Trivia: The grandmother played in the movie is Florence Henderson. She was the original Carol Brady. The truck driver was the original Alice, the teacher in the lunchroom was the original Peter, and the guy at the record company was the original Greg.
Trivia: The Partridge Family's bus passes in front of the camera in the school scene.
Trivia: The song that Davy Jones sings called "Girl" is from a 1971 Paramount film called "Star Spangled Girl" starring Sandy Duncan. Durning the singing a poster from that film can be seen in the background on the walls with Duncan's picture on them.
Answer: I have listened several times to both versions of "Sunshine Day" on YouTube. To my ear, they are both the same speed. However, the movie version does have some significant cuts, and some added incidental bridge music, such as when the crowd of women rushes to the Tori Spelling book signing, or when the kids are talking to Alice in the massage chair. If the movie version is slower, it is not significantly so. And perhaps it was changed to fit the blocked movement they wanted, and to accommodate the timing of the scene that they were going for. I doubt legality had anything to do with it, as the soundtrack notes states the song was used by permission. But, again, I don't think the tempo has been significantly altered.
Michael Albert
The original series was faster. I just listened to the start of both versions a few times in a row and although they are both in the same exact key (key of A), the show is definitely faster tempo and the movie slower. Even the singer in the first line of the song (one of the girls) sounds higher pitched in the show, and slower and lower pitched in the movie.