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Expresso Bongo
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - British Film Institute Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (24th April 2016). |
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The Film
 “Expresso Bongo” (1959) Johnny Jackson (played by Laurence Harvey) is a small time hustler with charm and wit looking for a big break to get rich quick. Equally liked and disliked by the folks in Soho, from the bar owners to the strip club gals, he discovers a kid singing and playing bongos in a coffee house that gets the kids up and dance. The kid is Bert Rudge (played by Cliff Richard) who sings and plays for kicks, but Johnny thinks he has a chance for bigtime success. Johnny’s girlfriend Maisie (played by Sylvia Syms) however is jealous of his choice to give the kid a boost since she is one who has been looking to make a break into the music business - a step up from her job as a cabaret singer and dancer in a strip club. Knowing the music business and how to sell, Johnny makes a few plans to get attention towards Bert. First he changes Bert’s name to something catchier and musically memorable - “Bongo Herbert” and books a gig for him. Next Johnny meets record executive Mr. Mayer (played by Meier Tzelniker) to introduce his offer of being able to witness the next big thing “Bongo Herbert”, with Maisie pretending to be an executive at HMV being interested in Bongo Herbert. With things going according to Johnny’s plans, Bongo starts to rise in popularity, with girls clamoring for autographs and living in excess. Will Bongo’s career continue to rise along with Johnny managing or will things drift apart for them…? Based on the 1958 stage musical of the same name written by Julian More and Wolf Mankowicz, “Expresso Bongo” is an interesting mix of a musical, a music film, a film noir, a comedy, and a youth drama. With the 1950’s bringing rock & roll to the mainstream with the likes of American musicians Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis, the UK was also coming up with the likes of artists such as Wee Willie Harris and Tommy Steele (which much of the Bongo character was slightly based on). Unlike many music films, the point of view comes from the hustling sleazy manager rather than from the musicians themselves, something mimicked in narrative with films such as “24 Hour Party People”. As with almost every rock biopic, “Expresso Bongo” also has its share of rock & roll excess, though missing is the drugs and alcohol aspect, possibly due to it being quite in the early stages of the genre and also for censorship reasons. For the film adaptation which was also written by the More and Mankowicz, the musical numbers were cut down to a level that it almost seems drastic when the first musical sequence comes in There are performances by the Bongo character throughout, but parts that Johnny and Mr. Mayer start to sing the narrative starting from around the 44 minute mark is a sudden surprise for film viewers. Another surprise is the amount of skin shown on screen for a film of its time. Although there is no complete nudity in the strip club sequences, bodies are barely covered with little pasties on nipples and revealing g-strings. Directed by Val Guest, “Expresso Bongo” has very unique and exciting visuals, with numerous tracking shots, paced editing for music sequences, all in the wide 2.35:1 frame. Guest was known for his Hammer horror and science fiction films such as “The Quatermass Xperiment” and “The Abominable Snowman” which makes it quite interesting that he would direct a music film. The talent in front of the camera was quite impressive, especially with the young 19 year old newcomer Cliff Richard playing Bongo - for once a real teenager actually playing a teenager onscreen. Richards and his band The Drifters (later renamed The Shadows) perform in the film, and they were on a fast track to success. The subsequently released EP entitled “Expresso Bongo” featuring tracks from the film became Richard’s first number one record, and success on the charts continued onward. He has had top 10 hits on the UK charts in every decade since the 1950s to the 2010s - quite a rare feat which he seems to be the only artist to have such a feat. Although his performance in the film is not that much of a breakthrough in acting terms, it is commendable with the fact that he had no prior serious acting experience, with the exception of a small part in the film “Serious Charge”. Laurence Harvey makes an impressive mark in the film as the cunning Johnny. His rapid fire dialogue and physical demeanor is something that you cannot take your eyes off, like that of Richard Widmark in “Night and the City”, or Steve Coogan in “24 Hour Party People”, having a sense of charm toward whoever he is talking to, but only further things for himself. The femme fatales - Sylvia Syms playing the straightlaced girlfriend Maisie and Yolande Donlan as the ageing American star Dixie, both are essential to the plot pulling the characters in opposite directions. Maisie tries to pull Johnny from his dream cloud down to reality, while Dixie tries to reclaim her youth by trying to seduce the young Bongo. Syms plays the role quite straight, while Donlan is almost a caricature of the ageing stars who still think they are young such as Gloria Swanson’s iconic character in “Sunset Boulevard”, though not being quite that old. ”Expresso Bongo” has dated quite a bit. The rock & roll excess is tame by today’s standards but the main ideals and happenings are still happening over and over again through media hype, fan pressure, and the means to have everything at the musicians’ fingertips. When will they ever learn? “Expresso Bongo” was a major hit when it was released in the UK in 1959. With Cliff Richards’ continuing rising success in the music world it prompted a re-release of the film in 1962, though with slight differences. First and foremost, the musical sequences that didn’t feature Richards were cut out entirely and some alternate scenes were added to emphasize Richards the musician. For fans of the original musical show, it would have been frustrating as musical numbers were already cut down for the 1959 film, but the new 1962 cut was like an alternate film made especially for Richards fans. For many years only the re-release version was mainly seen. This new BFI Blu-ray and DVD set introduces both versions of the film together for the first time. Note this is a region B Blu-ray which can only be played back on region B or region free Blu-ray players
Video
BFI presents both versions of the film in 1080p in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio in the AVC MPEG-4 codec. The original version of the film has been scanned in 2K from the original negative held by Cohen Media, and it looks great. The black and white film is correctly framed with no major problems of dirt, scratches, or flickering. Though with its age, there are some scenes that look a bit worse than others, mostly end reels, but it is not distracting at all. As for the 1962 alternate version, the alternate scenes were taken from a 35mm fine grain held at the BFI archives and inserted into the 2K mastered original version. The alternate scenes have also been remastered and hard to tell where the film changes without looking extremely carefully. Wonderful job done by BFI. The original theatrical version of the film runs (111:16) while the 1962 reissue version runs (106:56). Note about possible Blu-ray playback issues: On my Blu-ray player the disc faced some playback issues possibly due to the seamless branching of the two cuts of the film. Whenever a musical sequence was about to come up in the original theatrical version, the film would suddenly jump to much later in the film at these points: 44:03 jumps to 58:27 58:26 jumps to 87:14 87:13 jumps to 89:03 89:02 jumps to 100:29 100:28 jumps to 102:54 The only way I was able to watch the scenes between was to either to fast forward past the exact second it would jump or rewind back to just after the jump (start the film at 44:04 for example). When playing the 1962 version of the film (with or without commentary) the same thing happens. This may be a player issue and not a disc issue. I currently have only one region-B compatible Blu-ray player to test it on (an Insignia Blu-ray player), so it has only been tested on one device. The BFI has been contacted about the issue. Update: BFI has stated that they have tried the disc on Samsung, Sony, Toshiba Blu-ray players and a PlayStation 3 but have not had any playback troubles.
