This is to bring you the happy news that Three Hats For Lisa, the candyfloss-light yet endearing film musical which I wrote about in this earlier post, is about to be given a proper DVD release in a couple of days. And judging from what appears to be a period trailer, or a rather good mocked-up version of one, the print is pristine.
My pirate copy, bought on a well-known auction website and probably recorded off-air from Channel 4, is reasonably good quality anyway, but it will be wonderful to see the whole film brighter. The trailer certainly gives the flavour of the piece. It proclaims "!6 hit songs by Leslie Bricusse", which is a rather generous assessment, but in the context of the film they are all enjoyable. Be aware, however, that Bermondsey, the song given to Sid James, is miles better than anything around it - and it is a double delight to see James dance: "a rooster strut alternating with a kind of ironed-out-Cagney", as I described it in the earlier post.
Some time ago I bought lobby cards for the film from that same auction website, so by way of celebration of the film being brought to a wider public the best of them are reproduced in this post.
Well, I say celebration, but the real reason is that I was sort of forced to do a bit of clearing out at work while temporarily separated from my keyboard and found the cards in an envelope I'd forgotten about.
It's a while since I last sat down to the film. I hope it will still have the same magic.The trailer would suggest so. I don't really have much to add to the earlier post, but I suppose the key point of the film is that a sort-of real character is at the centre, and through the pursuit of a fantasy he comes to see what - and who - is important in his life. The film is a confection, but the ending brings us gently back to earth. Difficult to imagine, or to believe in, a Cliff Richard type doing the same job.
It's a world away from the grittiness of What a Crazy World, and as I think I've probably noted earlier Joe Brown only did it for the chance to work with Sid James, but it's a film with a genuine lightness of touch, a great cast, and one which doesn't seem antiseptic. Gillian Lynne did the choreography. I suppose I'm saying that everything about it is right. It won't change your life, but it will, for ninety minutes or so, brighten the corner where you are. There are some other cards in that earlier post.
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