Saturday, March 29, 2014

Movie review - "Rock Rock Rock" (1956) **1/2

The first movie made by the team of Rosenberg and Subotsky who later went on to form Amicus, best known for their work in the horror genre. This is a musical, though curiously it has one thing in common with some of Amicus' best known work, which were all-star anthologies: it's a collection of different musical performances by well known stars of the time, linked together by a loose narrative.

The narrative concerns the adventures of a young Tuesday Weld, trying to save money for a prom dress. She falls for a boy (Teddy Randazzo) and has to fight off a bitch. A lot of the dialogue is concerned with things like borrowing money and interest rates - I think Subotsky had money on the brain writing this.

This is chiefly of interest for the acts on display: Chuck Berry, the Moonglows, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, among others, plus Alan Freed doing the introducing, plus Connie Francis dubbing Tuesday's singing voice. They are all lively and the movie enjoyable; Tuesday is a solid center for this sort of thing.

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