Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

gort-8 I taped this movie from Turner Classic Movies. I intended to see 10-15 minutes of it to get a taste of the era and then say goodbye to it. I arrived at the figure "10-15 minutes" because I assumed that's all that I could stand without ripping out my eyeballs.I'm happy to say that I survived the entire length of the movie with orbs still safely ensconced and a big goofy grin on my face. I love this movie! I understand things I didn't know before. I see that the British pop scene desperately needed the Beatles (and the rest of what we call, on this side of the pond, the "British Invasion") to come to its rescue. I understand why it was that every time I'd read an interview with a rising young British star of the era they'd always cite American jazzmen as leading influences on them. And I especially understand why Richard Lester was chosen to direct the Beatles' films. We see that same light-hearted touch with visual puns and a steady IV drip of surrealism.I encourage you to see this movie if you have the chance. I promise you it will result in a far more pleasant and memorable experience then many of today's white elephants.

mightymezzo I see I'm not the only one who watched this on Turner Classic Movies the other night.On the surface, it follows the same pattern as other cheapie rock-n-roll movies of the time: an assortment of pop performances tied together with a thin bit of plot. But "It's Trad, Dad" is much, much more watchable than your average rock-n-roll exploitation film,thanks to its impudent sense of humor (some of which anticipates Monty Python's Flying Circus). The stick-in-the-mud grown-ups are so perfectly over the top, the kids so sweet and earnest, and the narrator SO obliging-- even providing instant club clothes for the hero and heroine. I also enjoy the glimpse of pre-Beatles UK pop, and the look at the craze for old- fashioned Dixieland jazz is a real revelation. What could be so upsetting about "There's a Tavern in the Town" or "When the Saints Go Marching In"?

mpopham This was the first effort of British director Richard Lester (credited here as "Dick Lester") and it's an enjoyable-enough museum piece that tries to cash in on the fleeting popularity of Dixieland jazz among British teeners. To hedge his bets, Lester brought in a few American rock n' roll hold-overs -- Gary U.S. Bonds, Chubby Checker and Del Shannon. Their presence gives the movie a decidedly uneven feel, but there's a great deal of energy at work, and everybody seems to be having a good time.The movie is a bit like "A Hard Day's Night" in its unrelentingly goofy sense of humor, and in how a very skeletal plot is used to string together a series of unrelated musical numbers.By the following year, the Beatles had swept all these acts into the unemployment line, but this is a great example of the British rock n' roll movie of the antedeluvian era.

jimddddd I first saw this movie as "Ring-A-Ding Rhythm" in 1963 and have revisited it several times since. "It's Trad Dad" was Richard Lester's first film, and many of the humorous and surreal touches he later brought to the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" are clearly in evidence here. This British film essentially borrows the basic plot of all those terrible 1950s American rock 'n' roll movies: The mayor and town council try to banish the music that young people are listening to, so the kids try to get major disk jockeys and musical artists to come to town for a liberating concert. But Lester and writer Milton Subotsky (who wrote the earlier U.S. film "Rock, Rock, Rock") spoof the plot throughout and acknowledge that the main appeal of this type of film was that it presented musical performances by charting artists in the days before MTV. The only drawback is that when "It's Trad Dad" was shot in late 1961, trad jazz (known as Dixieland in the U.S.) was sweeping England, which means we're treated to a seemingly endless series of British retro-jazz cats like Acker Bilk and Chris Barber. Fortunately, a couple of Yank expatriates, Del Shannon and the great Gene Vincent, were having second careers in the U.K. at the time, so Lester worked them into the story. (Gene Vincent's performance of "Spaceship to Mars" itself recommends this movie.) Lester also had the presence of mind to fly to America to shoot several cutaways of U.S. artists like Chubby Checker (who was on the verge of storming the U.K. with the Twist), Gary "U.S." Bonds, the Paris Sisters (with soft-focus attention paid to enchanting lead singer Priscilla Paris) and Gene McDaniels, although their material is not up to par with their earlier hits. But the real star of the show is the sense of fun that Lester brings to the proceedings. The scenes literally crackle with wit and energy totally lacking in the earlier Alan Freed/Sam Katzman-style rock films. Topping it all off is the amateurish but utterly charming leading lady,15-year-old Helen Shapiro, whose foghorn singing voice and giant beehive hairdo easily steal the show. Though Shapiro was a big pop star in England at the time, she never clicked in America, which is too bad because she made some very effective records. (After starring in a second film, "Play It Cool," with Bobby Vee and Billy Fury, her singing career went into decline.) "It's Trad Dad" is ultimately an interesting museum piece that captures the British entertainment industry in its last innocence before the Beatles arrived. Not only would Richard Lester go on to direct their two films, but Helen Shapiro would headline their first big tour--during which Lennon and McCartney wrote "Misery" for her. "It's Trad Dad" is highly recommended despite all the Dixieland music.