Summer Holiday – 1963 | 107 mins | Musical | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Upon its release in 1963, Summer Holiday broke all British box office records and sealed Cliff Richard’s clean-cut reputation as England’s best-loved entertainer. This infectious musical adventure features Cliff’s well-integrated musical hits “Summer Holiday,” “Bachelor Boy and “Dancing Shoes”, as well as the #1 instrumental smash “Foot Tapper” by his virtuoso backing band The Shadows. Debut director Peter Yates ensures this high-spirited romp sticks to an archetypal family formula and the minimal plot is just an excuse for a succession of Herbert Ross choreographed musical numbers and glimpses of stunning European scenery.

Garage mechanic Don (Cliff Richard) is one of four mechanics who persuades London Transport to loan him a double-decker bus for a trial run of a proposed travel service across the European continent. Don and his mates transform the bus into a hotel on wheels for the road trip across Europe. In France, they hook-up with an all-female musical trio “Do Re Me”, and after writing-off their car, offer to drive the girl’s to Athens. But when beautiful runaway American pop star Barbara (Lauri Peters) stows away on board disguised as a boy; Don and Barbara are soon are in love. Barbara just wants a vacation to relax from her taxing schedule, but her mother and agent accuse the mechanic of abducting her daughter.