Expresso Bongo

Quite why this 1959 film has some kind of a reputation and made a fair bit of money is a little mystifying to understand these days. Ostensibly it would appear to have a fair bit going for it: a star, a top writer and a fairly well respected director, plus a number of diverse talents who worked on the musical numbers. Why is it then that it just doesn't hold up?

The film originally started out as a musical the year before and was seen as a scathing satire on the music industry. It achieved considerable success, hence the film version. The film is held together by its male star Laurence Harvey (classical actor Paul Scofield had played the part in the play), inasmuch as his character Johnny Jackson’ (a Jewish east end ‘wide boy’) is in nearly every scene. Johnny dominates all of the action; he is a 'small time' agent always on the lookout for talent he can exploit it to the limit. Soho is his hunting ground or to be more precise, Old Compton Street. Of course, sleazy slime pot that he is, he comes complete with stripper girlfriend, Maisie (Sylvia Syms… though Diana Dors would have been miles better in this part). Like most disillusioned ecdysiasts, Maisie dreams of being an actress or a singer. Johnny is, of course, stringing her along as well with the proverbial carrot. Things are not going that well for our Johnny who would have no qualms about 'living off a woman' and then bongo! Sorry, bingo!

Bongo comes later when he discovers, quite by accident, the sensational young talent that is bongo playing vocalist and teen idol Bert Rudge (a ‘smouldering’ young Cliff Richard). Within no time Johnny gets the rather naive young Bert (having re-named him ‘Bongo Herbert’) to sign a contract allotting himself a staggering 50%!!! He wastes no time whatsoever by any means of deception and skullduggery to put his sensational new find on the map. First up is a record deal, this naturally is done by means of a deft old trick – really, how else can you get your foot up the ladder unless your Dad owns the company? Johnny manages to get shrewd 'biggish time' agent Mayer (Meier Tzelniker) to give Bert a deal. Arguably the best number in the film is ‘Nausea’, the duet sung by Harvey and Tzelniker to the tune of an old Klezmer-type number. Mayer also represents big time American artiste Dixie Collins (Yolande Donlan - director Val Guest's actual wife), who just happens to be coming to dear old Blighty for a tour. Dixie will need a support act and we all know who is that going to be. An unlikely romance blossoms between the fair-minded and somewhat more mature Dixie and young 'Bongo', a callow youth from a working class council estate. Soon, Bongo is staying with her at her posh Dorchester suite. Dixie is a pretty shrewd one herself and is horrified when she hears about the 50/50 deal on Bongo's contract… which just happens to be null and void as Bongo’s signature is good for nothing in view of the fact that he is under age and Johnny didn't get his parents signature either! Well, the upshot is that Bongo is on for a tour of the States with Dixie and Johnny Jackson has lost his little goldmine. No worries my dears, the Johnny Jackson's of this world never go under. There's always something or someone to exploit round the corner and another schmuck ready for the takings.

So why doesn't this film work? For a start the music, on the whole, is anodyne drivel (despite the clever lyrics of ‘The Shrine on the Second Floor’), and as for Cliff's 'A Voice in the Wilderness' do me a favour! The lot comes over as a laughable joke and NOT a scathing satire. One expected more of the then respected real life East End writer Wolf Mankowitz (who appears briefly as the sandwich board man). Laurence Harvey, as hard as he tries, just can't get it quite right. Sylvia Syms isn't much better as a stripper and appears too wholesome for the milieu that is her stomping ground. Mind you, Yolande Donlan and Meier Tzelniker hit the right notes. Nevertheless, Expresso Bongo will remain a film with something of a fan base.

This BFI Flipside Dual Format Edition offers the following SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Newly remastered in 2K and presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition
• Full-length theatrical version (111 mins): DVD and Blu-ray premiere of the original long cut from 1959
• 1962 re-issue version (106 mins – Blu-ray exclusive): shorter alternative cut which removed a number of songs
• Audio commentary for the 1962 re-issue version featuring Val Guest, Yolande Donlan and film historian Marcus Hearn (Blu-ray only)
• Alternative sequences from the 1962 cut (2 mins, DVD only): the scenes which were added to replace cut songs
• Expresso Bongo Gallery: a selection of promotional material, including stills, theatrical posters, lobby cards, and original US and UK press books
• Original theatrical trailer (3 mins)
• Youth Club (Norman Prouting, 1954, 17 mins): COI documentary about dealing with juvenile delinquency
• The Square (Michael Winner, 1957, 16 mins): Michael Winner’s touching, long-thought lost short film about an elderly gent saying goodbye to his home in Kings Cross
• Original US and UK press books (downloadable PDF, DVD only)
• Illustrated booklet with new writing by Andrew Roberts, Vic Pratt and Steve Chibnall, and full film credits