If you
were one of millions who tuned into the popular It's Cliff Richard
series on BBC TV on a Saturday night, and if you can cast your mind
back to September 1972, you most probably remember the hour-long
special titled The Case, which co-starred Olivia Newton-John
and Tim Brooke Taylor, and like me, are probably wondering why it has never
seen the light of day on DVD or Blu ray, or why pre-DVD, it was never
released on a commercial VHS, and are probably thinking it's long
overdue for a remastered and restored release, especially when you
consider Cliff's series was one of the most popular light
entertainment programmes of that decade and was the series that
contributed to launching Olivia's career in Britain.
For
those who don't know or remember, The Case was a comedy caper
that follows the farcical aftermath of a situation of mistaken
identity, and the unfortunate switch of two very similar bags, but
with very different contents. Cliff played himself and along with Tim
Brooke-Taylor (from The Goodies), are touring the It’s
Cliff Richard show around the Scandinavian countries, when a
television recording of the show over-runs, which means that they are
late in catching the train to their next destination. Meanwhile, a
pair of robbers have just held up a bank and are intent on making
their getaway with a large bag full of the money they have just
stolen. A fleeting, unknown meeting at the station results in Cliff
taking the bag of money and the robbers picking up his similar bag,
filled with the music for the television show.
Once
the thieves realise the mistake, they are determined to follow Cliff,
now split from Tim after missing the train, and do whatever they can
to recover their ill-gotten gains. From one country to another, by
car, train, even an overnight ferry, they get closer to Cliff, who,
reunited with Tim, does all he can to get away from them. Once the
police get involved, the situation is resolved to everyone’s
satisfaction – or is it?
As
per usual Cliff put in a great performance that showed his
versatility as an actor and comic, laying the foundations for some of
the slapstick that would appear the following year in the theatrical
release of Take
Me High (recently
restored and released on DVD and Blu-ray), which he honed from the
years of working on his Saturday night light entertainment shows. As
with the majority of his full-length feature films, the narrative was
developed with a sense of fun and is interspersed with a number of
song performances, including a duet with Olivia, If
I Was Close to You,
which shows the beauty and blend of their vocals when performing
together.
Broadcast
during the summer run of his television show in 1972, this special
has only been aired once and is now a significant rarity, a curio,
and an important document of Cliff’s career as a broader
entertainer rather than being pigeon-holed as Britain's Peter Pan of
Pop!
With the exception of Cliff's Living
In Harmony and
Olivia's two solo numbers, the other songs were all recorded specially and exclusively for the special, and have
never been commercially released. The duet with Olivia is
particularly noteworthy as it was, at that time, only the second
recording they had made together, the first being the B-side track, Don’t
Move Away, and its extraordinary beauty shows that it deserves a broader release
for fans of both performers to see and hear. For Olivia fans, there was
footage of her performing her then current single Just
A Little Too Much and
Banks
of the Ohio, the
second hit single from her first album, in specially filmed sequences. And for Cliff fans there was the new rendition of Move
It! that combined and melded the guitar-driven approach of the original with the
orchestral arrangement that was released on his 1967 Top 30 album
Don’t
Stop Me Now!
A
first-time ever release of this special is now crying out to be done
and for most film and TV buffs, would be perfectly suited to Network,
the video releasing company that seem more committed than most to
showcasing unique works of television and film, that have been
unjustly neglected and gathering dust in the vaults of TV companies.
With their encyclopaedic knowledge of TV and film archives and
library content, they have released a wealth of material in stunning
DVD and Blu ray packages with spectacular remastering and restoration
techniques that would have otherwise been left unseen.
If
Network greenlighted The
Case for release, the
opportunities for extras are endless. In keeping with their vast
catalogue of releases, it could include a
detailed booklet with synopsis, production notes, cast biographies, press items and an
image gallery of stills and photos, as well as some relevant PDF
material and a song only menu. As a bonus special feature, the
release could also include a collection of Cliff and Olivia's duet
performances and skits from It's
Cliff Richard between 1970 and
1974. Can you imagine how amazing it would be to see such material
scanned from the original camera negatives and extensively restored
to their original television aspect ratio of 4.3? And even better to see it restored without any film
dirt, damage, instability, warping and density fluctuation.
With thanks to Victor Rust, Juliette Iaciofano and Leo's Den Music
