The Golden Disc

Just where do you start with a film like this that is so toe curlingly twee and embarrassing?, having had this movie on tape for a few years the more I watch it the more it makes my cheeks go red..and thats in an empty house!!. Our story begins when a very sweet girl who wants to open a coffee bar in London's Soho district (where else),she feels so sorry for the youngsters having nowhere to go at night, so she persuades her rich aunt to buy it for her, in no time the place is up and running, meantime the son of a famous band leader and friend of the aunt's family comes on the scene (Lee Paterson's epitaph should read "he never turned down a part..no matter how bad!"), romance quickly blossoms but before that happens we have to put up with some of the worst rock and roll acts i've ever seen on the screen, with Paterson doing all the arranging for recording these "artists" you really have to see and hear some of the song's, the café resident sweeper up "Terry" is no other that English teen singer Terry Dene and its quickly realised that we have a star on our hands, some of the songs he sings are enough to cut and file your toenails!, dreadful!and you really must check out the crowd of teenagers who dance to his songs, mind boggling!, a typical sugar sweet romantic plot totally drowns the film's sheer tackiness, also check the recording studio!, amazing what they can do with a couple of tables and a curtain!. Peter Dynelly also stars as an American record mogul, Mr Washington who own Washington records and he saves the day when he rescue's Terry from a rival record company who want him for nothing.A real stinker but worth it if you like really badly made movies...and songs!.

In 1958, the impresarios were just beginning to discover rock and roll. There would be a succession of rock and roll singers. Tommy Steele was one. Another was the lesser known Terry Dene. Meanwhile, a few miles down the road, the real rebel rockers like Cliff Richard (yes Sir Cliff was once a rebel rocker) were playing in places like the 2i's coffee bar in Soho. Jet Harris was introducing the bass guitar into British rock music. After Jet's bass, the famous "Englisch Beat" really got underway.

The whole of this film where a woman who owns a café with one customer renovates the café and still has enough money to set up a recording studio is downright silly and naive. But the film does have one redeeming feature.

There is some ultra-rare footage of legendary drummer Phil Seamen. And that alone makes this film worthwhile.

This b-pic pop musical from Butcher's (Britain's poverty row production company) makes you want to cringe as its dated terribly. It stars Terry Dene (a pop singer of the time) as an aspiring singer whose friends expand their coffee bar to include a record shop and promote his debut disc. The music isn't all that great and the script is very typical of other feeble poverty row b-pics from this company. Its directed by Don Sharp, a very proficient director who would go on to do better films like "The Face Of Fu Manchu" (1965) and "Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966). In recent years this film has been plucked out by ITV (probably from an area of the archives that hasn't been touched for years!) and shown in the early hours as a time filler.

As this pretty good (especially for Butchers) film well and entertainingly illustrates, in 1958, Britain's popular youth music scene was changing at a pace like never before or since. For a short period many completely different musical styles coexisted and nearly all are included here. Just 3 years earlier, skiffle - that odd American folk music played on home-made instruments - had hit a peak with 30 to 50,000 skiffle groups in the UK. Mick Jagger started in one, the Beatles was formed from John Lennon's skiffle group. The ground-breaking transatlantic film import of 1956, "Rock Around the Clock", had been a bombshell and was to change teen music - and teen culture - for ever. Traditional jazz was also popular at this time. But as this film opens, a "crooner" of the time, Denis Lotis - a British Frank Sinatra - is shown with an audience of dreamy teen girl fans who then follow him out, screaming, as he gets into his car and leaves. Terry Dene, seen here at times very reminiscent of Cliff Richard, had 3 top 20 hits between 1957 and 1958. Cliff Richard had his first hit in 1959. 50 years on Dene is also still performing.

Anyone who has seen the TV dramatisation of the life of record producer Joe Meek as well as various documentaries on the small US record labels which later became giant names will recognise that they had humble origins - family members employed, bedroom recording studios. The film is the fictional story of the start of such a small enterprise. As part of the story the film also covers another youth phenomenon of the time - the coffee-bar. Former cafes transformed by installation of an Italian espresso coffee machine and a juke box becoming the place for young people to hang out and amateurs to first strut their stuff. (The 2i's coffee bar in Soho provided a start to some of the country's later big names) It's an amusing section in the film where an expressionless elderly customer of the original shabby cafe continues despite the transformation - authentic '50s decor (once again fashionable) around him. In 1960 the film "Expresso Bongo" made Cliff Richard a star.

Finally the film deals with the experience of amateurs in their business dealings with large established companies - a real life frequent source of grief.

All the performers appearing were clearly quite good. One singer with notable talent I see was Nancy Whiskey who had a big skiffle hit with "Freight Train in the 1950s. The film compares well with some of the similar US films made at the time as vehicles for singing talent. It's well written and well put together - a historic record of the early days of modern popular music when things were changing fast - everything had changed within about 3 years and 60 years later rock and roll is still very much with us.

A 6.5 score. Seen with thanks to Talking Pictures TV and to Wikipedia for the information

At first sight 'The Golden Disc' is laughable. The budget was small as in all films by the Butcher's company. The acting is variable. Mary Steele performs in a way you will either love or hate. Note that patronising laugh! (The grumpy man running gag is quite funny though.)The sets look like they could wobble and the dialogue is pretty dull. Yet unconsciously it is a snapshot of the late fifties in Britain.

First it throws in a cornucopia of music styles. The producers obviously trying to please all. There is folk, instrumentals, skiffle, jazz, ballads, rock and roll, everything apart from classical. As a piece of musical history it is excellent.

Secondly it captures the feeling of changing times. The English cafe becomes a continental coffee bar with expresso not tea. Older music forms are alongside modern ones. In an early scene Lee Patterson turns his back while Mary Steele gets changed, policed by her aunt. Later a teenage is seen wiggling her hips uninhibitedly. Hints of the revolution to come.

Films like this are interesting to watch because even if the makers just wanted to make money they can't help reflecting something of their times. And there are a couple of nice songs in it.