Wie herrlich, jung zu sein

I saw this movie when it first came out. I was in my early teens and so just the right age for it and oh it seemed so romantic! I managed to get an ep of some of the music - wish I knew where that ep got to, I've lost it. But I never managed to see the movie again until quite recently on TV - it's been shown a few more times since.

I was never a real jazz enthusiast however so much as I enjoyed all the fun and games at the school with the young musicians and their impressive teacher played by John Mills in a such lively youthful performance that nicely presages his later great dramatic talents, the music itself didn't stay in my memory. Only a year or two later we young people were stunned and delighted by the first rock 'n roll - I heard Rock Around the Clock for the first time in a Hancock's Half Hour, believe it or not, which very amusingly guyed Blackboard Jungle, and I was enthralled - by the music as much as Hancock, ie. Next came Elvis and Heartbreak Hotel, and the music and style and youthful behaviour of It's Great to be Young morphed into energetic rock dancing and Elvis's sexy gyrations.

It's Great to be Young is a splendid period piece now, one of the last gasps if you like of the pre-beat music generation but still enormous fun.