The Platters Movies
- 1988
Pop greats the Platters star in this episode of Rock 'n' Roll Palace, performing "The Great Pretender," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," and four others. Released by K-tel Entertainment, the program is hosted by legendary disc jockey Wolfman Jack and originally aired in the 1980s on cable's The Nashville Network. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- 1988
- Add Live from the Rock 'n' Roll Palace: Rock 'N' Roll's Greatest Hits in Concert to QueueAdd Live from the Rock 'n' Roll Palace: Rock 'N' Roll's Greatest Hits in Concert to top of Queue
Hosted by Wolfman Jack, this K-tel International release features a dozen musical performances from the TNN series Rock 'N' Roll Palace. Live From the Rock 'n' Roll Palace: Rock 'N' Roll's Greatest Hits in Concert includes The Dixie Cups' "Chapel of Love," The Platters' "Only You (And You Alone)," and The Crickets' "Peggy Sue." ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- 198z
Kissimmee, Florida, was host to live performance by the Platters with titles such as "Only You" and "The Great Pretender" and the Coasters with titles such as "Yakety Yak" and "Charlie Brown." ~ Rovi
- 1972
- Add The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant to QueueAdd The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant to top of Queue
This tale of intermingled love and hate is directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and is the 13th of the 33 films he made in his short life. It explores the universal dynamics present in close human relationships, even lesbian ones. Petra Von Kant (Margit Carstensen) is a fashion designer. Some time ago, she divorced the husband she no longer loved. Until recently, she has been in a fairly satisfactory S & M relationship with her assistant. When she develops an obsession with her fashion model, however, things become far more complicated. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1959
An entertaining, clever, amusing, and exciting variety show, Europa di Notte features a witty narration and the talents of performers from a wide range of fields. Among the most known to American audiences are Domenico Modugno and The Platters but judging by the quality of the acts, every other performer deserves equal recognition. Carmen Sevilla does an impressive dance routine, and magicians like Channing Pollock and others provide plenty of entrancing illusions. Then there are the guys from the Parisian Crazy Horse Saloon, who take almost all of it off but clothe the entire act in enough humor to pass muster with most audiences. Other dancers and singers, including the Ukrainian Chorus make this armchair tour of European nitery worthwhile. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Domenico Modugno, The Platters, (more)
- 1959
This sexually explicit, low-budget film makes no pretensions about being anything other than offensive. There is no plot since none is especially necessary. Director Charles Haas (his last film was the following year), opens with a scene of sexually active men and women at a party. Then one of these women, Silver Morgan (Mamie Van Doren), is mistakenly accused of a crime and sent to an institution, run by Catholic nuns, for wayward young women. As it turns out, the inmates in the institution actually run it through sadistic means. One of them is even more seriously mentally disturbed than the others, and so the nuns welcome her as a novitiate, making even a non-Catholic viewer grimace. The content of this story, such as it is, is made all the worse by an accompanying disregard of the craft of filmmaking. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mamie van Doren, Mel Tormé, (more)
- 1957
Producer-director Roger Corman serves up another thinly plotted musicfest in Carnival Rock. Corman regular Susan Cabot stars as Natalie, a singer for an oceanside carnival. Smitten by Natalie, high-stakes gambler Stanley (Brian Hutton) wins the carnival in a poker game so that he can be near the girl. Christy (David J. Stewart), the carnival's ex-owner, is likewise in love with the girl, so he stays on as a baggy-pants burleycue comic. As in most films of this nature, the plot can be blissfully ignored in favor of the musical highlights, which in this case are performed by the likes of The Platters, David Houston, Bob Luman, The Shadows and The Blockbusters. And what would a Roger Corman flick be without Dick Miller in a supporting role? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Susan Cabot, Brian G. Hutton, (more)
- 1957
