RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

jimdoyle111 When the UK game show 'Pointless' asked contestants to name a Cliff Richard film in 2014, "Wonderful Life" would have won them the jackpot, because no one remembered this – Cliff's fifth film – fifty years on, and yet it was a film that changed things. After the poor reception and disappointing box office results of this one – it only eventually clawing its budget back in 1987 – Cliff abandoned his trademark quiff and instead went for a Beatle style comb forward. His support team of Melvyn Hayes, Richard O'Sullivan and Una Stubbs were dropped (although Una did later co-star with him in a TV adaptation of 'Aladdin') and there was a two year gap before Cliff and the Shadows (who had never been really used properly in his films) returned to the big screen with "Finders Keepers". And yet in 2015 I find myself strangely drawn towards this film despite – or maybe because of – its flaws of overproduction, poor acting, dull and unbelievable story and director Sydney J Furie's obsession with a new zoom lens. Susan Hampshire is so attractive. She bats her eyes and smiles and goes along with it all in a nice playful spirit – knowing it was rubbish bit determined to at least make people enjoy her performance. Cliff is Cliff. He sings some songs, most of which are terrible – but especially good is 'Matter Of Moments' – but Cliff never really looks at ease. Walter Slezak roars and shouts and gets it right. He plays a past it director with a sensitivity he hides until the end. Many years later when I started writing about old films, I asked a friend to watch it for me and give me an opinion – but he called back a week later to say that although he tried, he had never gotten beyond the opening fifteen minutes. Here's what I wrote about it in my book "What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema)" when it arrived in Glasgow during week commencing 9th August 1964.When the Beatles started dominating the charts, Cliff Richard's image took a bit of a dent and it certainly wasn't helped with the timing of the release of "Wonderful Life" at the ABC Regal and Green's Bedford. "The Young Ones" had been a breakthrough musical and "Summer Holiday" had seen him at his film peak, but "Wonderful Life" tried to repeat the formula once too often and the plot of a load of old looking youngsters working at a movie location making their own film looked just daft. On top of that coming to town a couple of weeks after "Hard Day's Night" accentuated the gap between what young people wanted to see now, compared to the sort of all-round-entertainment on show here with dance routines that went on too long, show songs like 'Home' which would have been booed off at a music hall and a lengthy sequence on the history of cinema which brings the film to a shuddering halt. The film had been troubled with weather problems in the Canaries and original support choice Dennis Price had been fired allegedly for drinking and replaced by Glasgow born Derek Bond, and the only Cliff hit song was 'On The Beach'. Susan Hampshire (who had had a small part in "Expresso Bongo") and Walter Slezak co-starred, but this put Cliff's film career on hold for a couple of years. "A Woman's Privilege" with it was one of the 'Scales Of Justice' series about a bachelor who sues a girl who dupes him.Jim Doyle is the author of 'What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema)', 'What We Watched In The 1970s (In The Cinema)" and 'What We Watched In The 1980s (In The Cinema And On Video)'

Neil Welch Let's face it, Cliff's greatest asset has always been his singing. His stage movement is notoriously naff, and he was never the greatest actor.But he was always surrounded with a tolerable ensemble and, especially here and in Summer Holiday, some sunny production values.The trouble is the story here is rather weak and the songs, with a couple of exceptions, are especially weak. Richard O'Sullivan, an actor of some ability, uses that ability to provoke extreme irritation. Melvyn Hayes is his usual comic relief fall guy. Una Stubbs is cute and dances the socks off everyone else (and would have been such a good leading lady if she'd ever been given the opportunity). Walter Slezak fulfills what the plot requires of him. And Susan Hampshire is versatile, fetching, and downright hot.The best sequence is an extended trawl through the history of movies - hardly profound, but fun.But it is all pretty dated stuff.

ccmiller1492 A truly nonsenscial muscial comedy, it's nevertheless Cliff Richard's best in the musical genre. ( He did a couple of dramatic films which were his best) A rather bland singer competing with his similar American counterparts Elvis Presley and Frankie Avalon, Richards fared no better than they in comedy and musical scripts. This one at least contains Susan Hampshire and Walter Slezak. What makes this movie so entertaining is the zippy pace and the surprisingly great dancing and choreography. The big dance number on the set by the whole crew is spectacular and rivals "West Side Story". Incidentally, the long-legged Richards keeps right up with the rest of them and does even better at it than his singing! The cute little send-up of the history of the movies is also very entertaining.

ed-1573 This is the third in a series of Cliff Richard films and the weakest of the lot. 'The Young Ones' was fun, 'Summer Holiday' was great, but by this time the screenwriters knew they had to make a film but didn't know what it should be about. In the end it's about nothing much at all. The music is flat for the most part and closer to show music than rock'n'roll. It's not surprising that they didn't make a fourth.