User Reviews

The young David Hemmings is the only actor familiar to me in this enjoyable British musical comedy where he's the son and savior of a family who have just purchased a bed and breakfast and a quaint neighborhood, dealing with lack of customers, a battleaxe cook (with a hidden heart of gold) who needs to be fired and some terrific musical guest stars. Hemmings befriends on American girl from Texas who longs to be on the stage and romance blossoms.

That's all there basically is to the plot as this is a situation comedy where the hardships of running a business and breaking into show business is all there is. American audiences (particularly those interested in classic rock and roll) will enjoy the variety of acts, with Jerry Lee Lewis standing out in his cameo in all his delicious oddness. Other acts may not be as well known but are pastiches of famous groups of the time Quirky supporting characters are all a lot of fun with the younger ones delightfully hip and the older ones impossibly square. One of the younger male characters does a very funny impression of a conversation between some square older women, having every mannerism down perfectly. Pretty good above average British kitchen table film that is a bit more accessible than many others I've seen.

A family move from London to Brighton to take over a run down guesthouse. The son, Dave Martin (David Hemmings), and his friends Ricky (Steve Marriot), Phil (John Pike) and his girlfriend, the Texan model Erica (Andrea Monet), reconvene their old beat group The Smart Alecs in order to enter a musical contest, 'Amateur Upstarts', with the view to drumming up publicity for the business. The group write a song called Be My Guest and rehearse it at the Brighton Hippodrome for the contest's producer Milton H. Bass. However, Bass's stage manager Artie Clough (Tony Wager) and his glamorous girlfriend, the pop singer Wanda (Joyce Blair), recognise the song's hit potential and hatch a plan to rip off the boys by conning them into selling it for a song - no pun intended! - and give it to a popular local act, the dubiously named Slash Wildly and The Cutthroats. They plot to rig the contest so they win and sign the band before Milton H. Bass does and top the charts with Be My Guest claiming it as their original work. But, will The Smart Alecs live up to their name and thwart the pair?

Producer and director Lance Comfort's sequel to his own Live It Up (1963) that brings back many of the original cast members - but, mysteriously, no Heinz this time. In common with that film, Be My Guest survives as a nostalgia piece even though its depiction of youth seems naïve these days (and, most probably, was even in 65). Yes, it is dated but in a pleasant and entertaining way - not to the degree where it becomes unbearable and unwatchable. Forget the wafer thin plot, it is the calibre of the groups performing here that keeps Be My Guest of interest to fans of sixties music and some of them such as Kenny and The Wranglers did actually make records; but they sold poorly and failed to make the charts and thus are extremely hard to find and change hands for a small fortune. Among the better known artists appearing include The Nashville Teens who stormed the UK charts in 1964 with the classic Tobacco Road; although here they perform a less immediate number entitled Whatcha Gonna Do and Jerry Lee Lewis surely needs no introduction. The film's title song, Be My Guest, performed by The Niteshades was co-composed by Shel Talmy, a top producer of the era who worked with rock legends The Who and The Kinks and the song isn't actually bad with its upbeat melody and engaging Beach Boys styled harmonies. In fact, most of the musical numbers on offer here are better than one normally expects from low budget pop musicals like this that flooded our cinema screens back then. The film also features some nice location shots of Brighton - atmospherically captured by cinematographer Basil Emmott - and the last time I visited the city the Hippodrome featured here was sadly standing empty and derelict.

Be My Guest was originally released as the support feature to Morecombe and Wise's big screen debut The Intelligence Men and is currently available on DVD as part of Renown's Films With A Beat boxed set.