Ferry Cross the Mersey is a 1964 British musical film directed by Jeremy Summers and starring Gerry and the Pacemakers. It was written by David Franden and based on a story by Tony Warren.

The film tells the story of a group of art students as they humorously try to navigate the Liverpool beat scene. After the group enters a music competition, their instruments are misplaced but are ultimately found in time for them to take the stage and win the contest.

It is frequently considered to be Gerry and the Pacemakers’ version of the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night.

Plot

The film opens with Gerry and the Pacemakers stepping off a plane after returning from a trip to America. They are greeted by screaming young fans who chase them down the street as they drive off. Once they are far enough from the crowd, the setting shifts to a scene of the group in the studio recording the song “It’s Gonna Be Alright”.

The movie goes back to before the band made it big. Gerry’s monologues about living in Liverpool and meeting the band members are overlaid with shots of children playing and mingling in the street. The band is shown playing “Why Oh Why?” at the Cavern Club to a screaming audience. The next day, Aunt Lil tries to wake Gerry up from bed with a cowbell. To her surprise, he is already awake and listening to the radio. After checking the time, Gerry rushes out of bed and gets dressed in a fast-motion sequence before meeting his family for breakfast. After eating, he scooters off to catch the ferry (“All Quiet on the Mersey Front”), where the rest of the band waits for him. They sing “Ferry Cross the Mersey” to the surrounding passengers. When the boat docks, they all scooter off to the art school. Before the art instructor enters the room and tells everyone to get to work, Dodie (Julie Samuel) reminds Gerry to create a good song to play at the beat competition. When the instructor leaves, the Pacemakers sing “Fall in Love”. Once class ends, Dodie goes her separate ways as the group goes for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. While waiting for their food, they perform “This Thing Called Love”.

In the meantime, Dodie meets with Jack Hanson and convinces him to consider managing the Pacemakers. He is invited to visit the band rehearsing “Think About Love” in a warehouse. After seeing the group and an enthusiastic crowd that has also arrived to watch, he offers to manage them. Gerry comes home to join an orchestral rehearsal with Aunt Lil and company before retiring to his room to play “She’s the Only Girl for Me”. He later receives a letter saying Dodie had been involved in a car pile-up; the four men travel to her mansion to check up on her.

Dodie is in good health but tells the group they’ve got stiff competition. They play “I’ll Wait for You” in her music room. On Saturday, the Pacemakers – donning their new outfits – meet Hanson at a music store to try out new instruments (“Baby You’re So Good to Me”).

On the day of the competition, they rent a car from a funeral home to carry their gear and travel off to the Locarno ballroom. Jimmy Savile is the MC and opens the show with the Fourmost playing “I Love You Too”–they receive moderately high applause on the “Audiometer” which uses audience applause to measure who will win. The band is told to get ready after the number, but they discover the instruments they’ve dropped off have been accidentally taken to the airport. As other bands take the stage, they try to outrun the police while making sure to get their gear back in time. Back at the ballroom, the Black Knights, among others, take the stage. Hanson becomes increasingly anxious and asks Cilla Black to perform early (“Is it Love?”).

Gerry and the Pacemakers find the group that had taken their gear and return to the ballroom just as Black’s performance ends. They take the stage just in time to play “It’s Gonna Be Alright” to the exuberant crowd. The Audiometer puts them over the top ,and they win. The movie ends with the main characters celebrating on the ferry.