Carnival Rock is a 1957 film directed by Roger Corman with musical performances by The Platters, David Houston, Bob Luman and His Shadows, and the Blockbusters.
A nightclub owner, Christopher 'Christy' Cristakos, falls in love with the club's singer, Natalie Cook. However, the singer is in love with Stanley, a local businessman/gangster. After the gangster wins control of the club, Cristakos, the previous owner, begins to perform comic routines between the acts at the night club as part of his (Cristakos) plan to win Natalie back. Eventually, the gangster and the singer marry, which causes the previous owner to leave alone.[2]
The film was based on a one-hour TV play written by Leo Lieberman, called Carnival at Midnight. It was an episode of Climax! and aired on 3 January 1957. Jack Smight directed.[3][4][5]
Roger Corman had previously made Rock All Night (1956), an earlier low budget film based on a TV play which featured musical acts. It was successful relative to its budget and Corman made this similar film for a syndicate of theatre owners.[6]
Filming started in May 1957 at Ziv Studios. Susan Cabot was borrowed from Universal, whom she was under contract to at the time.[3]
Music in the film was from The Platters, David Houston, Bob Luman, The Shadows and The Blockbusters, most of whom appear in the movie as themselves.
Variety descubrió que Miller y Cabot tuvieron buenas actuaciones, afirmó que Corman hizo un buen trabajo como productor y un mejor trabajo como director y descubrió que la película tenía matices de Pagliacci mezclados con Rock and Roll. [7]
Frank encontró que la música incluida en la película era el punto culminante de la película. [2]
Cabot continuaría haciendo varias películas para Corman. [8]