If you would like to add anything to the reviews, or to do a review yourself, please
go aheadand we'll be happy to post it here.
Some of the members of the
ScousersMailing List either appear in these movies, or know someone who did, mostly in bit
parts. They are listed among the cast and linked to their email addresses.
Local actors in the movie reviews are shown in Yellow,
pleaselet me know if I've missed anyone or got
someone listed as a scouser who isn't!
Alice Through The Looking Glass - featured St. George's Hall.
All You Need Is Cash (1978) - TV movie, starring Eric Idle,
Michael Palin, George Harrison and a cast of thousands in the story of the Rutles, a fictional
rock group. A parody of Beatlemania.
IMDb review An Awfully Big Adventure (1995) - starring Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman,
Rita Tushingham, Georgina Cates, Alun Armstrong.
Based upon Beryl Bainbridge's book. Set in post war Liverpool, but filmed in Dublin because
"Dublin looked much more like Liverpool after the war than Liverpool looks today."
This film has its own Web site at
http://www.flf.com/advent/synopsis.htm and here is the
IMDb review Backbeat (1993) - starring Ian Hart, Gary Bakewell, Chris O'Neill,
Scot Williams and Kai Weisinger. The story of the Beatles before
they became famous. I can't remember much Liverpool scenery, but I think there is one shot
where the actor portraying John Lennon is sitting somewhere near St. George's Church, in
Everton, looking out over the City (need to take another look at the film).
IMDb review Beyond This Place (1959) - starring Van Johnson and Leo McKern.
An evacuee returns to Liverpool after 20 years to find that his father, who he believed had
died in the war, is actually in prison.
IMDb review Blond Fist (1991) - starring Jake Abraham, Julie Aldred,
Margi Clarke.
IMDb review Blood Brothers - Willy Russell's
wonderful musical. The story of twins who are seperated soon after birth, and not reunited
until years later. Set in Liverpool of the fifties, but comes pretty much up to date, with
the family moving out to a "New Town" and the subsequent problems they find there. Not
something you're easily going to find on video, unfortunately, but if you should, check it out.
The compact disc of the music is also worth checking out.
Blood On The Dole (1994) - starring Jake Abraham, Dicken Ashworth,
Rachel Caldwell and Phillip Dowd. Produced by Alan Bleasdale.
Described by one reviewer as "the story of 4 teenagers from the blighted city of Liverpool."
IMDb review The Bullion Boys (1993) - TV Movie starring David Jason and
Tim Piggott-Smith. In 1940, a mysterious man persuades Liverpool dockers to steal Britain's
gold reserves. Brilliant! The movie opens with David Jason and his young great-grandson on
the ferry boat coming back from across the Mersey - some great shots of the Waterfront.
Later on, there are lots of scenes around the Castle Street area, a stroll along the
Prom near Blundellsands, and a final shot of the same two characters sitting on a bench in
Exchange Flags.
IMDb review Chariots Of Fire (1981) - starring Hugh Hudson, Ben Cross,
Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers, Nick Farrell, Alice Krige, Cheryl Campbell, Ian Holm, John
Geilgud, Lindsay Anderson, Patrick Magee, Nigel Davenport, Dennis Chrisopher and Brad Davis.
Based on the true story of two sprinters in the 1924 Olympics. The connection with the
Merseyside area is that the track scenes were filmed at Bebington Oval, on the Wirral.
IMDb review Children On Trial (1946) -
IMDb review The Clouded Yellow (1950) - starring Trevor Howard, Jean Simmons,
Gabrielle Blunt, Michael Brennan AND Sonia Dresdel. A chase movie featuring an ex-secret agent
and a young lady, who lead the police on a chase through Newcastle, The Lake District and
Liverpool. IMDb review Dancing Through The Dark - where a scouse lad returns to the 'pool
with his group to play a gig or two and meets up with his old Judy.
Dark Summer (1994) - starring Steve Ako and Joeline Garnier-Joel.
A love story, shot entirely in Liverpool.
IMDb review The Dressmaker (1988) - Starring Joan Plowright,
Billie Whitelaw, Pete Postlethwaite, Jane Horrocks and Tim Ransom.
Two Liverpool sisters(Plowright and Whitelaw) and the story of their niece falling in love
with a G.I. during the Second World War.
