Ferry Cross The Mersey-Starring Gerry and the Pacemakers-DVD

"Ferry cross the Mersey" was just one of those fun early 60's promotional movies by Gerry and the Pacemakers filmed entirely in Liverpool that really wasn't that well known and shown that much on TV.The group during that time was probably the second most Liverpool mersey beat group during the early 60's next to the Beatles(Both groups were managed by Brian Epstein).I think the Beatles did 2 movies during"Help" and "A Hard Days Night".There was alot of fun slapstick along with the wonderful era music.Very Liverpudian indeed!!

I enjoyed listening and watching Gerry and the Pacemakers-Ferry Cross the Mersey movie from 1965.This reminds me of their version of a Hard Days Night by the Beatles.The story line is o.k.However the music is Great!Plus they also take you to the Cavern to watch and listen to Gerry and the Pacemakers when this was happening to give you a feel for the times.The movie might be cheesy to some.If you liked watching a Hard Days Night then you'll like this one.

One has to hand it to Brian Epstein. Not only did he manage the Beatles through Beatlemania, he also had Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cilla Black as artists under his management. After he had gotten a feature film for the Beatles, the fabulous "A Hard Day's Night" which was followed by "Help!", Epstein had a lesser known director, Jeremy Summers make a similar kind of romp for Gerry Marsden and the Pacemakers titled "Ferry Cross the Mersey" from 1965 which follows the group around Liverpool, especially while on the ferry, singing a total of nine new songs. Distributed by Audio Tape Incorporated from Longbranch, NJ, the DVD is an adequate copy, specifying it was made from the best source material available, which anticipates imperfections even though the film was released by United Artists. Although the film played in theaters in 1965 in Plainfield, NJ, I do not remember the Dave Clark Five's film, now released as a Warner Archive title, getting as wide a release although, having nothing to do with the great Richard Lester directed Beatle films, "Having a Wild Weekend" was directed by "Deliverance"'s John Boorman and is a much better film than "Ferry Cross the Mersey" although it too is in Black and White. ("Help!" of course was in color). Gerry is a very likeable hero and Julie Samuel plays Gerry's main squeeze, with Mona Washbourne as his Aunt. Cilla Black and the Fourmost also appear. George Martin is musical director. The film has a lot of cinematic inventiveness to it although it is not as fresh as what Lester and later Boorman would bring to their films, but it is still entertaining in a painfully, at times, wholesome way. Gerry and the Pacemakers were much more easy to control apparently than the Beatles. Wonder if we'll ever see Freddie and the Dreamers' film, "Seaside Swingers"?

For anyone who remembers the British Invasion, this movie is great fun, especially the scenes of the band shot inside the Cavern Club (There was never much footage of the Beatles there). But not only is the visual quality poor, my disc was defective, leaving the last five minutes, including the big musical finale, full of skips and blurs and silences and stops.

For those of us influenced by the Beatles era glimpses of the hard streets of Liverpool that spawned it, "Ferry Cross the Mersey" is a bright and magical light, created by the people who cleverly cultivated and promoted the Beatles themselves. Despite his interminable smile, Gerry Marsden (lead singer of Gerry and the Pacemakers) acts well, as does his brother, and even the largely overlooked band members fare better than expected.Unfortunately, this print is so fuzzy and the sound so bad (Liverpool accents aren't the easiest to understand under the best of circumstances), one can only wish somebody would clean the thing up, because it's an interesting chronicle of a bygone time. The story is simple - Gerry and the boys are musicians who've already achieved a level of local popularity, and now want to compete in a significant musical contest. They manage to find a promising manager who provides them with newer and better instruments; they already have a screaming and fainting female following; and Gerry has a gorgeous, rich girlfriend despite not being so gorgeous himself (he apparently already had a receding hairline shortly after puberty). The only threat to their meteoric fairy tale rise to success is the accidental disappearance of their instruments the night of the big show, followed by a silly Keystone Kops routine of driving around Liverpool at over-cranked camera speed, retrieving the instruments and returning to the theater just in time to knock everybody's socks off.Clearly, it's not the storyline that's compelling here; it's the reflection of its time. Cilla Black performs a song, clearly demonstrating why, in spite of being a hawk-faced, lackluster performer, she was a big star in the UK in those days. That woman could sing.The best moments in the film are the musical pieces in unexpected settings and circumstances (very Beatles-ish), sweetly innocent and almost embarrassingly charming. Gerry demonstrates considerable vocal range and the songs are enjoyable if not memorable. The movie could best be described as well-meaning and cute and a visual explanation of the desperation of the sixties that drove young people to reach for the stars through music. Sadly, I'd suggest waiting until this is remastered before buying, as after struggling through it once, you probably won't view it again.

It is great to see this Gerry and the Pacemakers' British Invasion film finally join "A Hard Day's Night", "Having A Wild Weekend", "Hold On", and "Help" on DVD! This movie belongs in every mid-Sixties teenagers' film collection. The scene of the boys performing the title song on a ferry boat crossing the Mersey is a priceless clip that predated MTV videos in the Eighties. Don't miss out on the fun!

What studio released this? Oh, there's no information in the product details that lists a studio...what a surprise!

Great DVD

It's the usual corny movie, but its what the y were making back then. The copy isn't that great but I didn't expect it to be. Brings back a lot of memories from when I was growing up in that time.

I LOVE IT DVD GREAT !