fun about a gang of boys who take a London bus around Europe - featuring the ...  Read the complete review