In the mid-‘50s, as rock and roll was blooming, the first wave of so-called jukebox musicals also hit, B-movies that existed not so much to tell a story as to string together footage of the popular bands of the time. They were promotional vehicles, pre-cursors of MTV, and, generally, pretty bad. But The Girl Can’t Help It rose up as the widely accepted gem of that genre. In addition to showcasing stellar acts — Little Richard, Fats Domino, Julie London, Gene Vincent, and Eddie Cochran among others — the cast was strong, too. Headlined by a very young Jayne Mansfield and the somewhat older Tom Ewell (The Seven Year Itch), the film, while sometimes a bit silly and broadly brushed, is well-written, well-acted and a lot of fun. And, interestingly, it played a role in the subsequent creation of a little band called The Beatles. – Craig Holden
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