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    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»Movies - 1960s
    Movies - 1960s Movies - W 2 Mins Read

    Wonderful Life (1964)

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    After losing his job as an entertainer on a cruise ship, Johnnie (Cliff Richard) and his backing band (The Shadows) are cast away in the Canary Islands where they encounter a film group on location. Johnnie is hired as a stuntman in a tale of a sheikh’s daughter and the legionnaire who loves her, and his friendship with timid leading lady Jenny (Susan Hampshire) has a dramatic effect.

    The happy-go-lucky pop musical had been dealt a big blow in 1964 by the release of The Beatles‘ endlessly innovative and iconoclastic A Hard Day’s Night.

    Yet the winsome formula continued to rear its sweetly smiling head throughout the decade. Elvis Presley‘s efforts became increasingly embarrassing, but there was enough here from Cliff Richard and The Shadows to suggest they might have enjoyed greater movie success away from the cloying confines of family entertainments such as this one, in which they rescue Susan Hampshire from tyrannical Otto Preminger-esque director Lloyd Davis (Walter Slezak).

    The highlight, if that’s the right word, is a song-and-dance history of the movies.

    A tiny part in the film was given to Miss Israel (Aliza Gur). Released in some markets as Swingers Paradise. 

    wondefullife7

    Johnnie
    Cliff Richard
    Jenny Taylor
    Susan Hampshire
    Lloyd Davis
    Walter Slezak
    Hank 
    Hank Marvin
    Bruce 
    Bruce Welch
    Brian 
    Brian Bennett
    John 
    John Rostill
    Jerry
    Melvyn Hayes
    Edward
    Richard O’Sullivan
    Barbara
    Una Stubbs
    Douglas Leslie
    Derek Bond
    Miguel
    Joseph Cuby
    Senior sheikh/Scotsman/Harold
    Gerald Harper

    Director
    Sidney J Furie

     

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