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Jazz Boat
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Wikipedia article
'Jazz Boat' is a 1960 British musical comedy film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Anthony Newley, Anne Aubrey, Lionel Jeffries and big band leader Ted Heath and his orchestra.
Many of the cast and the same director then made 'In the Nick' (1960).
Plot
Electrician Bert Harris (Anthony Newley) boasts that he's a successful cat burglar, which leads to him getting mixed up with real thieves who need those special skills for a big jewellery heist. However, Bert was only giving them a "song and dance" about being a cat burglar, but now discovers it's too late to back out.
Cast
* Anthony Newley as Bert Harris
* Anne Aubrey as The Doll
* Bernie Winters as The Jinx
* James Booth as Spider Kelly
* Leo McKern as Inspector
* Lionel Jeffries as Sergeant Thompson
* David Lodge as Holy Mike
* Al Mulock as The Dancer
* Joyce Blair as Rene
* Jean Philippe as Jean
* Liam Gaffney as Spider's Father
* Henry Webb as Barman
* Ted Heath as himself
* Frank Williams as Man whose bowler hat is knocked off in the market
Production
It was based on a novel by Rex Rienits. Rienits later admitted he disliked writing novels but was in a career slump so decided to write a novel to sell to the movies.
Filming started 15 June 1959. A scene involving more than 200 extras was shot at Chislehurst Caves, Kent; on that night the payroll was stolen meaning they could not be paid.
Critical reception
'Variety' called it "an odd assoilment of romance, jazz, musical comedy and youthful crimeas What comes out is largely chaos although some of it is infectiously amusing. Mostly it s vague, disjointed and purposeless. Director Ken Hughes may have been making some sort of an attempt at parodv of American crime pix."[https://archive.org/details/variety220-1960-11/page/n237/mode/1up/search/%22rex+rienits%22?q=%22rex+rienits%22 Review of film] at Variety
The MFB called it "a lively, muddle headed British musical."JAZZ BOAT
Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 27, Iss. 312, (Jan 1, 1960): 32.
'TV Guide' wrote, "While imitating American gangster films, this simple picture also provides a look at the British "Teddy Boy" subcultureassome amusing situations, though none is particularly memorable"; while Leonard Maltin called it an "Energetic caper."
'Filmink' said it "starts out as a crime drama then weirdly turns into a musical (complete with dance numbers) then back into a crime drama again/"
References
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