My copy is from the "budget" video outfit, Goodtimes, but other brands also exist. The flick is little more than a series of Rock 'N' Roll performances strung together with a very thin plot of teenage romance and the high school prom. But back then we teenagers didn't really care. We went to the movies to SEE our favorite recording artists; and ingenue Tuesday Weld was kinda cute, even if she did a lousy job of lip-synching Connie Francis's recordings.

Watching it critically today, and having studied some of its history, the film is a real low-budget job. It is obvious to any but the most casual observer that many of the performances are "inserted" pre-filmings, not actually filmed "on the set" in Hollywood - performances by Lavern Baker, Chuck Berry, the Johnny Burnette Trio, the Flamingos, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and the Moonglows were all "inserts." I read somewhere that Frankie Lymon was disappointed that he didn't get to go to Hollywood for the filming, which he said was done in a "warehouse" (probably actually a sound stage) in New York City.

The only recording artists who got to Hollywood were Jimmy Cavallo (not "Cavello" - his contract with Coral Records misspelled his name) and the House Rockers, Cirino and the Bowties, Alan Freed's Rock 'N' Roll Band, Ivy Schulman, and the Three Chuckles (with Teddy Randazzo).

One vocal group is mentioned in the publicity for the film and in the credits, but does not appear in the flick at all - the Coney Island Kids, who recorded for Jerry Blaine's Jubilee and Josie (or Jo-z) labels. Early publicity indicates that the film will debut 21 new songs, but only 20 songs are performed in the film. It's my best guess that Alan Freed couldn't cut a favorable final "deal" with Jerry Blaine, so the Coney Island Kids were cut out at the last minute, after the film's credits had been prepared. And they were never heard of again...

Some of the music would today be classified as "pop" rather than as "rock 'n' roll." But we must remember that in 1956 and early 1957, when the film was first in theatres, "rock 'n' roll" was whatever Alan Freed said it was. If Freed played and/or promoted a record - that was all there was to it - it was a "rock 'n' roll" record.

Nearly 50 years later, this film is a great trip back to a simpler time...

get it, and ENJOY!