Two a Penny

Two a Penny is a 1967 British film, released nationally in 1968, featuring singer Cliff Richard. The film was directed by James F. Collier and produced by Frank R. Jacobson for Billy Graham's film distribution and production company World Wide Pictures.[1][2] The original story and screenplay was written by Stella Linden.

Two a Penny
Directed byJames F. Collier
Produced byFrank R. Jacobson
Written byStella Linden (original story and screenplay)
StarringCliff Richard
Ann Holloway
Dora Bryan
Avril Angers
Geoffrey Bayldon
Peter Barkworth
Mona Washbourne
Earl Cameron
Charles Lloyd-Pack
Billy Graham
Music byMike Leander
Cliff Richard
CinematographyMichael Reed
Edited byAnn Chegwidden
Eugene Pendleton
Distributed byWorld Wide Pictures
Release date
1968
Running time
98 min
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The cast included Ann Holloway, Dora Bryan, Avril Angers, Geoffrey Bayldon, Peter Barkworth, Mona Washbourne, Earl Cameron, Charles Lloyd-Pack, and Billy Graham himself, filmed at his "London Crusade" in 1967.

Plot

Jamie Hopkins (Cliff Richard)[3] is an art student and frustrated pop star who lives with his mother (Dora Bryan). She works as a receptionist for Dr. Berman (Donald Bisset), a psychiatrist who is experimenting with psychedelic drugs. Jamie wants to make money quickly, and begins to work at the doctor's office as a pretence in order to steal drugs.[4]

When his girlfriend Carol (Ann Holloway) is converted to Christianity while attending a crusade led by evangelist Billy Graham, she attempts to show him the error of his ways. Soon after, Jamie is caught stealing from Dr. Berman's drug supply, and attempting to double-cross drug dealer Alec Fitch (Geoffrey Bayldon).

Initially hostile toward his girlfriend's newfound faith, Jamie eventually accepts it.

Cast

Soundtrack

Soundtrack album was released on Columbia Records (Columbia SCXJ 6262) in 1968. The album also credited the Mike Leander Orchestra and was produced by Norrie Paramor.

Track list:
Side A:

  1. Two A Penny (2:44)
  2. "I'll Love You Forever Today" (3:08)
  3. "Questions" (2:53)
  4. "Long Is The Night" (instrumental) (2:32)
  5. "Lonely Girl" (3:09)
  6. "And Me (I'm On The Outside Now)" (3:02)
  7. "Daybreak" (instrumental) (2:20)

Side B:

  1. "Twist and Shout" (2:39)
  2. "Celeste" (instrumental) (2:47)
  3. "Wake Up Wake Up" (2:37)
  4. "Cloudy" (2:19)
  5. "Red Rubber Ball" (2:07)
  6. "Close to Kathy" (2:57)
  7. "Rattler" (2:52)

Reception

The "Billy Graham movies" were an effort to "extend the Billy Graham ministry into a filmic medium."[2] Their standards of success were therefore not the usual Hollywood standards.[5] This film followed one of several formulas,[2] developing a small cult following due to several notable factors, as Peter T. Chattaway writes:

Two a Penny stars Cliff Richard, who I do admire, as well as a number of actors I fondly recognize from other British films (including To Sir with Love and The Family Way); because it is the only film so far in which dramatic action takes place on the actual platform from which Billy Graham speaks at the London crusade (in contrast to all the other films, where footage of Graham’s sermons is spliced into an otherwise unrelated dramatic story, and the closest the characters ever get to the stage is milling about with the other converts after they come forward); because it is the first film in which the title song represents a character’s troubled inner thoughts and not the message of the film; because it ends on an ambiguous note in which the protagonist’s salvation is still kind of up in the air; and for other, smaller reasons besides. Alas, the version on the WWP website is only 65 minutes or so, but I understand a 97-minute version is available on DVD in Britain... Still, even in its bowdlerized form, the film’s merits do come through.[2]

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gollark: It just prints out channels with items so I can review them manually.

References
  1. "Two A Penny". BillyGraham.org. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. Chattaway, Peter. "Billy Graham movies - the 50s and 60s". Patheos.com. Retrieved 25 June 2005.
  3. "Tuesday 17th December 1968 : Cliff Richard talks about his new movie, Two A Penny". TVpopdiaries.co.uk. TV Pop Diaries : Pop Music on British Television 1955 - 1999. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  4. "Two a Penny". ChristianCinema.com. Christian Cinema. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  5. Chattaway, Peter. "Billy Graham, Filmmaker". ChristianityToday.com. Christianity Today. Retrieved 23 August 2005.


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