''It's Great to Be Young'' is a 1956 musical

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

about a school music teacher, starring Cecil Parker and

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portra ...

Plot

Mr Dingle (

) seeks to interest his pupils in music in order to enjoy life, while the new strict headmaster, Mr Frome ( Cecil Parker),believes Dingle is ruining the children's traditional education. Mr Dingle's pupils come up with a way to raise money by playing to crowds in the street and persuade him to help them. When this fails they decide to jazz it up and bring in some younger kids to help. This initiative is a success and, with the help of one of the pupil's parents, they are able to buy new musical instruments. The total cost, £200, is to be paid in instalments of £2.10s. per week which Dingle personally signs for. However, when Mr Dingle ends up on the front page of the local newspaper, the headmaster locks the instruments up. The pupils manage to get them out of the locked cupboards, rehearse and put them back without anyone noticing. Mr Dingle takes a second job playing the piano in his local pub for £4 a week plus free beer. However, he is spotted by one of the teachers who reports him to Mr Frome, who sacks him for it. The children protest about Dingle's dismissal by organising a strike and a sit-in. Children from other schools also stand outside in protest. Eventually, order is restored as Mr Frome relents and allows Mr Dingle to return. The children carry both out triumphantly to the tune of Top of the Form.

Cast

as Mr. Dingle * Cecil Parker as Frome *

John Salew John Rylett Salew (1902 (some sources state 1 January 1897)14 September 1961) was an English stage film and TV actor. Salew made the transition from stage to films in 1939, and according to Allmovie, "the manpower shortage during WWII enabled ...

as Routledge * Elizabeth Kentish as Mrs. Castle *

Mona Washbourne Mona Lee Washbourne (27 November 1903 – 15 November 1988) was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film '' Stevie'' (1978), late in her career, for which she was nominated for a Gold ...

as Miss Morrow *

Mary Merrall Mary Merrall (5 January 1890 – 31 August 1973), born Elsie Lloyd, was an English actress whose career of over 60 years encompassed stage, film and television work. Stage career Merrall's stage career started in her teens, making her first stag ...

as Miss Wyvern *

Derek Blomfield Derek Blomfield (31 August 1920 – 23 July 1964) was a British actor who appeared in a number of stage, film and television productions between 1935 and his death in 1964. Career He trained at LAMDA and made his first stage appearance a ...

as Paterson *

Jeremy Spenser Jeremy Spenser (born Jeremy John Dornhurst de Saram 16 July 1937) is a British actor who made his screen debut aged 11 in ''Anna Karenina'' (1948). The following year he played in the black comedy ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' as the young Loui ...

as Nicky * Dorothy Bromiley as Paulette * Brian Smith as Ginger * Wilfred Downing as Browning * Robert Dickens as Morris * Dawson France as Crowther *

Carole Shelley Carole Augusta Shelley (16 August 1939 – 31 August 2018)Bartlett, Rhett"Carole Shelley, One of the Pigeon Sisters From 'The Odd Couple,' Dies at 79"''The Hollywood Reporter'', 1 September 2018

as Peggy *

Richard O'Sullivan Richard O'Sullivan (born 7 May 1944) is an English comedy actor, who is known for his role as Robin Tripp in the 1970s sitcoms ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976) and ''Robin's Nest (TV series), Robin's Nest'' (1977–1981) and as the title c ...

as Lawson *

Norman Pierce Norman Pierce (5 September 1900 – 22 March 1968) was a British actor. He was born in Southport, Lancashire. He died in Helions Bumpstead, Essex, England on 22 March 1968 at the age of 67. He played pub landlords and barmen in a number of ...

as Publican * Eleanor Summerfield as Barmaid *

Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2013 and ...

as Mr. Parkes, Organ Salesman *

Marjorie Rhodes Marjorie Rhodes (9 April 1897 – 4 July 1979) was a British actress. She was born Millicent Wise in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. One of her better-known roles was as Lucy Fitton, the mother in Bill Naughton's play '' All in Good Time''. Sh ...

as Landlady *

Eddie Byrne Eddie Byrne (31 January 1911 – 21 August 1981) was an Irish actor. Career His stage work included many appearances with Dublin's Abbey Theatre, and also work with the National Theatre in London. Outside Ireland he is probably best known ...

as Morris *

Russell Waters Russell Waters (born 10 June 1908, Glasgow, Lanarkshire – died 19 August 1982, Richmond, Surrey) was a Scottish film actor. Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the ...

as Mr. Scott, School Inspector

Soundtrack

The song "You are My First Love" is sung over the opening scenes of the film by

Ruby Murray Ruby Florence Murray (29 March 1935 – 17 December 1996) was a Northern Irish singer. One of the most popular singers in the British Isles in the 1950s, she scored ten hits in the UK Singles Chart between 1954 and 1959. She also made pop chart ...

. Released on record, it reached number 16 in the UK charts.

Reception

The film was one of the ten most popular films at the British box office in 1956. BFI Screenonline writes, "''It's Great To Be Young!'' has a fair claim to be not only one of Britain's first teenage musicals but also one of the most commercially successful of any musical made in Britain during the 1950s – it proved so popular that it allegedly caused riots in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Its virtues are those of many ABPC productions of its era, from the vibrant

Eastmancolor Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak. Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was on ...

cinematography to the immaculately-selected cast and even if some of the sixth-formers are aged in their twenties, they do sound convincing as teenagers."

References

External links

Synopsis from Movies at AOL
*
''It's Great to Be Young!'' at BFI Screenonline
{{Cyril Frankel 1956 films Films shot at Associated British Studios 1956 musical comedy films British high school films British musical comedy films Films directed by Cyril Frankel Films with screenplays by Ted Willis, Baron Willis 1950s English-language films 1950s British films