IMDb review Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988) -
IMDb review Educating Rita (1983) - Julie Walters stars as the (Liverpool?)
houswife who goes to University - Michael Caine as her professor. Written by
Willie Russell, and also starring Michael Williams, Maureen Lipman,
Jeananne Crowley and Malcolm Douglas. Julie Walters screen debut. The college sequences were
actually filmed at Trinity College, Dublin. A theatre presentation is at
this site Ferry 'Cross The Mersey (1965) -
Gerry the Pacemakers, Cilla Black, The Fourmost and Jimmy Saville.
star in some sort of music competition, if I remember right (was the Royal Iris used in this?).
Paul Smith's cousin, Eddie Willis
played a taxi driver in this movie.
The Fruit Machine (1988) - starring
Emile Charles, Tony Forsyth, Robert Stephens, Claire Higgins, Bruce Payne and
Robbie Coltrane. A thriller about two gay Liverpool men who witness a murder and must escape
the murderers themselves.
IMDb review G.B.H. - Alan Bleasdale's story of a "Great Northern City" and corrupt
politicians. Never specifically supposed to be about Liverpool, but the Runcorn-Widnes bridge
features prominently, and there are loads of Scouse accents. The Town Hall featured throughout
the series, is actually Manchester Town Hall!
Gumshoe (1972) -
IMDb review. A Hard Days' Night (1964) - The Beatles
first film - this review may be a bit dated - I saw the movie on my 15th birthday, back in 1965
in Rhyl! It's basically the story of a day in the life of the boys (with a little imagination!).
Various sketches and song breaks. Funny, and very entertaining (IMO). Also stars Victor Spinetti,
Wilfred Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin and Anna Quayle.
Hillsborough (1996) - starring Christopher Eccleston, Annabelle Apsion
Mark Womack. TV movie about the tragic death of 96 football supporters in April 1989, when the
Liverpool versus Nottingham Forest's semi-final match at Hillsborough went terribly wrong.
The story follows three Liverpool families, before, during and after the event.
Here is a link to the Hillsborough
memorial site at Anfield.
IMDb review The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness (1958) - starring Ingrid Bergman,
Curt Jergens, Robert Donat, Ronald Squire, Athene Seyler and Richard Wattis. A true story of
an English Missionary's journey through enemy territory in pre WW2 China. The Liverpool
connection is that theschoolchildren were all Liverpool-Chinese,
from St. Margaret's school in Toxteth, and the movie was actually filmed in North Wales. The
kids walk through the mountains singing "nick nackpaddy whack".
IMDb review In The Name Of The Father (1993) - the beginning, at least, was
partly filmed in Liverpool. I didn't know that the Kingsway tunnel came out in London???
IMDb review Ladybird, Ladybird (1994) - starring
Crissy Rock, Vladimir Vega, Sandi Lavelle and Mauricio Venegas. The story of a woman
with four children to four different fathers, and her fight with the social services after her
children are taken away from her.
IMDb review Letter To Brezhnev (1985) - starring Margi
Clarke, Alexandra Pigg, Peter Firth, Alfred Molina, Neil Cunningham, Tracy Lea, Ken
Campbell and Angela Clarke in a great film. Liverpool girls meet
Russian sailors in town, and one of them falls in love with her fella. He has to go back to
Russia, but she writes to Brezhnev for permission to marry him.
IMDb review A Little Bit Of Lippy (1992) - starring Alison Swann and Danny
Cunningham in a story about a husband's transvestite interests!
The Liver Birds (1996) - starring the original Liver Birds:
Polly James and Nerys Hughes. It's about the girls returning to Liverpool 30 years on. I've only seen one episode
so far (#2). It opened with the two girls wandering around New Brighton prom, and showed a few
good views of Perch Rock, and the chip shop! The flat that they live in is in a recognisable
Liverpool street, but I can't identify it - looks like Rodney Street to me. Most of the action
takes place inside the flat. Tha accents and humour are still all there.
The Long Day Closes (1992) -
IMDb review Magical Mystery Tour - more Beatles
madness. Not sure if there are any Liverpool scenes in this, but the accents make it worth
including here.
The Magnet (1951) - Stephen Murray, Kay Walsh, Charles Frend,
William Fox (now known as James Fox) and Meredith Edwards starred along with one of
Sheila Graham'sschoolmates, and one of
Gord Russell'snetmates - jeez was everyone in that film!
