In this movie, a lifeless and somewhat ridiculous plot acts as a frame story to showcase some rock-and-roll bands when that kind of music was becoming popular in the 1950s. Young people in their rebellious stage like to shock their elders, so naturally we have a scene in which Bill Haley and the Comets perform at a prestigious and very proper girls' school, which scandalizes the matronly chaperones. The Comets wear suits and are clean-cut, singing songs without suggestive lyrics, but no matter, because the beat alone is indecent. So the movie has it both ways, allowing teenagers to enjoy the fantasy of shocking their elders, while the real elders watching the movie in the theaters would be reassured that rock and roll was quite harmless.Part of the plot of this movie is that dancing is on its way out, by which is meant ballroom dancing. But the dancing done by teenagers to rock and roll is alive and well. It is basically jitterbug (also known as swing, boogie-woogie, and the bop). In a sense, however, this died too. Once the twist became popular in the early 1960s, partner dancing, in which couples make contact with each other, pretty much came to an end, to be replaced by various forms of free style, in which couples never touch each other. To see partner dancing any more, you either have to go to a country-western nightclub or to a dance studio where ballroom still lingers on.Partner dancing in the movies is one of two kinds: either the dancers are professionals, or they are just barely able to shuffle around the dance floor. The reality would be somewhere in between, with amateurs doing a fairly decent job of cutting a rug. In this movie, the brother and sister who dance together are obviously professionals. They become part of the act with the Comets, the idea being that they will show teenagers at the performances how to dance to rock and roll, to break the ice and get others on the dance floor. Of course, all those supposedly novice teenagers who venture onto the dance floor are professional dancers themselves. In fact, having that brother-and-sister team dance like that in real life would intimidate ordinary would-be dancers, making it less likely for them to get out on the floor.Unfortunately, most of the songs performed in this movie are not that good, and in several cases, no one dances at all, usually because the beat is too fast, even for professionals. There are a couple of good numbers from the Comets and a couple from the Platters. The rest are mediocre, which when combined with the boring plot make the movie a disappointment.

Alan Freed was at the top of the world of rock & roll in 1956. In three years he would become part of the first payola scandal being accused & convicted of accepting bribes to play records on his popular radio show. Right now, this movie is his first one & he plays a sort of Dick Clark type emcee as himself. This would be the first of 3 films he would do in 1956.Johnny Johnston in his next to last screen role plays Steve Hollis whose real story as a rock & roll promoter is the loose basis of this movie. Alix Talton plays Corrine Talbot, a woman business person who is the bank roller for Hollis efforts to promote rock & roll. Alix voice reminds me of Eve Arden, but she is shaped differently than Eve.What is really great about this movie is the music. This is top shelf early rock & roll with Bill Halley & The Comets doing the title track 3 or 4 different times & a couple of other numbers. The Platters are here too in top form & doing the classic "The Great Pretender". The music really takes a front seat here, the Hollis story is here just to hold the music together.This movie is a little stronger than Rock, Rock, Rock which would be later this same year. Lisa Gaye is here as Lisa Johns, competing for the attention of Steve Hollis & actually winning the battle over Talbot. Johns would go on to do a lot of television roles after this film, her 10th on screen role. Her first appearance on screen was as one of the bobbysoxer's in Jimmy Stewarts Glenn Miller Story 2 years earlier.

This is a magic film that captures the excitement of early rock n roll and the people who played it. Bill Haley and his comets are outstanding in what should be officially recognised as part of Movie history. The first ever rock n roll film to be made maybe a bit thin on the plot line, but makes up for it with its exciting dance scenes and thumping jumping music. Some previous comments have said they found the Lisa Gaye and Johnny Johnston characters age gap to be creepy. I didn't have a problem with this at all, as lots of young women married older men during the forties and fifties. Lisa Gaye was over 21 and Johnston was in his early thirties when the film was shot. "Rock around the Clock" is now out on DVD (not sure about the UK yet) and looks splendid in a re-mastered and restored edition that is well worth buying. Check out Earl Barton as Lisa's brother and dancing partner. Barton actually choreographed all the dance scenes and at the time was a much respected Hollywood choreographer. I'm giving this film a ten out of ten Daddio as it was the first and the best of the rock and roll films made during the fifties.

...and it was not intellectual at the time;people did not listen to the words to the songs,all they wanted to do was dancing.The plot is very thin and almost devoid of interest .A fight between two managers :One of them is in love with Bill Haley and the Comets' dancer .Billy Haley -perhaps because he plays himself,has no love affair like Presley would do.He 's sure a good singer but he is not particularly good-looking.The other manager (a woman) puts a wrench in her colleague's works.Musically,for me ,the two magic moments are the two Platters songs "only you" and "the great pretender".What singers!