Carnival Rock

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 must admit that "Carnival Rock" surprised me when I saw it for the first time last night. This film is more of a drama than a rock movie; complete with a pretty good story line and some fine acting. David Stewart plays the role of "Chrisy" Christakos, an owner of a small time carnival who happens to be madly in love with a young girl singer he hired, played nicely by Susan Cabot. The supporting players do a fine job in making this film believable and enjoyable. Musically, there are a few highlights. First, The Platters do one of their hits "Remember When". In this movie, you'll also get a look at the early careers of two singers who went on to fame in country music, Bob Luman and David Houston. Look for a young James Burton (who played lead guitar for Ricky Nelson and Elvis) backing up both Luman and Houston. The only complaint I have is that the producers didn't let these 2 guys sing their entire numbers. In most cases, you'll hear just the first or second half of what sounded to be some great rockabilly songs. "Carnival Rock" is a movie that wanted to go beyond what many rock films of the day were famous for; little or no plot. This film succeed nicely. I recommend it.

Just watched this Roger Corman drive-in movie on YouTube. It's about a carnival owner named Christy (David J. Stewart) who's in over his head in debts and is also in love with the young girl singer Natalie Cook (Susan Cabot). But Natalie prefers Stanley (Brian G. Hutton) who manages to buy the place after beating Christy at cards. The only one who even stays friends with Christy is longtime associate Benny (Dick Miller). I'll stop there and just say I quite enjoyed all the players I cited especially Ms. Cabot, whose alluring presence also was the highlights of other Corman films like Sorority Girl and The Wasp Woman. And here she's a very good singer. It's too bad her career ended after leaving him. And it was good to know that the ending wasn't a predictably tragic one. But the real reason that I decided to watch this now was since Black History Month is tomorrow, I thought I'd cite The Platters' appearance here. They sing "Remember When" in their only scene. Seeing members Paul Robi-who's a native of New Orleans which is a two-hour drive from where I live, David Lynch, Herb Reed, Zola Taylor, and Tony Williams was a treat to watch when warbling that song. Other musical acts that appeared include Bob Luman and David Houston of which one of his songs "Teenage Frankie and Johnny" was a rocking remake of an old tune that I immediately recognized and liked highly. So on that note, Carnival Rock is highly recommended.

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.

Good Music! Good entertainment. Solid little B-picture of a man named Christy whose love for the wrong girl causes him nothing but trouble and heartbreak. Shows how cruel love can be and what it can drive a man to do. Good wholesome entertainment plus it's got Dick Miller which is always a plus!