User reviews

I just watched this movie for the first time. I wonder why movies like this are so rarely seen. We've got all these cable channels now -- you'd think every movie ever made would end up getting played somewhere. This is a very interesting movie. I love the "teener" songs the most. It's amazing to think that Trad (Dixieland) had a burst of popularity just before the Beatles hit it big in the USA. Had it not been for the Beatles, would the 60's have been mostly about jazz? Anyway, after watching this movie, I thought it would be simple to search the Internet and find a complete listing of all the songs somewhere. Guess what -- it can't be done! I tried all kinds of Google entries and nothing returns a complete listing of the entire soundtrack. There is a CD available, but it only contains the Dixieland stuff. Does anyone know where I can find a complete list?

I never heard of this movie until seeing it tonight on Turner Classic Movies. Who would have thought that Trad meant Dixieland Jazz in Britain? This movie is full of excellent jazz performances but the American rock and roll artists seem out of place. Most of their careers, like Gene Vincent, were on the decline in the US. Chubby Checkers' was on the rise due to the twist craze.

This was the first time I've seen Helen Shapiro though I've heard of her in conjunction with the Beatles. Lovely girl, I never would have guessed that she was only 15 when this was filmed. Luckily I was able to find out more on her web site.

Too bad this movie isn't out on tape or DVD. If it's broadcast again, I'll record it.

An early Amicus production (before they became Hammer's chief rival making horror films) cramming 25 songs into 73 minutes, which provides a vivid record of that long ago era when pop stars still wore suits and brought together for the first time the director and cameraman of 'A Hard Day's Night'.

Ironically it's all that nonstop trad jazz that eventually proves a bit wearying but like even the humblest production of the early sixties (let alone one shot by the man who a year later would be cameraman on 'Dr Strangelove'), seen today it has enormous period charm and looks great.

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.

With more Dixieland (in Britain they called it Trad) than a Casual Viewer/Listener could possibly stand, this Fun Frolic from Creative British Director Richard Lester is a Time Capsule of the British Teen Scene just before Beatlemania. Jazz was the Thing then and one can see and hear its Limitations while viewing/listening to this Curiosity.

There are some American Hit-Makers thrown in to Sweeten the U.S. Market and it is neat to see Gary U.S. Bonds, Gene Vincent, and Gene McDaniel. The Female Lead Helen Shapiro makes an Impression as do the Paris Sisters, but the Overwhelming amount of Dixieland submerges the Movie with a Flood of Ear Piercings (inner not outer).

Overall, Music Historians and Pop Culture Enthusiasts should give it a watch, and Fans of Dixieland Jazz, but others might find it more Irritating than Essential. The Movie does have an Innocent Charm and is more Professional than its American Cousin RnR Movies, mostly because of the Talent of the Director.

Years ago I heard/read an interview with John Lennon in which he said in the early 60s it was all jazz in the clubs. I thought that was really odd, so when I saw movie on that very phenomenon, directed by Richard Lester!, I had to check it out.

The minimally-plotted film involves a mayor determined to stop the noisy Dixieland Jazz youth fad, and a couple of local kids who decide a concert in town will fix *everything*. They head to the big city to grab a DJ and a few musicians.

This is an excuse for two things, musical performances, and classic Lester sight-gags including a series involving a man eating spaghetti in a club.

The gags are great, whacky and sometimes surreal. The music is a mix of Trad Jazz and early rock and roll performers doing their non-hits.

I wasn't too thrilled with most of the Trad Jazz. The most interesting thing was how some numbers were filmed, most notably a bizarre sequence with the Temperance 7 that included musicians lunching and getting into weird formations before a white background. Very Lester. The best Jazz is in the final half hour in the concert itself, but that's also filmed in the most perfunctory fashion.

The two stars are a couple of English pop singers. The guy is at the acting level of someone who does school videos on the heart and where electricity comes from. The gal could never aspire to anything so lofty; she is truly a terrible actress. But she's got an interesting singing voice.

I liked the very funny in-between song bits, but most of the actual music I could do without. If you're a bigger fan of white-boy 60s Trad Jazz you should really like this.

Note: I saw this movie in 2006 then watched it again in 2018 because I'd forgotten I'd seen it. Didn't realize until I came across my original IMDB review; this is *not* memorable!

After reading all the positive comments on Ring-a-Ding Rhythm it seems a shame to criticize but here goes.

I thought the movie was awful, leads Douglas and Shapiro couldn't act (they made a total of one more film between them!), the "pop' performers were bland with the songs totally forgettable and it's obvious why the British trad jazz craze was soon blown away by the Beatles et al.

Speaking of the Beatles, I couldn't for the life of me see, though of course others did, how Richard Lester was given two Beatles films to direct on the strength of this. All the humour here was, to me, embarrassingly, excruciatingly unfunny.

One other thing that bothered me was the glorification of smoking. Two singers, John Leyton and Gene McDaniels actually drew on cigarettes while they were singing, "Mister" Acker Bilk had a lit cigarette between his fingers as he played his clarinet and legendary Australian DJ Alan "Fluff" Freeman is seldom seen without a smoke.

Sorry, fans, I hated it.

Fun, music-filled film about a teenage boy and girl from a small, nameless UK village who want to bring a jazz show to their town. But one problem - they must go up against town mayor, a guy who thinks the local teenagers are disrupting the peace with their WILD music. The two youths head out to the big city in search of a disc jockey who can bring some great bands to their town for the show.

This is an enjoyable, funny film fully loaded with great musical acts performed by a variety of performers. Though this film does drag a bit in the second half, it is still a treat to see, full of innovative photography in the musical segments, amusing voice-over narration and British humor throughout the film in a style that reminded me of "Monty Python". The version I saw of this film, as shown on TCM, featured a very clear print. Good fun.

To think that this was going on when I was listening to Radio Luxembourg and enjoying American pop. I studiously avoided 'trad jazz', tin pan alley's attempt to hold on to the teen audience. Thank goodness they failed and the Beatles and Stones got things moving here. This is truly dreadful...

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.

A very ordinary and cheaply produced, early 1960's film, has curiosity value as it shows you the young dynamic teenage female pop star, Helen Shapiro. However, apart from admiring the talent of this brilliant singer, the thread bare storyline, the mostly dire songs and the annoyingly incessant 'trad jazz' music made this film almost unwatchable. Interesting to note that within a year, most of these pop singers and the style of pop music featured in the film would be swept away by the emergence of the Beatles and the other pop groups.

It's Trad Dad is a film with a dental floss plot and a lot rock and roll with a bit of contemporary jazz. Somewhere between all the acts a story is told about a Colonel Blimp like mayor who tries to ban the current music scene and the kids who put on a show in the best Mickey and Judy tradition.

Rock and roll was born in America and to prove that Chubby Checker and Del Shannon got in the show from across the pond.

This was directed by Richard Lester who did so much better when he was showcasing only one act, The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night.

When this movie was released the Beatles had just cut their first single and the director would make his next one with them. Its like a British answer to Rock Rock Rock and quite amazing when you realise how many of these artists had or would have links to the Beatles. Craig Douglas for example could claim he'd once been backed by the Beatles while Helen Shapiro,Sounds Inc,Del Shannon and the Brook Brothers would be on Beatles packages. Its wrong to assume the American acts would be on the "unemployment line" as Bobby Vee and Del Shannon carried on with hits through the 60s-the latter cutting the first U S version of a Lennon/McCartney song. And Chubby Checker hit again in the 70s in the UK with the chart topping reissue of Lets twist again. The music which gave the movie its name-trad jazz-was a craze the same as skiffle and really a watered down version of the original New Orleans jazz but Barber,Bilk & Ball all had massive hit singles in the States. As for the story its like a lot of the original U S rock'n'roll opportunist films-absurd on purpose yet the objections about what was really being planned as an open air festival WAS something which occurred in the 60s-remember the Beatles on the Apple roof? This was a long way down from the situation nowadays when you have the Concert In The Park. Still why would anyone object to trad jazz-it was supposed to be the music of the older generation-even in the 60s jazz was the domain of scholars the same as Beatles music is nowadays. What goes around comes around

odd mixture of rock, dixieland and jazz breaks 4th wall--comes off screen music video mayor banning music really like dixieland

"It's Trad, Dad!" (later renamed "Ring-a-Ding Rhythm!") is not much of a movie in many ways. There's barely any plot and it consists mostly of a bunch of music video-like performances all strung together. Yet, it might be worth your seeing it if you like this sort of music or if you are curious what Richard Lester's first film as a director looks like.

As for the music, it's a VERY strange combination. Some of it is clearly pop and rock but quite a bit also is Dixieland Jazz! Was there some sort of Dixieland fad in the UK in the early 60s?! I dunno...but these are actually more fun to listen to than the pop numbers...as they are VERY easy to listen to and tap along with as you listen!

The Lester touch is obvious when they're not doing musical numbers. Weird stuff like breaking through the fourth wall by having actors walking OFF the film early on and some of the other silly sight gags seem like his later films and I could see why the Beatles would use him because of his odd, hip style.

So what's the story? Well, there's about 10% story and about 90% just song after song after song. The Mayor of some town is mad because young people love their music...and it drives him crazy. So he tries, in vain, to stop the invasion of noxious music into his town!

Overall, a VERY odd film and one that is VERY difficult to rate. The bottom line is that this movie is NOT for everyone....you have to love the music and you have to be very patient to see an almost plot-less picture! Mostly for Lester fans and for folks who like the music. I enjoyed it and recommend it...but could easily understand someone NOT liking or recommending it.

If anyone is curious to look at 1961/62 U.K. just before The Beatles would make their way to American shores, then this is an excellent look at that moment of the British musical landscape. More then anything this film is about Art Direction. This is the kind of film that would show off Lester's amazing visual sense & get him hired to direct one of the great musicals of the 60's, "A Hard Days Night". The other quality I love about this film is the strange mixture of Folk, Dixie Jazz, R&B & Rock & Roll. I love how just 2 years before the Rock & Roll revolution would take hold that there seems to be such a wild mix of styles all floating around & waiting to take shape. Please see this film simply to get a peek at Lester's wonderful sense of visual delights. It very much has the feel of a magazine article come to life. Bravo!

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.

Richard Lester was perfecting his craft as rock movie director guru here. He did a great job! I have a soft spot for Helen Shapiro; anyone who does will love this movie. I was surprised about the number of Dixieland jazz band groups who played in this flick. I didn't realize that it was so popular then in the UK (I was only ten when this movie was made)! It was good to see Mr. Acker Bilk and his band; he was an Atlantic recording artist in the 60's. When I'd buy an album by Cream or The Allman Bros. Band back then, the sleeve would inevitably feature albums by Acker Bilk. I knew he was a good clarinet player, but I'd never seen him "play" until I saw this movie. Of course, the plot was undeniably banal, but really, who cares? It's an historical document!

I did actually visit the cinema in my home town of Coventry and viewed. its trad dad as a new movie. i did enjoy it at the time and would really like to see it again . i hope my memories will not be dashed but if any person could supply me with a copy and cost ,i would appreciate it very much. if i do manage to have a current viewing i will then update my report. regards mick

Let's appreciate what we've got here. Trad was a popular form of music of the "tap your foot,have a good time" ilk. Helen Shapiro was moreorless the only UK pop songstress of 1962 having had 2 number 1 hits.... our (uk) competition to Connie Francis and Brenda Lee....back then,there were very few female hitmakers (unlike now).The Temperance Seven also had 2 number ones,in the trad style (yes,there were 9 of them,explained by being "one over the eight"- a lighthearted alcohol reference). But for me the treasures were Gene McDaniels' excellent performance of Another Tear Fell (a soulful gem),and the Paris Sisters exquisite song. Gene Vincent may have been past his peak but he was a genuine rock'n'roll hero in the UK (I think the Beatles admired him). Let's savour what we've got. Dick Lester's quirky direction showed what was to come in "A Hard Day's Night". I listened to a fragment of John and Paul being interviewed during filming of AHDN...the interviewer asked if the film would be called "Beatlemania"...John replied no,that would be too corny,it should be something like "It's Trad,Dad"...Paul chipped in "how about "It's Rock,Cock"! All in all,the film is a delightful snapshot of pre-Beatle pop in the UK. I wish there were more such films.If you like this one,also try "Be My Guest"(1965) which includes a nice performance by Jerry Lee Lewis. Finally,Helen Shapiro carved out a decent career as a jazz singer - with a trad band. Although not a masterpiece,this film is well worth a watch and I rate it 8/10