Out of control
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Out of control |
| Original title | Rock around the clock |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1956 |
| length | 77 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Fred F. Sears |
| script |
Robert E. Kent James B. Gordon |
| production | Sam Katzman |
| music | Fred Karger |
| camera | Benjamin K. Kline |
| cut |
Saul A. Goodkind Jack Ogilvie |
| occupation | |
| |
Out of Line (Original Title: Rock Around the Clock ) is an American black and white film that was released in the United States on March 21, 1956. Directed by Fred F. Sears . The leading roles in this first rock 'n' roll film in history played Johnny Johnston , Lisa Gaye and Alix Talton, but the story is primarily about Bill Haley & His Comets and the triumphant advance of rock & roll .
This first rock 'n' roll film had significant social effects in many Western countries as well as in Australia and South America in the fall of 1956 . In post-war Germany, only Hildegard Knef's 1951 film Die Sünderin had caused a stir.
History of origin
There has been a new, rapid development on the American music market since the summer of 1954, when Bill Haley had his first million-seller with a powerful rock 'n' roll version of the R&B classic Shake, Rattle and Roll by Jesse Stone . Many white musicians also wanted to participate in the trend and get off to a successful start with cover versions of black R&B artists on the traditionally white music market, but none was as successful as Bill Haley during this time. His rhythm concept, developed since 1951 with the emphasis on the second and fourth beat, the stylistic combination of country music and R&B, the alternating solos of the electric guitar and the saxophone as well as his typical haunted singing, until then only heard when recording black musicians, was the cornerstone of Bill Haley's sensational success at the time. When, in the summer of 1955, Rock Around the Clock settled at number 1 on the national charts for 8 weeks and a short time later, producer Milt Gabler reported record sales of 5½ million Haley records, Hollywood also reacted to the teenagers' music triggered by Haley. Rebellion and new development in the music market.
Sam Katzman from Columbia Pictures was the first and was able to sign a contract with the New York theater agency Jolly-Joyce at very short notice in November 1955 for his planned music film Bill Haley & His Comets from January 1956 for 3 weeks. The price for triggering the successful ensemble, which was booked out for over a year, was corresponding. In addition to Bill Haley, Katzman also had to book Freddie Bell & His Bellboys and the South American combo of Tony Martinez and incorporate them into the planned first rock 'n' roll film in history.
The Platters, established as an up-and-coming young vocal group by Buck Ram , a former Ink Spors singer , had their first major national record successes with Only You and The Great Pretender on the Mercury Records label in the second half of 1955 . These top ten placements meant that Sam Katzman hired the Platters for his first rock 'n' roll film and the Platters subsequently also established themselves internationally.
Elvis Presley , on the other hand, was not yet known to the general public in the USA at this time and had not yet been placed in the top ten. It wasn't until two months later, on January 28, 1956, that he and his first RCA title, Heartbreak Hotel , were introduced to American television audiences on the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey Stage Show , when the music scenes for the first rock 'n' roll film were set but the story has already been turned off.
Planning and costs
Columbia Pictures approved a budget of $ 300,000 for Sam Katzman for this B-movie production , of which Alan Freed and Bill Haley received $ 20,000 each in fees. Haley was granted the performance of a total of eight of his successful hits recorded on Decca Records as well as a live performance with his instrumental title Rudy’s Rock .
Based on Bill Haley's specifications, Robert E. Kent and James B. Gordon had to complete the script about the career of the Haley ensemble in just 13 days. Booth's Corner, where Haley's music already delighted teenagers in the early 1950s, became the farming village of Strawberry Springs in the film and Bill Haley's discoverer and promoter Jimmy Myers, according to the script, became music manager Steve Hollis, who was the first to develop potential recognized this amateur musician acting in the film. The actual film plot, rapprochement and love between Steve Hollis and the solo dancer Lisa Johns as well as jealousy scenes and actions between a certain Corinne Talbot, head of a leading concert agency in New York, and Steve Hollis, were later only a minor matter for the cinema audience, the first visual Rock 'n' roll presentations by Bill Haley & His Comets on the screen as well as performances by the vocal group The Platters , Freddie Bell & His Bellboys and Alan Freed delighted the audience.
