It’s hard to believe now, but Capitol Records was initially uninterested in The Beatles, so some very minor US labels (Vee-Jay, Swan and Tollie) pounced on the opportunity and licensed some of their early singles from EMI. Once the group’s popularity spread to the colonies, Capitol sought control of those tracks, so Vee Jay tried to max out its investment by endlessly repackaging what little material they had.
The desperate last gasp was the truly bizarre compilation LP Jolly What! England’s Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles & Frank Ifield on Stage, pairing four Beatles tracks with eight by an Australian singer who did country-ish songs with flourishes of whistling and near-yodeling.
Aside from being used for a quick cash grab by Vee-Jay, I never knew anything about Frank Ifield and was curious who he was. Hard to believe he was popular enough in the UK to warrant the feature film Up Jumped a Swagman.
This is another of those British musical comedies made to cash-in on the popularity of an artist while they were hot. Most of those films were disposable, though they were usually a good canvas for innovative directors to get their start and put their youthful impulses on the screen.
The perfect example is the pairing of Richard Lester and The Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night. Needless to say, Swagman is not going to be anywhere near as good as that, but I am happy to report it is quite enjoyable.
Director Christopher Miles isn’t Lester, but there are a number of surprisingly clever and inventive touches here. This is a more zany affair than I was anticipating, and the closest analogy I can think of is a typical episode of The Monkees (though the music is nowhere near as good as what was in that series). The tone is gently cynical, with mild jabs at popular culture and the machinations of the pop music industry.
As for Ifield, he’s…well, he seems like he would be a really nice guy to know. Alas, he has even less personality than Pat Boone and his music has less of a genuine rock feel than even Mr. Boone’s. The best thing in his favor is I get the feeling he has a good sense of humor about himself, almost as if he knows he doesn’t warrant a feature film but is cheerfully along for the ride just the same.
The plot concerns a money-less Ifield arriving in England to pursue a singing career and a hot “It” girl. He is instead pursued by a lower-class shopgirl and he finds his interest divided.
As far as that singing is concerned, I’m not sure how Ifield was ever popular in real life, even before the sea change arrived that was The Beatles. I was also confused by how most of the musical numbers just have him singing and walking around. I never understood why anybody would want to watch a person miming to a song without anything else happening on the screen. That said, there was a surprising moment where one of these sequences is abruptly interrupted in a comical manner.
Parallel to the featherweight storyline of the struggling Ifield is a heist subplot that comes to dominate the film. You wouldn’t think these two threads would work together, yet this feels natural and is easy to follow.
I know most of what I wrote here is negative, yet this is a movie I recommend for those who enjoy The Monkees TV show. Although neither plotline here is novel, there are smart, amusing touches throughout. I get the feeling everybody involved was aiming higher than they knew was warranted for a disposable cash-grab like this.
Dir: Christopher Miles
Starring Frank Ifield, Annette Andre, Ronald Radd
Watched on Network DVD (import, region 2)