(The Sweet Factory was Barker and Dobsons and was on Whitefield Rd). It's the story of children
at play, told from their own point of view, and was filmed in Wallasey and at New Brighton baths.
IMDb review Mountains Of The Moon (1990) - bits were shot around St.
George's Hall, and possibly around the Albert Dock.
IMDb review No Surrender (1985) - starring Michael Angelis,
Bernard Hill and Avis Bunnage. A Liverpool social club gets double booked for a New Years'
Eve party by a bunch of elderly Protestants and a bunch of elderly Roman Catholics. The film
starts with a scene somewhere along the prom in Wallasey, with shots of Liverpool across the
Mersey. There are numerous scenes of backstreets, which are probably Liverpool, but which I
could not identify. The club is supposedly the "Charleston Club, off Stanley Road," but it
looked very unlike the Stanley Road I remember - more like somewhere out behind the Kirkby
Industrial Estate. IMDb review Our Day Out - A group of Liverpoolschoolchildren
, from that terrible St. Frannies on Carisbrooke road (so says me, an Arnot St. old boy)
visit a Zoo in North Wales, and return with half the animals! A theatre presentation is at
this site Penny Paradise (1938) - starring Edmund Gwenn, Betty Driver and
Jimmy O'Dea. A Liverpool tugboat captain believes he's won the pools, but after a wild party
and giving up his job, he finds it may not be so. Is this the same Betty Driver who now
appeared in Coronation Street as the barmaid - Betty Williams?
IMDb review Priest (1994) - half of the Full Monty lineup is in this.
It's the story of two priests in a Liverpool parish (somewhere around Netherfield Rd) and how
they live with their own sins as well as those of others. It's got great shots of places all
over town. IMDb review The Reckoning (1969) - starring Anne Bell, J.G. Devlin and
Edward Hardwicke. A man returns to Liverpool after 37 years for his father's funeral. He sets
out to revenge his father's death on those responsible without involving the Police.
IMDb review Rich Deceiver (1995) - a TV movie, starring Lesley Dunlop and
John McArdle. Liverpool housewife wins the pools, but her husband doesn't know, and she
sets out to improve their lives without telling him. Lots of scenes around downtown
Liverpool and (I think) the Albert Dock, and presumably the backstreets which feature
prominently were also in Liverpool. Lot's of great Liverpool accents. Watch out for it on the
telly (PBS in the States and TVO or Bravo in Canada).
IMDb review Shirley Valentine (1990s) - starring Pauline Collins,
Bernard Hill, Alison Steadman, Tom Conti, Joanne Lumley,
Julia McKenzie and Sylvia Sims. A bored Liverpool housewife, tired of talking to the "wall,"
goes off to Greece, leaving her husband wondering where his fish and chip supper is....
Shirley Valentine also goes the rounds in its original format of a one-woman stage play and
should not be missed if it comes to your town!
IMDb review Tierra Y Libertad (Land And Freedom) (1995) -
Ian Hart stars as a scouse socialist (now there's a stretch) who
goes off to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
IMDb review Violent Playground (1958) - starring Stanley Baker, Anne Heywood
(previously Violet Pretty), David McCallum, PeterCushing and our own Scousers List member
Tom Eves (in his real-life role of a fireman) and
Mag's da-in-law (as the hot dog seller). The film also
starred as a young thug, a certain Freddie Fowell, who went on to
become better known as Freddie Starr. Tom Eves remembers the following- "One scene required
the fire engine to race up past the Bluecoat Chamber sand intercept David McCallum, who had
just set fire to a building. I think he came running out of a back door of Boots or Cranes and
jumped into a car. A stuntman drove the car and nearly clobbered the fire engine."
IMDb review Waterfront (1949) - possibly the first feature (unless Penny
Paradise was done there) filmed in Liverpool. Starring Hal Osmond, Richard Burton, Robert Newton
and Avis Scott. Based on the book by Liverpool born author, John Brophy
.
Yellow Submarine (1968) - The Beatles'
animated film "stars" the lads, along with sundry other voices.
Geoffrey Hughes plays the voice of Paul. Songs are mostly from "Sgt. Pepper" and the
opening sequence features some "cardboard cut-outs" of Liverpool buildings. For its 30th
anniversary, it's being rereleased with special additions.
