Year:  1956
Rating: 5.0

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Here is another attempt by AIP to cash in on the youth market with some good old rock and roll. They have two legends of R&B performing - Fats Domino doing three songs and Big Joe Turner belting out two songs. For me that was enough to get through this otherwise fairly bland film. But with an interesting cast admittedly. Directed by that stalwart B director Edward L. Cahn who made them cheap (the budget for this one is listed as $78,000) but made a lot of them (some 123 director credits to his name). He does better when he has Mamie Van Doren in his films.


Here he has Mike Connors about a decade before he jumped into the role of Mannix - one of the better TV detective series that lasted 8 seasons. Connors plays a host on a low budget American Bandstand type of TV show. His sidekick is played by Sterling Holloway whose shtick of a funny voice and less than stellar intelligence made him a presence in hundreds of films from the 1930's on. He actually has a rather amusing bit here when he talks hip and Connors has to translate for everyone else. Connors girlfriend is Lisa Gaye, who had been in Rock Around the Clock with Bill Haley. She was the real life sister of Debra Paget. Good genes. The so-called drama comes in the form of a group of elderly Rock and Roll haters who want to shut down the show for corrupting the morals of the youth. I think I have stumbled across this plot more than a few times.


But what is great is the make-up of this group - all veteran actors who I have bumped up against so many times in films from the 1930's and 1940's. Heading it is Douglass Dumbrille who made a career out of being a jerk and continues that here, Raymond Hatton looking very old who has over 400 credits to his name, Percy Helton whose name you might not know but whose face and voice you almost certainly would if you watched any TV in the 1960's - and best of all - a real thrill - is the great Margaret Dumont doing a haughty character that she made famous in the Marx Brothers films. She is great and looks exactly the same as she did in those films. She had only done stage until the Marx Brothers grabbed her when she was already in her mid-40's to be the target of their many jokes.


So Fats and Joe perform - it is great seeing two black stars at this time in film - but it would have been a nice touch if any of the kids had been black - but perhaps that was asking too much. On hand also is Tommy Charles a well-known DJ at the time and a singer - he does one song - but is also known as the DJ who led the burning of the Beatles albums after John said they were more popular than Jesus.