Twist Around the Clock Reviews

With Elvis in the Army, the face of rock 'n' roll was slowly undergoing a transformation that would soon culminate in the British invasion. As a last gasp from the old era, TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK is a bit of good fun, updating the classic ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK to fit the dance craze that was captivating teenyboppers across the US. The simple story line has Cronin playing a rock 'n' roll manager who discovers kids dancing the night away to a new dance, the Twist. He books a big Boston society party for his new band but can't get other gigs because he once spurned the affections of McGiveney, the daughter of a top agent. Several songs and a few simple moments later, Cronin has married Mitchell, one of his dancers, despite a tricky contract designed by McGiveney to prevent just that from happening. The dancers appear on nationwide TV and, of course, are a big smash. Though it's not as good as the original, TWIST AROUND THE CLOCK bears a certain naive charm of a long-gone era, a time when teenagers were more innocent and sophistication meant a milk shake with two straws. This simple story is really just an excuse for plenty of rock tunes, including Checker singing something called "Merry Twist-mas" (Mack Wolfson, Wally Hall, Charlie Singleton). The best moments in the film come when great rocker Dion sings two of his classic songs, "Runaround Sue" (Ernie Meresca, Dion DiMucci) and "The Wanderer" (Meresca). Other songs include "Twist Around the Clock," "Don't Twist with Anyone Else But Me," (Buddy Kaye, Philip Springer, Clay Cole), "Here, There, Everywhere" (Teddy Vann), "Twistin', USA" (Kal Mann), "Your Lips and Mine," "Twist Along" (Mann, Dave Appell), "The Twist Is Here to Stay" (Cole, Fred Karger), "He's So Sweet" (Alonzo Tucker, Gwen Elias, Gordon Evans), and "The Majestic" (B.L. Jones, Welton Young).