Ferry Cross the Mersey *** (1964, Gerry Marsden, Fred Marsden, Les Maguire, Les ‘Chad’ Chadwick, Cilla Black, The Fourmost) – Classic Movie Review 10,748

Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1964: Les Maguire (top), Freddie Marsden, Gerry Marsden and Les (Chad) Chadwick.

Gerry Marsden, Fred Marsden, Les Maguire, and Les ‘Chad’ Chadwick, aka Gerry and the Pacemakers, star as thinly fictionalised versions of themselves in director Jeremy Summers’s 1964 black and white musical film Ferry Cross the Mersey. Devised by the Coronation Street writer Tony Warren, it tells the humorous story of art students as they try to navigate the Liverpool beat scene and enter a battle of the bands. Gerry and the Pacemakers made pop history as the first act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with their first three single releases: ‘How Do You Do It?’, ‘I Like It’ and ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.

Gerry’s girlfriend Dodie Dawson (Julie Samuel) helps the group to enter a music competition, but their instruments are misplaced – only for them to be found so the band can take the stage just in time to play ‘It’s Gonna Be Alright’ to the exuberant crowd and win the contest.

As a film it is inferior to The Beatles’ similar, much more celebrated A Hard Day’s Night, released earlier the same year on 7 July 1964, but it is entertaining as sweet nostalgia, and as a toast to the Liverpool scene and a snapshot of the era, it is invaluable. Gerry and the Pacemakers seem the unlikeliest of pop stars but they are pleasant personalities, and there is the usual slew of Brit actors to provide expert support, plus several interesting guest stars, and much attractive music.

It was released on 13 December 1964. The Glasgow premiere took place at the Odeon on 20 December 1964. Gerry and the Pacemakers were starring in a show – Gerry’s Christmas Cracker – all of the following week at the same venue. The Liverpool premiere took place in January 1965.

Gerry and the Pacemakers were riding high in 1964 and made a successful tout of America, so their manager Brian Epstein sough to create a film for them. Coronation Street creator Tony Warren was hired as writer, and came up with a plot involving the band and ferryboats. But Warren proved unable to complete a script despite allegedly ‘downing bottles of whisky’, and writer David Franden was hired in his place for the screenplay.

It was shot over three months, not only in the studio at Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, but also with many scenes filmed near Gerry Marsden’s home in Liverpool, including the Mountwood ferry on the River Mersey, the Albert Dock, The Cavern Club, Frank Hessy’s music store, and the Locarno ballroom for authenticity.

Gerry Marsden wrote nine new songs for the film. The soundtrack was released the same year. Cilla Black is also featured with her song ‘Is it Love?’, along with the Fourmost with their track ‘I Love You Too’. The album is rounded out with a George Martin Orchestra instrumental.

Future Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen appears as an uncredited extra. Disc Jockey Steve Wright appears in the crowd as a boy. Cilla Black, The Fourmost, Jimmy Savile, Earl Royce and the Olympics, The Blackwells, The Black Knights, and The Kubas all appear as themselves.

Also in the cast are Mona Washbourne as Aunt Lil, George A Cooper as Mr Lumsden, Deryck Guyler as Trasler, T P McKenna as Jack Hanson, Eric Barker as Mr Dawson, Patricia Lawrence as Miss Kneave, Margaret Nolan as Norah, Bernard Sharpe as art student, Donald Gee as art student, Dorothy Sue as the waitress, Andy Ho as the restaurant manager, Keith Smith as Dawson’s chauffeur and Mischa De La Motte as Dawson’s butler.

Sadly, the band had peaked. The film’s theme song ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’ gave the group a No 8 hit in the UK in early 1965 and a No 6 hit in the US in 1965, but it was their last Top 10 appearance on either side off the Atlantic, and their last chart entry in Britain was ‘Walk Hand in Hand’, which reached 29 at the end of 1965.

It may not have been shown on TV or released on video, but happily there it is on the Internet.

RIP Gerry [Gerard] Marsden MBE (24 September 1942 – 3 January 2021).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,748

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