The beginning of the recordings in Columbia Studios Hollywood was January 6th, 1956. The music and dance scenes were already "in the can" after 3 weeks, after completion of the other shooting and cutting the premiere took place on March 14th in Washington DC . A week later, on March 21, Rock Around the Clock was shown nationwide in cinemas in major American cities.
action
The last tour of the music manager Steve Hollis is a complete failure. Almost no one is interested in the boring dance music of his band and so one evening there is a scandal with the Kapellmeister, who of course does not attribute the failure to his music, but rather to Holli's inability to book the right clubs. The ways part and Steve Hollis and his friend Corny, the bassist of this band, make their way to New York, depressed. Their car is overtaken by a horde of teenagers honking their horns and screaming near the town of Strawberry Springs. When asked, the caretaker of a nearby motel explains to them that the young people don't want to miss their dance on Saturday evenings. This makes the two curious and shortly afterwards they witness breathtaking dance acrobatics by young couples on the dance floor of the village to a completely new type of music. The band leaders of the acting amateur band made up of local mechanics, farmers and craftsmen by the name of Bill Haley can satisfy their curiosity. He explains to music professionals that his music is rock 'n' roll and that this rhythm is known to cure any disease. Still quite confused, they then experience the first rock 'n' roll formation dance by Lisa Johns and her brother Jimmy to the sounds of rock-a-beatin 'boogie .
Steve Hollis recognizes his chance and wants to hire the band immediately, but first has to deal with the young dancer Lisa, who manages the band's finances. He falls in love with her and after the contractual agreement, which is sealed with a kiss, he immediately rushes in New York to an old friend, Corinne Talbot, now the head of one of America's most important concert agencies. After Steve's stories, however, she suspects that he is not only interested in successfully arranging his new band, but also has an eye on the dancer Lisa. Out of jealousy, she places Bill Haley & His Comets at a prom at the elegant Mansfield School and hopes for failure with the rich and distinguished students. She is disappointed because Bill Haleys Comets and Lisa with her brother Jimmy are celebrated enthusiastically in this unfamiliar environment.
But Corinne Talbot refuses to admit it and, frustrated, she lets her old friend Steve know that she could not expect such a crazy band from her clientele, the upscale nightclubs and hotels in New York. But then Alan Freed appears and gives his old friend Steve and Bill Haley & His Comets a chance in his West River Club. A young colored vocal group called The Platters is also currently presenting itself here, delighting the audience with their new song Only You . Bill Haley's success in the West River Club is resounding and after conquering New York, Corinne Talbot turns around and wants to hire the band for a season. But now Steve Hollis is setting the pace and pulling out a 3-year contract. Talbot finally agrees, but not without coming up with a new meanness. In order to annoy her old friend Steve, she also signs a contract with the dancer Lisa in which Lisa undertakes not to marry during the three-year engagement. Amazingly, Lisa agrees immediately and thus the way is free for a top engagement of the Haley band in San Francisco, which is broadcast across the country. While broadcasting the finale with Freddie Bell & His Bellboys, The Platters and Bill Haley & His Comets, Lisa lets the audience know that her husband, Steve Hollis, is responsible for this great show. While Bill Haley is hitting his Rock Around The Clock , Corinne Talbot is informed by Steve that lawsuits for breach of contract are futile, as he and Lisa were married before the contract was signed. Corinne Talbot finally has to admit defeat, but can finally make friends with Bill Haley's rock 'n' roll after the great success of the show. After all, she has the most successful music ensemble in the USA under contract for 3 years.
Theme music
The music recording Rock Around the Clock , which was already recorded on April 12, 1954 at Decca Records , New York, and at the same time namesake of the Columbia film, developed from 1955 to Bill Haley's European tour in 1958 into a musical "explosive device" and continues to this day several records. Not only did this song become the "Marseillaise of a worldwide teenage revolution" (Lillian Roxon) and heralded the musical age of rock 'n' roll, this song was also the only piece of music in history to be used as the theme song in two American films within a year the film companies MGM and Columbia Pictures and used a total of five times in the films Blackboard Jungle ( Seed of Violence ) 1955 and Rock Around the Clock 1956. The song was the number one hit in the USA, Australia, Great Britain, Germany (as the only non-German-language title) and in many European countries and holds the record of more than 20 million records sold to date.
