It truly is incredible to think a film so good was made so long ago. Incredibly clever scenes were created with such limited special effects available, and the camera quality is watchable. The politics have not stood the test of time. From the border line kidnapping of women that attracts them to the men, to the lack of any pocs that aren't maids, there are serious 'room for improvements'. Although this does not really excuse the behaviour, I do think it's important to remember the period this was made in and not criticize the entire film for that. The songs may be the best bit, but after you watch it they will not leave your conscious mind for at least a month - you have been warned. With such and array of happy and sad songs, it may have one of the best musical numbers of that decade. All in all, it's a great film that everyone should watch at least once in their life.

It's not as good as the previous "The Young Ones", there is no Robert Morley here, and the music is less first rate. Still it's fabulous entertainment in gorgeous colours and wonderful musical numbers including many outstanding dance sequences. Laurie Peters is a good match for Cliff Richard, and the story is excellent too: a bunch of lads working in a garage decide to leave the dreariness of the climate in England to go for a holiday south, and for that purpose they refashion a London double-decker as a camping bus with kitchen and facilities and go off through all Europe with Athens for a destination. On the way they collect passengers, especially girls, and in France a whole troupe of mime actors join the party and effect marvellous entertainment. There are many ingenious innovations in this film, and the high level of good humour never slackens. The only crooks are some intruders from America headed by Laurie Peters' dreadful mother, but even she is ultimately converted by Cliff Richard. He is no great actor, but he is a fabulous artist, and whenever he performs, he dominates everything. It's a vein of wild good houmour throughout, which can even be viewed with positive digestion and delight more than once. Forget the superficiality, and concentrate on the colours, the entertainment and the consistently wonderful good mood.

I like a good musical as much as the next person, and Summer Holiday was pretty good. The film is overlong, and I agree that the story is very slight and verging on the ridiculous side of things and that while there are some amusing and infectious bits of dialogue some of it sounds rather dated and cheesy(perhaps by today's standards). However, it was a very entertaining and colourful film. Despite the length, Summer Holiday is often bright and breezy in the pace, while the production values are terrific and the direction decent enough. The performances are very spirited, Cliff Richard heads the cast and does a great job, while Melvyn Hayes, Lauri Peters and Una Stubbs ably support him. The best part are the songs, all of them are good-natured and memorable with the cheery title song especially epitomising classic status. In conclusion, I liked it. It is a very slight film, but it is also fun and enjoyable thanks to the songs, production values and performances. 7/10 Bethany Cox