Finders Keepers on DVD

[drakula63]

Watched it only last week. Good film; just as much fun as Summer Holiday and with some great songs. I enjoyed it.

[Fenderman]

Wonderful Life was a rather odd film, it didn't seem to have much of a plot but was saved again by some good songs and the Shadows managed more screen time than the previous two films.
I wish The Shads had done their own full length feature, a comedy would probably be best suited to them, they could written all the music as well.

[anniv 63]

I might be in the minority but , on all Cliff/Shads films nowadays, I skip everything on the DVDS bar the music.
Same goes for stuff like Gonks Go Beat, Catch us If You Can (DC5) etc.
Still at least actors such as Kenneth Connor, Frank Thornton, Peggy Mount, and others got a paid gig!!!

Mike

[Moderne]

It all depends on your frame of mind when you start watching the film. If it's, "This is a period piece of 'teen' entertainment with some good songs", you'll probably enjoy it. If you view the films at all critically as pieces of high art - they're rubbish! Pete Townshend summed it up well in his interview for Mike Read's "Story of The Shadows" (which was then recycled in most of their tour programmes of the 80s!) where he talked about "one of Cliff's horrible films" and asked why didn't the film-makers realise that all the kids wanted to see was the band performing their songs - not the phoney pop-pap. Personally if it was a wet Sunday afternoon and I noticed that The Young Ones (or any of the others) was on BBC2 and I had nothing else to do, I would sit back and enjoy it - even though I must have seen it a dozen or more times over the years.

Incidentally, does anyone know anything about a fifth Cliff/Shadows film - probably in 1967? I remember reading an interview with Brian Bennett (I think it was with Rob Bradford in Pipeline) where he recalled a planning meeting at which he requested that he got killed off in the first scene because "I'm very busy and I've got better things to do"! Obviously the film never happened - but I've always wondered how far down the line of plot, possible songs etc. they got with it before it was shelved.

[iefje]

Bruce talked about the current activities in July 1967 on the "Top Of The Pops" radio show (just before they played "Jigsaw") and at the end of the sentence he said "...and then we start writing the music for Cliff and The Shadows' new film".
As a fan of also The Who, I've seen a lot of interviews with Pete Townshend and he has made other strong remarks too. Indeed the one about Cliff & The Shadows' film "Wonderful Life", but also about early stereo recordings of The Beatles of which he called the backing tracks 'flippin' lousy'. He also made remarks once about Led Zeppelin's music. He is good mates with their members, but never really liked their music.

[Fenderman]

Pete Townsend said in an interview he never liked Led Zeppelin, he said he should like but didn't!
Also, i wonder why John Paul Jones turned down the offer to join the Shadows? I'm sure the money would have been better than the session fees he was being paid at the time.

[iefje]

I don't think John Paul Jones turned down the offer, but Hank, Bruce and Brian didn't think his image would fit The Shadows' image. He did of course play bass guitar on quite a few of Jet Harris & Tony Meehan's Decca recordings and also on a couple of recordings for Cliff's EP "Congratulations".

[drakula63]

...and, of course, some geezer by the name of Jimmy Page played harmonica on the song 'Time Drags By'. I wonder whatever became of him...?