The Young Ones

The Young Ones (1961)

Its Wonderful to be Young

Nicky and his friends find that their youth club is in danger of being flattened to make way for a new office block unless they can come up with £1500 to pay the new owner, the ruthless property tycoon Hamilton Black. To help raise the cash, Nicky records a song and his friends broadcast it via a pirate radio station, touting him as "The Mystery Singer" - the plan works and interest in their up and coming show is heightened by this new but unknown heart-throb. But Nicky has an even bigger secret and one that he cannot share, even with his girlfriend Toni... Hamilton Black is his father.

Date of release
1961-12-19
TMDB
6.1 / 10 (14)
Runtime
1h 48m
Genres
Comedy, Music
Director
Sidney J. Furie

Casting

Interesting facts

The Young Ones is a 1961 British comedy musical film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Cliff Richard, Robert Morley as his character's father, Carole Gray as his love interest, and the Shadows as his band. The screenplay was written by Peter Myers and Ronald Cass, who also wrote most of the songs. Herbert Ross choreographed the dance scenes. Its soundtrack spawned numerous hits, including the title track.

Production

This was Cliff Richard's third film, following Serious Charge and Expresso Bongo. Producer Kenneth Harper hired Sidney J. Furie as director and Ronald Cass and Peter Myers as writers, and during a meeting in Harper's flat, the four agreed to borrow the storyline of the film musical Babes In Arms (1939), where youngsters Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland put on a show with their friends to raise money.

The film was originally intended to feature the Shadows in acting roles, but it was decided that more professional young actors needed to be cast instead, so the roles originally intended for Hank Marvin and Jet Harris were given to Richard O'Sullivan and Melvyn Hayes, while the Shadows themselves appear only as non-speaking band members.

A number of actresses were considered to be Cliff Richard's co-star. An early suggestion from the film's choreographer Herbert Ross was New York performer Barbra Streisand. Harper flew to New York and saw her in a show, but did not think that she was suitable. Another early consideration was German singer and actress Heidi Bruhl, while Richard himself in an interview expressed an interest in engaging the very young Helen Shapiro for the role.

In May 1961 it was announced that a 21-year-old actress from Ilford in Essex, Annette Robinson (aka Robertson), would be the female co-star, but within weeks the part was given to Carole Gray, a dancer known for her roles in West End theatre musicals, while Robinson was given the smaller role of Barbara. When Carole Gray sings in the film, it is

actually the voice of Grazina Frame, who also provided the singing voice for Lauri Peters in Cliff Richard's next film Summer Holiday (1963).

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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