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Up Jumped a Swagman

Up Jumped a Swagman is a 1965 British musical comedy film directed by Christopher Miles and starring Frank Ifield, Annette Andre, Ronald Radd and Suzy Kendall. It includes the songs "Waltzing Matilda" and "I Remember You".

Premise

An aspiring Australian singer moves to London in the hope of a big breakthrough. He chases after a popular model, not noticing the beautiful daughter of a pub owner who loves him. He also gets involved with a gang of thieves.

Cast

Frank Ifield – Dave Kelly
Annette Andre – Patsy
Ronald Radd – Harry King
Suzy Kendall – Melissa Smythe-Fury
Richard Wattis – Lever, Music Publisher
Donal Donnelly – Bockeye
Bryan Mosley – Jo-Jo
Martin Miller – Herman
Harvey Spencer – Luigi
Carl Jaffe – Analyst
Cyril Shaps – Phil Myers
Frank Cox – Wilkinson
Fred Cox – Docherty
Joan Geary – Mrs. Hawkes Fenhoulet
William Mervyn – Mr. Hawkes Fenhoulet
Gerald Harper - Publicity Man
Gillian Bowden - Dancer

Production

The film was made when Frank Ifield was at the height of his popularity, and attempts to reproduce the success of Cliff Richard's musicals. Ifield's agent, Leslie Grade, suggested another one of his clients, Christopher Miles, as director. Miles was only 25 and had never made a feature film before. He said the script was to be written by the people who wrote Richard's musicals:

Unfortunately the two writers of the Cliff pictures were not then on speaking terms, so the two halves of a rather soggy script arrived separately in the post, and not surprisingly made no sense at all. So Leslie, not one to be beaten, got an old writer friend from ITV, Lewis Greifer, saying "He's the man, I know you'll get on well" which we did. However, thinking up a credible vehicle for Frank, amiable and charming as he was, proved to me that ultimately you cannot make a celluloid purse out of a sow's ear, even though Frank was gamely willing to send himself up. It was going to have to be a small budget, and to save money I was asked to use a new film saving invention – the dreaded 'Techniscope' process. By only using two sprocket holes for each frame (instead of the standard four) a narrow negative was created, which had a sort of wide-screen look. However, in 1965 colour film stock was still rather grainy, which showed when the final picture was blown up for the large cinema screen.

Miles also said the leading lady fell pregnant before shooting started; he replaced her with Suzy Kendall (making her film debut).

The film was shot at MGM's London studios at Boreham Wood, with exteriors at Gravesend Docks, St. Paul's Cathedral, Hyde Park, the Albert Memorial and Elstree town.

Annette Andre, an Australian actor living in London, was cast in the female lead. She called it "A very strange film. Good cast. Frank was nice, I was just never a fan of his singing. But he was pleasant. I was young enough to have fun with it. At the time, it was good work and I was thrilled to be doing it. "

Miles later reflected:

It was a baptism of fire but it taught me a lot about making a feature. It taught me that you cannot make a celluloid purse out of a sow's ear. You must get the script right first... Bunuel made musicals at one time and he probably destroyed the negatives by now. Like me, he needed the money.