Its title notwithstanding, Roger Corman's Rock All Night is a tense little hostage melodrama. Corman regular Dick Miller stars as Shorty, a much-maligned hanger-on at the Cloud Nine tavern. Shorty's hotheaded pugnaciousness comes in handy when a pair of gunmen (played by Russell Johnson--yes, "The Professor" on Gilligan's Island! -- and Jonathan Haze) invade the Cloud Nine and terrorize the patrons. Mel Welles, who later played the kvetching flower-store proprietor in Little Shop of Horrors, is a riot as a hip-talking showbiz agent. Also on hand is Abby Dalton, the soon-to-be star of Corman's Viking Women and the Sea Serpent. The film's very brief musical interludes are provided by the Platters and the Blockbusters. Rock All Night was originally released on a double bill with Dragstrip Girl. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Abby Dalton
- 1956
Two musicians whose dance band is going nowhere happen across a roadhouse in the sticks, where a pack of fun-loving youngsters are dancing to a new and different beat -- the kids call it rock 'n' roll! The band, Bill Haley and his Comets, leaves the two musicians mighty impressed, and they agree to manage Haley and his crew. They soon meet disc jockey Alan Freed, who immediately secures Haley and the boys a nightclub stand in the Big Apple, where the Comets become the hottest ticket in town. As stories go, Rock Around the Clock was not stunningly original, but at least director Fred F. Sears and producer Sam Katzman had the good sense to stay out of the way and let Bill Haley and his Comets do what they do best -- mix cowboy swing with rhythm and blues, make with the boogie, and have a fine old time doing it. Haley and Co. perform most of their best-known tunes here, including "See You Later, Alligator", "Razzle Dazzle", "Rudy's Rock" and (of course) the title tune, and if they look and sound a bit staid compared to what Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Gene Vincent would be serving only a few years later, their music is good, clean fun and swings a lot harder than most folks give it credit for. Rock Around the Clock also features performances from The Platters ("The Great Pretender" and "Only You") and Freddy Bell and His Bellboys. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bill Haley & His Comets, The Platters, (more)
- 1956
The inimitable writer-director Frank Tashlin once more aims his satiric barbs at modern culture (modern 1950s culture, that is) in The Girl Can't Help It. Much of the film is dominated by Edmond O'Brien as mob boss Murdock, who while serving a term in federal prison becomes a singing sensation with his hit tune "Rock Around the Rock Pile." Once he's sprung, Murdock hires impoverished agent Tom Miller (Tom Ewell), not to promote his own career, but to turn his curvaceous lady friend Jerri Jordan (Jayne Mansfield) into a star. Alas, Jerri has no singing or acting talent whatsoever, a fact that she's eager and willing to admit. A domestic type at heart, all Jerri really wants out of life is to marry Murdock, so that she can clean his house, cook his meals and raise his children. When Murdock refuses to grant her wishes, Jerri falls in love with Tom instead.
Every so often, director Tashlin takes time out from the plot to poke fun at such technical marvels as CinemaScope and Technicolor, and to lampoon the American male's fixation on female bosoms and bottoms (at one point, Jayne Mansfield leans towards the camera, her cleavage exposed as far as the censors will allow, and plaintively asks Tom Ewell if he believes that she's equipped for motherhood). While much of the humor in the film is dated, The Girl Can't Help It is an invaluable record of the pop-music scene of the 1950s, featuring such guest artists as Julie London (playing Tom Ewell's dream girl), Ray Anthony, Fats Domino, The Platters, Little Richard and his Band, Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, the Treniers, Eddie Fontaine, Abbey Lincoln and Eddie Cochran. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Every so often, director Tashlin takes time out from the plot to poke fun at such technical marvels as CinemaScope and Technicolor, and to lampoon the American male's fixation on female bosoms and bottoms (at one point, Jayne Mansfield leans towards the camera, her cleavage exposed as far as the censors will allow, and plaintively asks Tom Ewell if he believes that she's equipped for motherhood). While much of the humor in the film is dated, The Girl Can't Help It is an invaluable record of the pop-music scene of the 1950s, featuring such guest artists as Julie London (playing Tom Ewell's dream girl), Ray Anthony, Fats Domino, The Platters, Little Richard and his Band, Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, the Treniers, Eddie Fontaine, Abbey Lincoln and Eddie Cochran. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Ewell, Jayne Mansfield, (more)
