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The Duke Wore Jeans

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The Duke Wore Jeans
Directed byGerald Thomas
Screenplay byNorman Hudis
Based on
Produced byPeter Rogers
Starring
CinematographyOtto Heller
Edited byPeter Boita
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Insignia Films
Distributed byAnglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release date
  • 30 March 1958 (1958-03-30)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Duke Wore Jeans is a 1958 British comedy musical film directed by Gerald Thomas and starring Tommy Steele, June Laverick and Michael Medwin.[1] The screenplay was by Norman Hudis.

Plot

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The only son of the poor but aristocratic Whitecliffe family is to be sent to the nation of Ritalla in order to sell the family's cattle to upgrade the nation's livestock. As a side benefit, his parents hope he will marry the King's only daughter, Princess Maria. Unknown to his family, Tony is already secretly married to a commoner. Fate intervenes when drifter Tommy Hudson, who is the identical likeness of Tony, comes to the Whitecliffe estate to seek work. Tony engages Tommy to impersonate him on his trip to Ritalla accompanied by Cooper, the family's only servant.

Tommy and Cooper travel to Ritalla where Tommy pretends to be Tony. The princess refuses to meet him because she does not want to get married. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bastini is scheming to force the King to abdicate since his daughter refuses to marry.

Tommy meets the princess and they fall in love.[2]

Cast

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Production

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Steele made the film because he was contracted to Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy for one more movie. He says the idea of the film was his, as he always liked The Prince and the Pauper. "It wasn't only a chance to act a bit, it was also an opportunity to kick around new musical ideas," he wrote later. "I wanted to act a good part and sing show numbers."[3]

Steele was paid £20,000 plus 10% of the profits.[4]

Peter Rogers says he found Steele "vain, conceited, bad mannered and the biggest crime of all, unprofessional." Bart pitched Rogers the idea of making a version of Oliver Twist starring Steele but Rogers did not want to work with the singer again.The producer claims he told Bart to turn the idea into a stage musical which led to Oliver!.[5]

Songs

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The songs for the film were released in 1958 by Decca on a 10-inch LP, a 7-inch EP and two 7-inch singles and, in more recent times, on compilation CDs. The songs in the film include:

  • "It's All Happening"
  • "What do You Do"
  • "Family Tree"
  • "Happy Guitar"
  • "Hair-Down, Hoe-Down"
  • "Princess"
  • "Photograph" (duet with June Laverick)
  • "Thanks A Lot"

All of the songs were written by Lionel Bart, Mike Pratt and Jimmy Bennett (a pseudonym of Tommy Steele).

Steele said "Family Tree" in particular "proved Lionel Bart's talent as a wordsmith... It was a bastard to sing but I relished it."[6]

Soundtrack

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Chart positions

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Chart Year Peak
position
UK Albums Chart[7] 1958 1
Preceded by
Pal Joey by Original Soundtrack
 UK Albums Chart number-one album
26 April 1958 – 10 May 1958 		Succeeded by
My Fair Lady by Original Cast Album

Reception

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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Tommy Steele has a large, warm personality and an endearing ease in the midst of this absurd modern-dress Ruritanian pantomime. He still has a tendency towards coyness or archness – a fault also of the young Ray Bolger, whom he often resembles – but one suspects that he will outlast the rock'n'roll era which fostered him. His departures from rock'n'roll in the present film prove, in fact, his best numbers. The august supporting cast too often betray a sense that they are slumming – with rather embarrassing results.[8]

References

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  1. ^ "The Duke Wore Jeans". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  2. ^ THE DUKE WORE JEANS Picture Show; London Vol. 70, Iss. 1829, (Apr 19, 1958): 8.
  3. ^ Steele p 295
  4. ^ Andrew Caine Interpreting Rock Movies: The Pop Film and Its Critics in Britain, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004p.117
  5. ^ Bright, Morris (2000). Mr. Carry On : the life and work of Peter Rogers. p. 73.
  6. ^ Steele p 295
  7. ^ "The Official Charts Company - Original Soundtrack - The Duke Wore Jeans". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  8. ^ "The Duke Wore Jeans". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 25 (288): 61. 1 January 1958 – via ProQuest.

Notes

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