Rock Around the World (1957) User Reviews

The young Tommy Steele

[wilvram · 6/10 · 27 November 2020]

A fictionalised account of the rise to fame of surely the most cheerful, amiable and exuberant star in the business, Tommy Steele. There is nothing about a manager trying to turn him into Elvis Presley, but mainly musical numbers, including the amusing Cannibal Pot, though some of the others sound rather the same. Clearly made on a very low budget - scenes supposedly on a ship appear to have been shot in a church hall - I wonder what they made of it in the US where it was released under the misleading title Rock Around the World.

There are a couple of calypsos from Tommy Eytle and his band, Nancy Whiskey sings Freight Train and there's a rare chance to see the great Humphrey Lyttelton and his band performing Bermondsey Bounce, written especially for the film in tribute to its star.

The Tommy Steele Story

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 27 March 2023]

By the time I became aware of Tommy Steele. He was the guy with a toothy smile who did musicals like Singin in the Rain.

Steele was a pop star who quickly recognised his brand of pop will become outdated and soon turned to the movies and theatre.

The Tommy Steele Story was rushed out while he was still having his first few chart hits.

It starts off with Tommy being hospitalised after a bad judo fall. Learning to play the guitar at hospital. Working in the merchant navy where he also practised his singing and dance moves.

Then entertaining the punters at a Soho coffee bar before he meets an agent.

The Tommy Steele presented here is shown more Elvis lite. Although Cliff Richard did that kind of thing better in the 1950s. Richard also had a longer pop career as well as fitting in a few movies in the 1960s as well.

The movie is frothy, undemanding and I am tempted to add heavily fictionalised. Steele was regarded as a cross between Elvis and George Formby at the time with a more of a skiffle sound.

There is a lot of calypso music and at times it is a revue for other musical acts. It was nice to see a young Humphrey Lyttelton.

It is low budget and has all the hallmarks of being rushe released to capitalise on his teenage fan base.

At Tommy Steele survived as a musical performer and was knighted in 2020.

Poverty stricken but made a lot of money

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 28 May 2023]

This film was produced by Nat Cohen and Stuart. Levy. Cohen produced many of the most importantBritish films of the 1960s and 1970s as well as this profitable dross. It is somewhat surprising that nobody has written his biography. My grandparents knee him as he was the son of an Easy End kosher butchet. I was able to use this as a way of getting a job interview in the 1970s. I remember being shown into his office and there He was declining on a sofa,no doubt after a long lunch. I didn't get a job.

Tommy Steele was at the peak of his career when he made this film. He made some poor film musicals in the sixties. Half a Sixpence was a poor version of Kipps. I remember walking out of the HappIest millionaire as it was so bad.