Carnival Rock

Carnival Rock (1957)

** (out of 4)

Christy Cristakos (David J. Stewart) runs a hip nightclub, which features a lot of rock and roll talent including the beautiful Natalie Cook (Susan Cabot) who Christy has a thing for. The only problem is that she has the hots for Stanley (Brian Hutton), a younger and more hip guy. Soon Christy loses his club to Stanley and this sets him off down a dangerous path.

Roger Corman's CARNIVAL ROCK is not a good movie but it's hard not to recommend it because of how strange it is. At first the film starts off in a rather good, fun mood and then, pretty much out of nowhere, it turns into a dark and overly bleak film with an incredibly strange character taking us through all of it.

From the title, the poster and the set-up this here just appears to be another one of those rock and roll films from the 1950s where you saw cool people dancing and rocking out. The story itself is pretty basic as the less attractive guy wants the hot girl but she's into the hotter guy. This all changes because the Christy character's mental state is a complete mess and it turns into some sort of dark stalker tale.

What's so strange is the fact that the lead performance and character are just downright bizarre to say the least. I'm really not sure if Stewart is really awful in the picture or really great. Remember how some people think Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING is terrific whereas others feel he's over-acting? Well, the same is true here. I really don't know what to make of Stewart's performance but it's really out there and bizarre to say the least. Both Cabot and Hutton are decent in their roles but it's actually Dick Miller who steals the picture with a very good supporting performance.

CARNIVAL ROCK was obviously cheaply produced and the rock music in it is rather weak. There's certainly nothing really good about this film but at the same time it's lead character is just so weird and the story takes such a dark turn out of nowhere that you can't help but recommend it.

Something of a companion piece to Rock All Night, especially with the presence of the musical group The Platters in both, Carnival Rock is more of a plot-driven exercise than the earlier film. Adapted from a teleplay by Leo Lieberman, who also wrote the adaptation, it's a little drama about unrequited love that ends up feeling a bit overlong for something of a wane story. It didn't grab me in any way, lacking the exploitation of his work with Charles Griffith but without the depth of a great script. It's not bad, but it ends up feeling kind of limp overall.

Christy Cristakos (David J. Stewart) runs a little carnival on a pier, and it's not doing well. The only good thing about it is his star discovery, Natalie (Susan Cabot), a pretty girl with a good voice who really should be heading upwards on her career any day now. Whether it's infatuation because she's young and pretty or that she represents something like a next step in career for him as well (I'm probably reading this into the script, none of it is addressed), he has fallen in love with her. Being more than twenty years older than her and responsible for signing her paycheck, she's polite but increasingly firm that she's not interested. All of this gets observed by Christy's right-hand man Ben (Dick Miller) who can see the situation far more clearly than Christy can.

Christy has another problem, though. He took a loan from some gangsters, mainly represented by Stanley (Brian Hutton), who have come to collect. Christy knows that things will pick up by the weekend because of Natalie will surely bring in the crowds then, but Stanley has little patience. He also has a secret: he and Natalie are in love.

So, it's the makings of an interesting drama, but I think I blame the writing first and foremost for the lack of punch. It's overwrought, especially from Christy's point of view. As played by Stewart, there's no real depth of emotion, it just feels like swinging for the fences. Natalie ends up feeling like a background player for a long stretch, relegated to looking on worryingly as other people take center stage. The best character is probably Ben as played by Miller who, similarly to what he did in Rock All Night, functions as something like a smart aleck running commentary on what's going on. However, Miller actually has the chops and the wherewithal to provide some hint of emotion in his interactions, especially with Christy.

The film goes into tragedy in the final act with Christy losing everything, relegated to taking a job as a pratfall-taking clown to make ends meet (that we never seem him take a pratfall feels like a mistake). His tragedy feels thin and unpersuasive, though, a good bit of that being because we never really see him as that pathetic. We do get that haunting look of him as the sad clown the one time we see him, but there needs to be this ironic display of him trying to entertain while being sad and seeing Natalie happy to make things connect.

I do like the direction they take with him in the final moments, though. He gets desperate and suicidal, and it elicits some nice imagery, even if I feel like the journey to that imagery was empty. It's an embrace of fire that doesn't go quite as far as it probably could (budget limitations would be my guess), but it's strong stuff anyway.

So, it's melodrama, but it never really convincingly builds the situation, especially at a character level. The structural problems with Griffith's scripts have been replaced by thinner characterization and no real focus on the drama. Part of it is probably that Christy's obsession with Natalie is obviously one-sided from the very start making him much creepier than intended, I think.

I mean, I've seen worse from Corman, but this feels more like a wet squib of an effort. Competent enough to get through but not enough to be memorable or worthwhile.

I chose to watch "Carnival Rock" because it's a film directed and produced by Roger Corman. This is because although nearly all his hundreds of films were very low budgeted, they also were incredibly successful and usually very entertaining. Amazingly, only ONE of his films apparently lost money ("The Intruder")...and, oddly, that's actually one of his best films! And, as I was about to watch "Carnival Rock", I knew it would NOT be dull!

The film has a lot of rock 'n roll music...which is pretty typical of many of Corman's films of the era. Most of the numbers are very good (particularly the instrumental song early in the movie) and there even is an appearance by The Platters! Now don't get the idea that the film is just rock 'n roll. No, it actually has a very good story...a sad one, too.

Natalie (Susan Cabot) is a singer at Christy's night club. However, there is an obvious problem...the boss, Christy, is smitten with Natalie and she doesn't seem to reciprocate at all. She even goes so far as to say she doesn't want him...but he simply won't listen. He is an older and very deluded man and is also a bit scary due to his insistence they will marry. But Natalie has a boyfriend...and they both want to marry. What's next? See this film.

The acting is generally good, the music very good, and the story pretty good as well. While it's no award winner, it is entertaining and dollar-for-dollar, a very good movie that actually offers a few surprises...particularly at the end.

There's melodrama and songs aplenty in this Roger Corman number from the late 50's. Set in a carnival, the misguided lovesick owner falls in love with his (much younger) star singer, but she's not too interested and bunks off with a smooth gambler instead. It all ends in tears.

This one stars Corman regular, the Wasp Woman herself, Susan Cabot. And she is as good value as ever as the girl who all the drama pivots around. And she even gets to sing a couple of songs. She's not the only one either, as Corman has wisely decided to punctuate the melodramatics with a selection of tunes performed onstage in the club - we have rockabilly numbers, some doo-wop action from special guests The Platters and the title song sung over the end credits by The Blockbusters (who?). And the result is a great deal of fun, with the added bonus of having bit-part legend Dick Miller featuring in an actual proper sized part for once as the daft club owner's best friend.

When a carnival club owner falls in love with his star attraction, he finds it difficult to accept her disinterest in him as well as her interest in a gambling suitor. But what is he willing to do to win her love, and will it be worth the gamble?

Fair acting, story, & suspense. The highlights are some great rockabilly performances & the lovely Susan Cabot.