10 January 1963 (London, premiere)
18 February 1963 (UK)
12 March 1964 (US)
Summer Holiday is a 1963 British CinemaScope and Technicolor musical film starring singer Cliff Richard. The film was directed by Peter Yates (his directorial debut), produced by Kenneth Harper. The original screenplay was written by Peter Myers and Ronald Cass (who also wrote most of the song numbers and lyrics).
The cast stars Lauri Peters, David Kossoff, Ron Moody and The Shadows and features Melvyn Hayes, Teddy Green, Jeremy Bulloch, Una Stubbs, Pamela Hart, Jacqueline Daryl, Madge Ryan, Lionel Murton, Christine Lawson, Wendy Barry and Nicholas Phipps.
Herbert Ross choreographed the musical numbers.
Storyline
A fabulous 1960s musical: Four London Bus mechanics strike up a deal with London Transport. They do up a double-decker London Bus, drive it around Europe as a hotel, and if they make it they will own and manage a whole fleet. While on the road in France they pick up three ladies whose car breaks down and offer to take them to their next singing job in Athens. They also pick up a stowaway: a young American boy. Meanwhile, a young American female singer has gone missing. Her VERY ambitious mother and her aide take the story to the press and it makes the front page. They do all they can to make the story run for as long as possible, including misdirecting the bus up an extremely steep Yugoslavian hill. The young American boy turns out to be the missing American girl. Mayhem ensues as the lead character, Don (Cliff Richard) falls for Barbara. Eventually, when the eight bus riders reach Athens, they're arrested for kidnapping. In front of her mother and a ballroom filled with world-press, Barbara and Don declare their love for each other and the mother accepts--after realizing how 'big' Don will become. The film ends with all eight people on a beach in Greece, very much enjoying their well-deserved holiday.