Search - Rock, Rock, Rock! on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1956 DVD Release: 08/12/2003 Format: DVD - Black and White Edition: Restored/Remastered SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 23 mins Studio: Cleopatra Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Musical, Teen Movie, Rock Musical See Also: Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock!, Alan Freed's Rock, Rock, Rock! [DVD/CD], Rock, Rock, Rock!, Rock, Rock, Rock!/Rhythm & Blues Review

Rock, Rock, Rock stars 13-year-old Tuesday Weld, who looks 11 if she's a day. Even so, Weld's Dori is trying to get together enough money to buy a strapless gown (she's far more self-confident than she should be at this biological stage of the game). Daddy has cut off Dori's allowance, but gee, she's gotta go to the prom. Nevermind all that, you'll want to see Rock, Rock, Rock for its dynamite lineup of guest stars. In alphabetical order: LaVerne Baker, Chuck Berry, the Johnny Burnette Trio, Jimmy Cavallo House Rockers, Cirino and the Bowties, the Coney Island Kids, the Flamingos, Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers, the Moonglows, and Teddy Randazzo. As a bonus, Connie Francis provides Tuesday Weld's singing voice. And say, kids, it's Alan Freed serving up platters 'n' chatters and stax o' wax on prom night. This marked Valerie Harper's film debut; she was in her teens at the time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tuesday Weld - Dori
Connie Francis - Dubbed singing for Tuesday Weld
Teddy Randazzo - Tommy
Alan Freed - Recording Artist (Coral)
Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
Chuck Berry
Johnny Burnette

Will Price's Rock, Rock, Rock! has appeared in several different DVD editions; not having seen the versions from Passport, Image Entertainment etc., it's impossible to compare Goldenlane Records' edition with them. On its own terms, however, the image is only fair, derived from what looks like a poor 16mm source, not up to the standard of the print that was used on pay-cable in the second half of the 1980s. The image is window-boxed (as opposed to letterboxing) -- there are thin black borders surrounding the picture throughout; the contrast is relatively poor, with many details washed out, which matches up with the softness of the image and the background detail. Yet, strangely enough, it's a fun disc because of the sound; the producers have pumped up their source material on the songs, going to modern, properly digitized masters, and also enhanced the original soundtrack for pseudo-stereo playback. The effect renders the performance clips more than satisfactory; for some reason (maybe poor copies of this movie circulating around?), one just doesn't expect Chuck Berry miming to "You Can't Catch Me" to look all that good, just a flurry of duckwalking motion in a white suit, but that's all you really need, and as long as that Chess Records rhythm section is heard pounding away, it's all alright, and it's everything you were supposed to care about anyway, when the movie was conceived -- all of the performance clips are enhanced in that way, which is one key element that makes the disc worth picking up; watching Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, one sees where Michael Jackson got his inspiration, back when performing and not oddness was the focus of his public life; some of the acts, such as Cirino & The Bow Ties or The Three Chuckles, will only be of interest to their relatives, but as this film dates from when rock 'n' roll was still a new interracial phenomenon, there are some important black acts that faded from view as time wore on, including the Moonglows, The Flamingos, Big Al Sears, and La Vern Baker. The acting in the movie is so relentlessly wretched, that it doesn't bear a closer or better look, except perhaps as part of a course in what to avoid in acting for the camera; among the "actors," only Teddy Randazzo, who really wasn't an actor but was given lines to read and a dramatic "role" of sorts, has an excuse for how bad he was. And as for Alan Freed, who was sort of the raison d'etre for this movie, he tries so hard to look excited when introducing acts like Jimmy Cavallo And The House Rockers, you have to give him points for effort -- and even their song "The Big Beat" sounds big, important, and larger than life here. The makers spared no expense on the audio -- even the Johnny Burnette Trio's "Lonesome Train" (a fantastic clip) sounds like the CD -- but the picture has been mastered without even the computerized correction necessary to prevent image jitter on every sixth frame or so. The bonuses include a double-feature trailer, encompassing Rock, Rock, Rock! and Go Johnny Go! (which exists in a better source, and which this reviewer would love to see issued on DVD), both looking pretty ragged and worn; and a really cool three-minute-long 1950s "slide show" playing out to a great dance tune, telling a bit about Alan Freed's career and his rise to national prominence -- you can't read much more than the headlines on the newspaper articles, but it is fun in its lightweight sort of way, and more rewarding and enriching historically than, say, watching an episode of Happy Days (and about a tenth the length). Each song and each act, as well as a handful of the "dramatic" sections, has been given a chapter marker; the disc opens automatically to a simple menu that's easy to maneuver around, offering a play option and a choice of the trailers and slide-show montage. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide