Review of Bop Girl Goes Calypso

Bill Haley recorded "Rock Around the Clock" in April of 1954. It became a sensation and "rock and roll" became the craze. In January, 1956, Elvis Presley recorded "Heartbreak Hotel." It took a four or five months, but it reached number one and was the biggest selling record of the year. However, Elvis sharply divided people along generation lines. The young loved him, but the older generation was generally sharply critical. They hated him and it looked like he might be just a one hit wonder. Meanwhile in April 1956, Harry Belafonte released his album "Calypso" and it rose quickly to number one and stayed there for 33 weeks. It was the number one selling album of 1956 and the first album to sell a million copies. Given the fact that Calypso was embraced by everyone and rock and roll was embraced only by teenagers, it seemed that Calypso was possibly going to be the next wave craze. Given this background, the plot of this movie, that Calypso was going to be the next big sensation was not strange, but quite a reasonable guess.

The Rock and Roll and Calypso acts in this movie are unknowns. Songs rang from the tolerable to the very good. It is often like watching a very good variety show from the 1950's.

The one stand-out is the lead Judy Tyler. She is a fine singer and dancer and a fine actress. It is easy to see why she was picked to star with Elvis Presley in "Jail House Rock."

Sadly, Judy became a female version of James Dean. Like Dean, she died in a car accident before her films were released, so she never got to enjoy the super stardom that certainly would have come her way.

This movie is really all we have foreshadowing her talent.