Twist Around The Clock
Twist Around The Clock
NR | 30 December 1961 (USA)
Twist Around The Clock Trailers

The plot is virtually identical to the plot of the earlier film "Rock Around the Clock." A struggling manager visits a hayseed town and discovers a new dance craze, and hopes to turn it into a overnight nationwide sensation. Features performances by Chubby Checker and Dion.

Reviews
Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.
LeonLouisRicci Typical of its Type, this is another Teen Phenom Film that doesn't have a clue. First, more than once the Script puts down Rock n Roll as a thing of the Past and berates it and says there is no need for that Flash in the Pan, forget it, because now there is "The Twist".Well, The Twist is RnR albeit a safe variation thereof that got accepted by Middle Agers before the Kids could say "get your own groove Daddy-O". This Movie was just another example of Dumbed Down, Cash Raking, Corporate Sanitizing and Filtration, by way of The Twist Craze, of the Raw and Raunchy Music that was the first wave of Rock n' Roll and deemed a Blight on America's Youth.Most of these Movies have at the Lead some White Bread Spasmodic embarrassingly mimicking His betters. A Clean-Cut Crooner with all the right "Attributes" except Talent. Here there is some Dolt named Clay Cole making an Ass out of Himself through most of the Film while a couple of real Stars are given time to Perform a few Real Hits.Chubby Checker, who stole Hank Ballard's Song and Singing Style and Re-Released Hank's "The Twist" Record without a mention or a nod, does do one Legitimate Song, Twistin USA. Dion does His two Biggest Hits, The Wanderer and Runaround Sue, both Great Pop Teen Anthems. There is also an appearance by The Marcels that had a huge Hit or two, but here deliver only a Novelty called Merry Twistmas.There is more in this Movie to Hate than to Love and overall it is worth a View for a Few Minutes of Time-Capsule Song Performances by Chubby Checker and Dion but that's it.
Bud_Brewster TCM showed a marathon of rock n' roll movies on January 31, 2007 and I taped the entire 12-hour run. I really enjoyed "Rock Around the Clock" (1956). It was energetic and fun, with plenty of good music.Then I started watching the next feature, "Twist Around the Clock" (1961).I expected the two films to be similar -- but I was flabbergasted when I realized that "Twist" was filmed using exactly the same script as "Rock"! The plot elements were copied perfectly, scene-for-scene. In fact, the dialog was even the same – word-for-word – throughout both movies!Watching these two films back-to-back is like a trip to the Twilight Zone -- a perfect example of parallel universes.
django-1 TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK, the first of two TWIST films produced by Sam Katzman and featuring the great Chubby Checker, is basically a remake of the old BIll Haley vehicle ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK, and like that film, the "star" here, Chubby Checker, is little more than a guest star in his own film. In the earlier film, Alan Dale is featured as the lead performer and his story is told, with Bill Haley merely being a "friend" who helps the lead character and who performs a handful of songs. Here, Clay Cole is featured, and Chubby Checker does three or four songs, has a few lines of dialogue, and performs in a group number at the film's finale. Checker is a fine performer, and he handles the dialogue well--the NEXT Twist movie he was in, DON'T KNOCK THE TWIST, was MUCH better in that Checker was given a lot more importance in the story, and had much more dialogue with star Lang Jeffries. As for TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK, it also has Dion do three songs, and the vocal group the Marcels do a nice Christmas twist song. However, the dramatic sections of the film are weak, especially so since they are a carbon copy of the same plot in the earlier Bill Haley movie. If you take the Dion and Chubby songs, and the Marcels' number, out of the film, there is really not much else worthwhile. Fans of DON'T KNOCK THE TWIST will recognize the same cheesy sets and tiny "stage" used as the TV studio in that film. Serious rock and roll fans should see this film ONCE so they can say they have seen ALL the pre-Beatles rock and roll films, but only the lip-synched Chubby Checker and Dion songs are worth keeping. This was aired a few years back on AMC, where I taped my copy and originally saw the film.
unclerussie If I had never seen "Rock Around the Clock", this movie might be a little easier to take. You see, the producers didn't even bother to write a script; they just copied the one used for "Rock Around the Clock" some years earlier. If that wasn't bad enough, "Twist" pales in every comparison to the original. Horrible acting and mediocre songs are all over this film. It's only two bright spots are the appearances of Chubby Checker and Dion. And who ever told Clay Cole he could sing? Forget this one.
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