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What a Crazy World
What a Crazy World
	Theatrical release quad poster
Directed by	Michael Carreras
Written by	Alan Klein
Edited by	Max Benedict
Production; company	Capricorn [Michael Carreras Productions]
Distributed by	Warner-Pathé Distributors
Release date	December 5, 1963;
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£9,000 or £121,191

What a Crazy World is a 1963 film directed by Michael Carreras and starring Joe Brown and Susan Maughan.^[3] The script is by Carreras and Alan Klein, from the latter's stage play.^[4] It is a pop musical featuring a number of late 1950s and early 1960s musical performers, including an appearance by Freddie and the Dreamers.

Plot

Unemployed working class lad Alf Hitchens, has an on-off relationship with his girlfriend Marilyn, whilst trying to sell a song he has written. Michael Ripper appears in several cameo roles bemoaning the "bleeding kids" he encounters.

Cast

Joe Brown as Alf Hitchens
Susan Maughan as Marilyn
Marty Wilde as Herbie Shadbolt
Harry H. Corbett as Sam Hitchens
Avis Bunnage as Mary Hitchens
Michael Ripper as Common Man
Grazina Frame as Doris
Monte Landis as Solly Gold
Michael Goodman as Joey Hitchens
Jessie Robins as fat woman
Freddie and the Dreamers as Frantic Freddie and The Dreamers
Fanny Carby as Dolly
Larry Dann as Chas
Brian Cronin as Harry
Barry Bethel as Dave
David Nott as Lenny
Alan Klein as Jervis

Reception

Box Office

Kinematograph Weekly called the film a "money maker" at the British box office for 1964.^[5]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The British 'New Wave' rides again, with Michael Carreras clambering incongruously on to the Joan Littlewood band-wagon in this would-be "musical with a difference", which turns out to be merely an amalgam of pop music, "Cockney sparrer" and teenage clichés. East End locations, Otto Heller's skill with a camera, an intermittent crude zest and a few amusing moments cannot compensate for the repetitive banality of the dialogue, the paucity of wit, the dullness of the musical numbers, and the tedium of the romantic interest. The direction is coarse and without flair, the performances are mostly indifferent (except for Marty Wilde's effectively loutish Herbie), and in general this is a tasteless and charmless entertainment, though it might just possibly appeal to those 'bleedin' kids' so constantly apostrophised throughout the film."^[6]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Unsurprising star musical, quite lively of its kind."^[7]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "With Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard making movies, it was only a matter of time before Joe Brown would have a go. The result is an amiable but outdated musical that is still worth catching to see Brown and the Bruvvers, Freddie and the Dreamers, Susan Maughan and Marty Wilde at the height of their powers. The longueurs between the musical numbers, which the more generous might call the plot, are distinctly dodgy."^[8]

Releases

The film was released by Network Video July 2014 with the original theatrical trailer.

References

^ Bruce G. Hallenbeck, British Cult Cinema: Hammer Fantasy and Sci-Fi, Hemlock Books 2011 p. 145
^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 360
^ "What a Crazy World". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
^ John Walker (ed) Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 2000, London; Harper Collins, 1999, p. 900
^ Altria, Bill (17 December 1964). "British Films Romp Home – Fill First Five Places". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 9.
^ "What a Crazy World". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 30 (348): 174. 1 January 1963. ProQuest 1305823323 – via ProQuest.
^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 1103. ISBN 0586088946.
^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 1012. ISBN 9780992936440.