Musical recordings
Bill Haley & His Comets:
Rudy's skirt
With permission from Decca Records: Rock Around the Clock , See You Later, Alligator , Happy Baby, ROCK, Mambo Rock, Razzle Dazzle, ABC Boogie, Rock-A-Beatin 'Boogie
Freddie Bell & His Bellboys:
Giddy Up Ding Dong, We're Gonna Teach You to Rock
The Platters:
With permission from Mercury Records: Only You (And You Alone) , The Great Pretender
Tony Martinez & His Latin Orchestra:
Cueros, Mambo Capri, Sad and Lonely, Codfish and Potatoes
Social impact
Sam Katzman's first music production about rock 'n' roll was not worth a special distinction for the established ones in the film business at the time. Nevertheless, the film caused a sensation worldwide due to the music performances of the Haley band, which were perceived as revolutionary at the time, and was also a huge success for Columbia Pictures. Bill Haley, a rather reserved and visually-shy band leader and former music director of a radio station in Chester, Pennsylvania , became the first rock 'n' roll star thanks to the worldwide spread of the film and had not given his record company Decca Records for million sales held possible. The Americanization of young people, which was advancing in Europe in the 1950s, had reached another high point after Mickey Mouse , Tarzan and the screen idols Marlon Brando and James Dean . The film finally gave the post-war youth in particular their longing for new ideals their own musical identity. The wild rock 'n' roll dance shown in the film was lived out all the more extreme by the young people in front of and in the cinemas, at fairs and in amusement arcades, the more this music as devil stuff and negro music by the established authorities and hierarchies, including in the media and the entertainment industry at the time, was rejected. The rejection in the German film industry went so far that z. For example, the Illustrierte Film-Bühne publishing house did not mention rock 'n' roll as the actual plot of the flick in its program for Out of Edge and Band . In their rejection, the social establishment of the elderly united for the first time with the already growing generation of the upper class, who, as jazzers and supporters of Glenn Miller , Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington, only smiled disparagingly at this new type of American music and its supporters and at rock ' n 'Roll prophesied a short existence.
The phenomenon of the so-called "youngsters", according to today's parlance the hooligans of the 1950s, became a broad media topic in the press and radio and was consciously noticed for the first time by German society. During the performance, the rampaging young people broke entire rows of chairs by rocking them rhythmically, threw objects at the screen and blocked the streets in front of the cinemas. As a countermeasure, many projectionists turned off the sound or stopped the performance altogether. In Bremen and in some other major West German cities, the police even had to use water cannons to stop the ongoing riots in the streets in front of the cinemas.
With the sequel Out of the Edge and Band Part II and with the first Elvis film Love Me Tender in 1957, things remained largely quiet in and in front of the cinemas, rock 'n' roll had already established itself. Renewed attacks or aggression by youthful thugs did not materialize.
synchronization
The German dubbing was done in 1956 by Ultra Film Synchron GmbH Berlin . Dubbing director: Alfred Vohrer , dialogue script: Franz-Otto Krüger .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Steve Hollis | Johnny Johnston | Gert Günther Hoffmann |
| Corinne Talbot | Alix Talton | Elisabeth Ried |
| Corny LaSalle | Henry Slate | Horst Niendorf |
| Mike Dodd | John Archer | Erich Fiedler |
| Alan Freed | Alan Freed | Arnold Marquis |
| Bill Haley | Bill Haley | Alexander Welbat |
literature
- Thomas Bertram : The red Kosar - dream world cinema of the 50s and 60s. Verlag Klartext Essen 1998, page 133/134.
Reviews
“Following a screening of the music film“ Out of bounds ”with rock 'n' roll star Bill Haley, around 4,000 young people rioted through the city center in Dortmund on December 30, 1956. They annoy passers-by and damage several cars by throwing stones. The police use batons and water cannons to stop the rioting. Such scenes are becoming more common in western German cities. It is not uncommon for this to result in street battles between so-called youngsters and the police. With their aggressive demeanor, the youngsters arouse the anger of startled citizens. "
“All over the world, rock 'n' roll has a reputation for being nothing more than a clamor for notes. A certain press is to blame for this. Good rock 'n' roll is fun music to dance to. But some people believe that you are obliged to make a row about it, so to speak. They spoil the reputation of this music. "
“The use of your film“ Out of bounds ”in the 1100-seat theater was the greatest surprise success. Salmon volleys, applause and rhythmic footsteps roar through the house. Not only young people take part in this, but also an enthusiastic family audience. Your film is a bomb and is apparently one of the top three deals of the season. We congratulate."
“The ongoing enthusiasm is driving the program of our cinema at the Hauptwache beyond the limits. We are extending into the 9th week. In the 8th week still astronomical numbers. We congratulate columbia on this success. "
Web links
- Out of control in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Out of control with the Rock 'n' Roll AG under Bill-Spezial
Individual evidence
- ^ Sound and Glory by John von Hoelle & John W. Haley, Dyne-American Publishing, p. 111
- ↑ Rock Around The Clock by Jim Dawson, Backbeat Books, p. 149
- ↑ Rock Around The Clock by Jim Dawson, Backbeat Books pp. 144-153
- ↑ Rock Lexicon by Siegfried Schmidt-Joos u. Barry Graves, Rowohlt Verlag 1973
- ↑ Illustrierte Film-Bühne No. 3429 Out of bounds and boundaries
- ↑ Weserkurier of November 6, 1956
- ↑ in Arne Kaul's synchronous database ( memento of the original dated November 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved June 19, 2009
- ^ Letter from Lichtspieltheater Kurb, Freiburg, to Columbia Filmverleih
- ^ Letter from Cinema Meves, Frankfurt, to Columbia Filmverleih
