Carnival Rock

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Carnival Rock
Directed by Roger Corman
Written byLeo Lieberman
Based onTV play Carnival at Midnight by Lieberman
Produced byRoger Corman
Starring Susan Cabot
Brian G. Hutton
David J. Stewart
Dick Miller
Ed Nelson
Production
company
Howco Productions
Distributed byHowco International
Release date
  • August 1957 (1957-08)
[1]
Running time
75 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Carnival Rock is a 1957 film directed by Roger Corman with musical performances by The Platters, David Houston, Bob Luman and His Shadows, and the Blockbusters.

Contents

Plot

A nightclub owner, Christopher 'Christy' Cristakos, falls in love with the club's singer, Natalie Cook. However, the singer is in love with Stanley, a local businessman/gangster. After the gangster wins control of the club, Cristakos, the previous owner, begins to perform comic routines between the acts at the night club as part of his (Cristakos) plan to win Natalie back. Eventually, the gangster and the singer marry, which causes the previous owner to leave alone. [2]

Cast

Original TV play

The film was based on a one-hour TV play written by Leo Lieberman, called Carnival at Midnight. It was an episode of Climax! and aired on 3 January 1957. Jack Smight directed. [3] [4] [5]

Original cast

Production

Advertisement from 1957 for Carnival Rock and co-feature, Teenage Thunder. Texas Theatre Ad - 25 August 1957, Denton, TX.png
Advertisement from 1957 for Carnival Rock and co-feature, Teenage Thunder .

Roger Corman had previously made Rock All Night (1956), an earlier low budget film based on a TV play which featured musical acts. It was successful relative to its budget and Corman made this similar film for a syndicate of theatre owners. [6]

Filming started in May 1957 at Ziv Studios. Susan Cabot was borrowed from Universal, whom she was under contract to at the time. [3]

Music in the film was from The Platters, David Houston, Bob Luman, The Shadows and The Blockbusters, most of whom appear in the movie as themselves.

Songs

Reception

Variety found that Miller and Cabot turned in good performances, stated Corman did a fair job as producer and a better job as director and found the movie had overtones of Pagliacci mixed with Rock and Roll. [7]

Frank found the included music in the film the high point of the movie. [2]

Cabot would go on to make a number of films for Corman. [8]

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References

  1. "Double Feature: Teenage Thunder/ Carnival Rock". Denton Record-Chronicle. August 21, 1957. p. 2.
  2. 1 2 Frank, A. The Films of Roger Corman. Batsford Publishing (1996)
  3. 1 2 Schallert, Edwin (May 14, 1957). "Author Favors Glenn Ford for 'Quicksand'; Skouras Project Afoot". Los Angeles Times. p. B7.
  4. "TV SHOW PLANNED ON ETHAN ALLEN: Colonial Vermont Patriot Is Subject of C.B.S. Series --Corey in Fox Drama". New York Times. Dec 14, 1956. p. 42.
  5. "ON TELEVISION". New York Times. Jan 3, 1957. p. 75.
  6. Ed. J. Philip di Franco, The Movie World of Roger Corman, Chelsea House Publishers, 1979 p 84
  7. Review of film at Variety
  8. Scheuer, Philip K. (Nov 15, 1957). "Mata Hari Up for Eva Saint: Donald Harron; Ty Hungerford Join Paramount Talent Parade". Los Angeles Times. p. B11.