Rock You Sinners (1957) – Nostalgia Central

“You need one for the message, two for the blow,
three for the Benzedrine, and then you go, man go”

Historically noteworthy as Britain’s first attempt at a rock ‘n’ roll film, much of the music in Rock You Sinners is actually closer to Dixieland jazz than it is to rock.

Johnny Laurence (Philip Gilbert) is a popular disc jockey at an unnamed London radio station (who looks and speaks like he just landed his Spitfire) with an ambition to present his own TV series.

He “discovers” rock ‘n’ roll – with the help of his assistant, Pete (Colin Croft) – and puts a show together for an (also unnamed) television network.

Johnny is on the verge of realising his ambitions, but his success is marred by a misunderstanding with his girlfriend, Carol (Adrienne Scott – actually the producer’s daughter Adriene Fancey using her mother’s maiden name).

There is minimal storyline and poor acting – with the exception of a young (pre-nose job) Jackie Collins (sister of Joan and future writer of The Stud and The Bitch) – and most of the cast are ten to 20 years too old for the parts they play.

The best band in the painful film is undoubtedly Tony Crombie and His Rockets, clearly heavily “influenced” by Bill Haley’s Comets.

Produced by the infamous E J Fancey – the Cecil B DeMille of cheap celluloid rubbish – who made some of the worst films in British cinema history, it’s mercifully only 59 minutes long.

Johnny Laurence
Philip Gilbert
Carol Carter
Adrienne Scott
Pete
Colin Croft
Jackie
Jackie Collins
Paul Selway
Michael Duffield
Selway’s Assistant
Martin Lyder
McIver
Beckett Bould
Tony Hall
Himself
Dickie Bennett
Himself
Joan Small
Herself
Tony Crombie & His Rockers
Themselves
Art Baxter & His Rockin’ Sinners
Themselves
Rory Blackwell & the Blackjacks
Themselves
Don Sollash & His Rockin’ Horses
Themselves
Curly Pat Barry
Himself
George ‘Calypso’ Browne
Himself

Director
Denis Kavanagh

Video