Live It Up! (1964)

Post Office messenger boy Dave Martin makes a bid for pop stardom despite the disapproval of his old-fashioned father.

You’d hardly know that The Beatles were in the process of transforming the British pop scene from some of the sounds presented in this determinedly traditional musical.

Lance Comfort was a decent director, but he was hardly cutting edge and he handles the drama as unimaginatively as he stages the songs.

Icon-in-waiting David Hemmings looks distinctly uncomfortable as the Post Office messenger who defies trad dad Herbert (Ed Devereux) to bid for the top with his band The Smart Alecs, prompting a hackneyed subplot about an audition tape and a big American producer.

Steve Marriott (Small Faces) plays the drummer in The Smart Alecs, while Dave Clark (Dave Clark Five) plays a studio technician. Ex-Tornados bass player Heinz Burt is strictly monosyllabic in the film with most of the dialogue carried by Hemmings. It was feared that Burt’s marked Southampton accent would destroy his rock ‘n’ roll mystique.

Seen only as performers are Gene Vincent, Kim Roberts, The Saints, Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen, The Outlaws (with Ritchie Blackmore), and Patsy Ann Noble.

Live It Up! – released as Sing and Swing in some markets – features cutting-edge fashions by important designers of the period, such as Mary Quant and John Stephen, who had both recently opened up shops in Carnaby Street. The hairstyles in the film were provided by Vidal Sassoon.

Hemmings and his co-stars reappeared in a follow-up film, Be My Guest – also directed by Lance Comfort – the following year.

Dave Martin
David Hemmings
Jill
Jennifer Moss
Phil
John Pike
Ron
Heinz Burt
Ricky
Steve Marriott
Margaret Martin
Joan Newell
Herbert Martin
Ed Devereaux
Kay Miller
Veronica Hurst
Barbara
Penny Lambirth
Mike Moss
Peter Glaze
Gene Vincent
Himself

Director
Lance Comfort