Year:  1957
Rating: 5.0

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Back in 1957 the film studio AIP was able to hire the services of The Platters for all of one day and so approached Roger Corman and asked him to put a script together where he could use them. In fact, Corman made two films - this one and Rock All Night. The Platters show up for a few minutes in each to perform, but Corman had to fill in at least another 70 minutes or show. As it turns out not all that successfully for this film (Rock All Night is next up).


This is sort of a low budget not very tragic take on Phantom of the Opera. In fact, it is a surprisingly middling rather dull melodramatic love triangle. But it is interspersed with some solid musical performances when early rock and roll was taking over the world. The Platters are the big act but only sing one song - but there is also Bob Luman and the Shadows, a fine rockabilly group of the period who never made it big but was around for years. A few of his songs are on YouTube and are quite good - clearly influenced by Elvis as was everyone around then. Two songs also from another Elvis like rocker, David Houston, who actually had a few big hits in the 1960's but as a country singer.


The Greek accented Cristakos (David Stewart, Lepke in Murder Inc.) owns a small failing nondescript club on the grounds of a tacky carnival - where the entire film is shot. He has a big thing for the female singer (Susan Cabot) slobbering all over her and begging for her love. She thinks he is an old man at 50 (ouch) and instead loves a low rent con man Stanley (Brian Hutton) who wants the girl and the club. On hand also as Cristakos's right hand man is Benny played by Corman regular Dick Miller. You expect it to go into something crazy but it just never goes there - even when Cristakos goes all Pagliacci on us. The bad guy turns out not to be so bad, the girl turns out not to be a femme fatale and Cristakos is just a lump of self-pity. Only the music makes it worth a visit.


Cabot who had a background in singing does a few numbers which are quite decent - she is a doll - and she went on to be in a few Corman films; the most famous or infamous being The Wasp Woman which was her last film. She turned into one of those tragic tales - had a lengthy affair with the King of Jordan but after that she retired from acting, got married again had a son but by her 60's was clinically crazy and when she attacked her son (or so he maintains), he killed her with a bar bell.


The so-called villain in the film is played by Brian Hutton who never had any kind of acting career to speak of but somehow he managed to get a few directing jobs and made some top notch films but then retired to go into real estate - but not before he directed Kelly's Heroes, Sol Madrid, Where Eagle's Dare and The First Deadly Sin. He had been out of the business in fact for seven years when he was called in to direct First Deadly Sin after Roman Polansky was dropped after the rape charges. You sort of feel there has to be more to the story of his in and out and leave directing career.


This film was adapted from a TV play with a hell of a better cast than Corman got with Buddy Ebsen, Debra Paget, Oscar Homolka and Peter Graves. But no Platters!