Cheap The Ghost Goes Gear (DVD) (Hugh Gladwish) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Ghost Goes Gear

Thankfully there's good music...
I thought maybe there was a movie here...whew! HORRIBLY boring British chatter & aimless, silly story, BUT this is off a really sharp looking print of some obscure British mod-style groups. If nothing else, get this movie for this footage - there are some really nice segments of the artists if you've even heard of them. Not essential, but get it used or on eBay for a few bucks to add to your collection. If only the groups were a bit more popular (besides Spencer Davis), the music bits are superb. Story - blah...music, great!

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Obscure DVD with good audio commentary
I know very little about the Spensor Davis Group except for a few of their songs and that Steve Winwood was a member. I decided to view this movie because I had enjoyed the Monkees' movie "Head" and Herman's Hermits' "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter."

The actual movie is a terrific period piece that is light on plot (the ghost is barely in the film!) but it does contain performances by not only the Spensor Davis Group, but other obscure groups that I believe most Americans are not familiar with. Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band are very entertaining, as are the proto-Spice Girls act The Three Bells.

The audio commentary by Spensor Davis and Martin Lewis is informative not only about the making of the film, but also about the music scene happening in the UK at that time. Even if you don't care for the film, you will want to hear the commentary if you enjoy music from the 1960s.

The film quality is excellent and is presented in widesceen. One thing I wish the DVD would have included was captioning and a trailer (if one was made for the film.)

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The Morning After a Hard Day's Night...
After the Beatles made it big with "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help", there were a slew of copycat movies cranked out by the music industry. "Ghost Goes Gear" is one such attempt to capitalize on the success of Beatlemania.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't want to like this film. Overall, I thought it was Monkees-lite. And any attempt at sticking with a storyline goes out the window about twenty minutes in. This is unfortunate, because the film would be far more memorable if the slick madcap weirdness of the opening segments could have been maintained. However, I wound up thinking the movie wasn't half-bad, for what it was.

Some have criticized the director, Hugh Gladwish, for letting the plot get lost, but I think he did pretty good with the rest of it. Visually, the film has some minor flair. The camera motion is reserved, yet fluid when called for. And I was struck by how sharp the focus was throughout the whole film. I also liked the Monkees-ish drum chase down the river in the opening segment, and the umbrella-march to Rowthorpe Hall. The Spencer Davis Group isn't too bad at Monkee-like mugging for the camera. The lads are pleasant enough, and do their best. The ghost is kind of funny, too. There is even a touch of Python in the proceedings.

Two personalities stand out in the rest of the cast; Jack Haig will be instantly recognizable to fans of the Britcom "'Allo, 'Allo!" And Nicholas Parsons is interesting as the uptight band manager, sort of a cross between John Cleese and Paul Lynde.

The audio commentary is more about the music scene in England at the time of the film, rather than about the film itself. This commentary was enjoyable, though, and informative. Spencer Davis and humorist Martin Lewis readily joke that the film was a black hole for just about everyone career-wise.

The Spencer Davis Group is not bad at cooking up the groovy tunes. The other acts are instantly forgettable, save for the Paramount Jazz Band which seems rediculously out of place in the movie (the commentary explains that, in reality, the jazz band fits for the era). And Dave Berry is just plain annoying with his weird, hide-his-face foolishness. Thank goodness he only has two songs!

The Three Belles are an odd act, too. As Spencer and Martin Lewis remark in the commentary, they appear to be the inspiration for Austin Powers' Femmbots. In their first number, look for the middle Belle, who is the only one who seems to know how to react to the camera. One gets the sense that the producers just lined up whoever was available, but not bigger than the Spencer Davis Group.

Of course, Stevie Winwood fans will want to see the film, but he really doesn't do much acting-wise. Spencer and Peter York do most of the work there.

There's no naughtiness whatsoever, so you don't have to worry if your kids want to watch it (not that it will hold their attention past when the "gear" concert starts).

This slice of the Sixties British Invasion will undoubtedly be more interesting if you're into the Spencer Davis Group or the era, but the movie really holds more significance for the British audience than for anyone in the US.