Carnival Rock (1957)

Christy runs a rock and roll nightclub on a carnival pier with his righ-hand-man Benny. Christy has a crush on the club's star, Natalie Cook, but she has eyes for Stanley, a local business ... See full summary »

Director:

Roger Corman

Writer:

Leo Lieberman (story and screenplay)

Stars:

Susan Cabot, Brian G. Hutton, David J. Stewart

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Susan Cabot	...	Natalie Cook
Brian G. Hutton	...	Stanley (as Brian Hutton)
David J. Stewart	...	Christopher 'Christy' Cristakos
Dick Miller	...	Benny
Iris Adrian	...	Celia
Jonathan Haze	...	Max
Ed Nelson	...	Cannon
Bruno VeSota	...	Mr. Kirsch
Chris Alcaide	...	Slug
Frank Ray Perilli	...	Billy (as Frankie Ray)
Dorothy Neumann	...	Clara
Horace Logan	...	Master of Ceremonies
Yvonne Peattie	...	Henry's Mother
The Platters	...	The Platters
David Houston	...	Himself - Singer

Storyline

Christy runs a rock and roll nightclub on a carnival pier with his righ-hand-man Benny. Christy has a crush on the club's star, Natalie Cook, but she has eyes for Stanley, a local business man, who wants to buy out the club. When the club is sold and Christy is asked to stay on, as a party clown, he plots to destroy the club and abduct Natalie away from Stanley.

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Plot Keywords:

nightclub | master of ceremony | exploitation | teenager | 

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Taglines:

It's got a HEAT-BEAT!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Carnaval rock

Company Credits

Production Co:

Roger Corman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The band listed as The Shadows - backing Bob Luman - are not the famous British instrumental group.

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Connections

Referenced in Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955-1970) (2000)

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Soundtracks

Remember When
Performed by The Platters
Written by Buck Ram and Mickey Addy

User Reviews

It's Not a Good Movie But It's Easy to Recommend

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.