There was something about girlie pop of the ‘60s which has never quite been captured again – a gorgeous innocent yet knowing exuberance, coupled with, of course, some of the catchiest little tunes ever to get the eardrums of the world a thrumming. Dusty, Sandie, Lulu – and never let her be forgotten, Petula. Ditties like Downtown, Colour My World, I Know a Place, Call Me, Don’t Sleep in the Subway - classics all of them, with a distinct sound that has pretty much never been successfully recreated – well, except perhaps by the delicious Saint Etienne.

This sub-one hour documentary was made in 2002, and offers up a fairly comprehensive summary of Ms Clark’s career, one which has stretched from her childhood in the ‘40s right up to now. From entertaining the British troops on the radio through World War II, to her startling success in the ‘60s – Petula was a part of the massive British invasion of the States which The Beatles opened the floodgates for, with Downtown selling over one million singles – to movies (including Francis Ford Coppola’s Finian’s Rainbow), to her many U.S. TV specials of the ‘70s through to a stage career which included The Sound of Music, Blood Brothers (with David AND Shaun Cassidy!) and Sunset Blvd, amongst others.

Complete with recently recorded interviews with the lady herself, as well as many who have entered her orbit through her career – Lynn Redgrave, Harry Belafonte, Andy Williams, David Cassidy, Richard Carpenter – and featuring footage from many TV appearances, unfortunately mostly only offering incomplete performances, it is an interesting if not vital documentary, perhaps due to the sheer scope of material Petula has tackled in her career. For everybody who swoons at those poppy ‘60s gems, there will be just as many who will gag at the tunes from the stage or some of her more syrupy numbers. But for those who just can’t get enough of music documentaries, there’s definitely plenty here to please.

Considering the age of much of the material here, the full frame transfer offers up quite decent quality, although naturally enough things do vary a bit at times. Odd bouts of aliasing and varying levels of detail abound, however anybody expecting anything else from such footage is, quite simply, dreaming.

A solitary Dolby Digital stereo track is all that accompanies this release, and once again considering the age of various recordings included a very nice job has been done. Some of the early TV appearances exhibit a little in the way of hiss and a slight lack of range’ however they still appear to have been lovingly remastered for this release, and do sound better than many would expect. All is well synched, too.

Sadly there’s little in the way of extras, with a photo gallery offering up a selection of shots from throughout Petula’s career, playing through for 2:54 with suitably swingin’ ‘60s accompaniment. The only other offering is a discography, which is split into decades from the ‘60s to now as well as offering up separate sections for albums and singles, although no track listings are offered, only cover pictures – which is quite amusing when ploughing through the singles as none of them had picture sleeves until the ‘80s.

If it’s the ‘60s Petula you’re after, that period does form the bulk of this documentary, and there’s enough here to make it well worthwhile dragging out the old fleuro-green mini, false lashes and pale pink lippy and having a bit of a go-go around the lounge room.