Audio
English LPCM 2.0 stereo The audio is listed as a 2.0 stereo track, but I didn’t even notice stereo separation in the track so it is essentially mono. Regardless, the lossless LPCM audio sounds quite good with music coming in clearly and dialogue sounding clean. There are no problems of hissing or cracks in the audio, which has been remastered from the optical track negative. Again another excellent mark in the audio department from BFI. There are optional English HoH subtitles for the main feature in a white font, both for the 1959 original and the 1962 reissue versions.
Extras
This is a 2-disc dual format Blu-ray + DVD release, and there are some differences between the Blu-ray and DVD content, most notably the Blu-ray offers both version of the film while the DVD only offers the 1959 original version. The full details are listed below: DISC ONE (Blu-ray) Audio commentary on the 1962 Re-issue Version with Val Guest, Yolande Donlan and Marcus Hearn Recorded in December 2005 for the DVD release, Marcus Hearn moderates this audio commentary featuring director Val Guest with actress/wife Yolande Donlan. Topics include Harvey’s accent coming from mimicking Wolf Mankowitz, about the casting process, how Guest and Donlan first met and much more. Although Guest was 94 and Donlan was 89 at the time of recording, their memories are quite strong. Guest died a few months later in 2006 at the age of 94 while Donlan died in 2014 also at the age of 94. Note the commentary is not switchable with the audio remote and id specific to the 1962 reissue version. in English LPCM 2.0 Gallery (4:28) Still photos, posters, lobby cards in an automated slideshow. in 1080p, in various ratios, silent "Youth Club" 1954 documentary short (17:19) Want to know what youth clubs were like in mid 50s England? Then look no further with this information short film, which has no dialogue but complete with narration only. It is quite cheesy and reminiscent of shorts featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 with easy mockery. It doesn’t have much to do with “Expresso Bongo” except for the near time period and featuring youth. Strangely this short was not intended for distribution in the UK but for export purposes. The film has been mastered in 2K, though not thoroughly cleaned for remastering. There are dots and specs around, but still looks quite good and the sound is quite clear. Note that the Blu-ray displays the audio as “French” but it is in fact in English. in 1080p, in 1.33:1, in English LPCM 2.0 mono "The Square" 1957 short film (15:51) Directed by Michael Winner this debut short about an elderly man given a party was made for £1000 independently. The film was never released as it could not find a distributor and the print was donated to the BFI archives along with his other film materials after Winner’s death in 2013, in accordance to his wishes. (Dare we say “Death Wish”?) The film has been mastered in 2K, though not thoroughly cleaned for remastering, though it looks good for the source condition. The sound is good except the very end sounding pretty bad with loud pops, crackles and drop outs. in 1080p, in 1.33:1, in English LPCM 2.0 mono Trailer (2:59) A scratchy original trailer with heavy emphasis on the music aspect. in 1080p, in 2.35:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 DISC TWO (DVD Copy, region 2 PAL) Alternative sequences from the 1962 cut (2 mins) As the DVD only provides the original longer version, the 2 minutes of alternate sequences are provided separately here. This is on the DVD disc only. Gallery (4 mins) "Youth Club" 1954 documentary short (17 mins) "The Square" 1957 short film (16 mins) Trailer (3 mins) The above are the same extras as provided on the Blu-ray. DVD-ROM - Original US and UK press books (PDF) Downloadable PDFs are provided on the DVD disc only. Booklet As a commonplace for BFI releases, a booklet is provided. First the essay ”Expresso Bongo” written by film historian Andrew Roberts. Next is a reprint of a 1960 review of the film by Brenda Davies written for Monthly Film Bulletin. A biography of director Val Guest is next followed by the film’s full credits, the bonus features credits, and information on the film’s transfer. One thing conspicuously missing is English subtitles for the bonus features. Previous BFI Blu-rays and DVDs offered English subtitles on the extras, but for some reason, the three recent BFI Flipside releases “Beat Girl”, “Expresso Bongo”, and “Symptoms” are missing them. Why BFI stopped the practice is a mystery as it was always a given that there would be captioned extras. Also, no input from Cliff Richard? Too rich and too busy relaxing in Barbados I assume.
Packaging
This is spine #31 of the BFI Flipside series, showcasing various offbeat, forgotten, and overlooked British films.
Overall
“Expresso Bongo” does have its fun but it has seriously aged. The great thing is that it is a time capsule of the English scene pre-British invasion. With two versions of the film, a great transfer, and a good selection of extras including a director’s commentary, BFI has put together yet another great release.
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