The movie was filmed over the course of three months under the direction of Jeremy Summers. For authenticity, many scenes were shot near the home of Gerry and the Pacemakers' frontman Gerry Marsden. These locations included the Mountwood ferry on the River Mersey, the Albert Dock, The Cavern Club, Frank Hessy's music store, and the Locarno ballroom. A collection of location stills and corresponding contemporary photographs is hosted at reelstreets.com. The soundtrack was released the same year; Marsden wrote nine new songs for the film. Cilla Black is also featured with her song "Is it Love?", along with the Fourmost with their track "I Love You Too". The album is rounded out with an instrumental by the George Martin Orchestra. Future Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen appeared in the film as an uncredited extra. Disc Jockey Steve Wright appeared in the crowd as a boy. Reception Since its theatrical release, Ferry Cross the Mersey has rarely been shown on British television, nor was it released on video. Eugene Archer of The New York Times found Ferry Cross the Mersey to be unoriginal and conformist, due to it being close in theme to the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. Despite this, he considered the movie to be a modest comedy. A reviewer from the Daily Cinema also saw similarities between the two films but found Ferry to be a "winner". They praised the humour, "exuberant personalities" of the band, and the soundtrack. Another review from the publication Variety, called the movie "noisy, corny, and full of clichés" due to the lax scriptwriting. References External links 1965 films British musical films 1965 musical films Films directed by Jeremy Summers Films set in Liverpool Films scored by George Martin Jimmy Savile 1960s English-language films 1960s British films