Half a Sixpence (1968)

the audience applauded

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Although an admitted sucker for campy 1960's British Musicals - this movie was, simply put - shocking. It's easily one of the worst films ever made. The fact that it must have cost a fortune to make, is just one of many aspects of this disaster that amazes me.Not only is Tommy Steele's performance over-the-top and irritating, I was completely pushed over the edge when he couldn't even muster up a decent fake air-guitar (to be honest, it was a banjo). All the musical numbers are, if not forgettable, completely ridiculous! (never mind lacking any harmony or rhythm). Who in their right mind would find "Flash, Bang Wallop!" a rollicking good time? All that being said, I have to admit that I couldn't stop watching this train-wreck. I eventually found myself cheering on the characters and just waiting for something even more ridiculous to happen. And man, did this film deliver.This film is a gem, like old "Happy Days" or "Threes Company" episodes. It's entertaining although I highly doubt for the reasons the producers, writer, director or actors had intended.Best enjoyed inebriated.

It doesn't seem that long ago when I saw this on the big screen complete with an intermission and a glossy programme.As a matter of fact it was the height of the "Swinging Sixties" and perhaps not the most obvious time to make a musical set in Edwardian times with an ex-fifties pop star in the lead role.The words "British" and "musical" are of course antithetical,the list of disasters and near disasters in this bastardised genre too long and too well-known to recount here.Presumably the producers hoped that by bringing in George Sidney they could breathe life into an already mouldering corpse.Sadly "Half a sixpence" was not a Lazarus-like project. The best Mr Sidney could do was to give it a semblance of life,even his considerable talents could not provide that vital spark to set the heart beating and the blood pulsing. Mr Tommy Steele,a decade earlier the archetypal cheeky cockney pop singer who was the best Britain could do in the rock n' roll industry's birth-pangs,had gamely fought his way from guitar-slinging to "family entertainer"status via pantomime and Variety bills.Shrewdly managed,he did not try to compete with the emerging "Beat Group" generation but capitalised on his broader appeal and toothy charm.Sadly it was not enough to smile and shake his blond hair a lot when it came to making a big movie, you needed that special quality that forces people to look at you rather than those round you,and he didn't have it. Watching "Half a Sixpence" is like indulgently watching your favourite nephew perform after Christmas dinner.While he chirps away merrily your eyelids droop and every so often when he gets extra loud you wake up with a start and pretend to be enjoying it. It isn't actually bad - it's just totally non-involving.The songs are blandly - if competently- performed,the dances likewise.The "Big Number","Flash,Bang,Wallop" neither flashes,bangs nor wallops. Miss Julia Foster has clearly been instructed to reign in her effervescent personality(and dye her hair so as not to rival Mr Steele's)but she still manages to be the best thing about the film. A lot of talented people did their very best to make "Half a sixpence" work.It must have been heartbreaking for them to put in so much effort to so little avail.Opening out the production from the relatively modest confines of the theatre destroyed it's warmth and intimacy.Replacing those attributes with brassiness and wide grins was,I'm afraid a retrograde step.

HALF A SIXPENCE on the London stage was good. When it came to Broadway,trimmed and faster paced, it was better. The film, therefore, was keenlyanticipated by anyone, myself included, who loved one or both versionsof the play. What a disappointment. Bloated and overlong with new andinferior orchestrations and arraingments, the film loses all the charmthat made the musical so delightful. Filters are used for no purpose (ala Josh Logan with SOUTH PACIFIC), lyrics are dumbed down to inanity,cameras are moved in and out for no reason and dance numbers areunimaginative and fall flat! The only saving grace of this mess is thedelightful Tommy Steele who starred on stage and brings his charm andcharisma to the big screen. Without him, HALF A SIXPENCE would be adisaster; with him it is simply a dreary mis-fire at the end of thegolden age of musical films.....

This is a very well acted and energetic musical. Tommy Steel and Julie Foster in the lead parts were brilliantly cast.The banjo scene in this was well choreographed, put together and acted out. To top the whole scene the banjo playing was superb.A brilliant family musical it gets a 10/10 from us. But then we are Tommy Steele fans.