The Tommy Steele Story ** (1957, Tommy Steele) – Classic Movie Review 12,739

The gleefully exuberant 1957 British musical film The Tommy Steele Story oddly enough stars Tommy Steele in a tale of the pop star’s rise to fame as Britain’s first teen idol and rock and roll star. Its soundtrack is the first UK album to reach number one.

Director Gerard Bryant’s gleefully exuberant 1957 British musical film The Tommy Steele Story oddly enough stars Tommy Steele in a tale that dramatises the pop star’s rise to fame as Britain’s first teen idol and rock and roll star.

It is one of the first British films to feature rock and roll. Now it captures a moment in time as a fascinatingly faded snapshot of the era, and of course it captures appeal, energy and music of the young star, giving an infectious performance. It is a musical milestone, as its soundtrack is the first British album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. With collaborators Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt, Steele received the 1958 Ivor Novello Award for Most Outstanding Song of the Year for ‘A Handful of Songs’, one of the 12 numbers.

The film was announced in January 1957, just three months after Steele released his first single ‘Rock with the Caveman’ (October 1956) with the Steelmen, which peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart,

The Tommy Steele Story was a cheap speculative cash-in, conceived and made in a great rush, British film moguls Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy asked Steele to make the film and paid him £3,000 to star (the film’s budget was a miserly £15,000). He then spent a month with Mike Pratt and Lionel Bart writing the songs and the film was shot two weeks later. Bart said: ‘Here’s this guy, he’s only 20, he ain’t even started his story.’

Carry On producer Peter Rogers hired Norman Hudis to write the script. He wrote it in ten days, recalling: ‘It was one of the easiest I’ve ever done. I was a cockney like Tommy Steele. I came from the same sort of street: I knew how he talked. I knew how he thought.’

Hudis has Tommy living with his mother and father (Hilda Fenemore and Charles Lamb) in their London home. He lands in hospital after injuring his spine doing judo but is given a guitar as therapy and plays to entertain patients and staff. He works on an ocean liner, performing in his spare time, and gets a job playing in a Soho, London, coffee bar, where he is discovered, landing a recording contract.

The spinoff album The Tommy Steele Story is Steele’s first soundtrack album and second album, released on a Decca 10-inch LP in May 1957. The 12 songs are by Bart and Pratt, with Steele co-writing all but one. The album was the first UK number one album by a British act. Its two singles, ‘Butterfingers’ and the double A-side ‘Water, Water’ / ‘A Handful of Songs’, were both top-ten hits in the UK.

The cast are Tommy Steele as himself, Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group, Nancy Whiskey, Humphrey Lyttelton & his Band, Tommy Eytle’s Calypso Band, Chris O’Brien’s Caribbeans (‘The Caribbean’ Club Band), The Steelmen, Hilda Fenemore as Mrs Steele and Charles Lamb as Mr Steele.

It was released as Rock Around the World in the US.

Tommy Steele, aka Sir Thomas Hicks OBE (born 17 December 1936) is regarded as Britain’s first teen idol and rock and roll star. After being discovered at the 2i’s Coffee Bar in Soho, London, he had a series of hit singles, including ‘Rock with the Caveman’ (1956) and the chart-topper ‘Singing the Blues’ (1957). He starred in further musical films, including The Duke Wore Jeans (1958) and Tommy the Toreador (1959), which spawned the hit ‘Little White Bull’. Later he became a hit middle of the road entertainer in the films Half a Sixpence, The Happiest Millionaire (1967) and Finian’s Rainbow (1968).

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,739

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com