In the mid-1950s, rock music rapidly captured the hearts – and disposable income – of teenagers. Hollywood took note of all the cash involved and inevitably attempted to capitalize on the musical craze, with 1956’s Rock Around the Clock as the new genre’s first big-screen release.

Steve Hollis (Johnny Johnston) makes a living as the manager of a jazz “big band”. However, he sees audiences dwindle, a fact that threatens his livelihood.

On a road trip, Steve comes across Bill Haley and His Comets (themselves) as they play a small-town dance. Steve decides to push the Comets toward the big time, all while he also romances dancer Lisa Johns (Lisa Gaye) and deals with issues related to antagonistic booking agent/ex-girlfriend Corinne Talbot (Alix Talton).

1955’s Blackboard Jungle became the first major movie to prominently feature rock music, but it doesn’t really qualify as a “rock movie” in the same way as does Clock. The former focused on standard teen melodrama and didn’t involve musical artists or the genre as part of the story.

Jungle helped make the Comets’ song “Rock Around the Clock” a hit, as it topped the US charts more than a year after its initial release. Obviously that success prompted it to become this 1956 movie’s title track – and led to the less than photogenic Haley and His Comets to play a prominent role.

Well, semi-prominent, as Haley only briefly acts in the film. The movie’s early moments imply he’ll enjoy a larger part, but before long, Bill gets relegated to musical performances alone.

Which occupy a lot of Clock, though we get less from the Comets as the flick progresses. The flick expands to give screen time to the Platters, Freddie Bell and His Bellboys and a Latin combo led by Tony Martinez.

I didn’t break out my stopwatch to document how much of Clock’s 77 minutes becomes devoted to musical performances, but viewers should expect a lot of these scenes. Clock doesn’t give us an actual musical, so instead the story grinds to a halt while we watch the bands play.

I get this choice in commercial terms, as the studio wanted to capitalize on the newfound popularity of rock. However, this means we get a flick without much room to explore story and characters.

Even without all those musical numbers, 77 minutes turns into a scanty running time. Once you involve a slew of performances, we don’t find a lot of space for an actual narrative movie.

As such, Clock goes heavy on plot nuggets, as it concentrates strongly on the romantic triangle of Steve, Lisa and Corinne. Really, the entirety of the story becomes Steve’s attempts to get the rock bands into venues and Corinne’s vengeful quest to stop him.

Throw in Steve’s nascent romance with Lisa and we get a sturdy – if cliché – tale. However, the aforementioned lack of space to explore these roles and topics leaves them as thin and one-dimensional.

Steve and Lisa’s romantic affair coalesces so quickly that it seems absurd. The choice to cast the then-40-year-old Johnston as the suitor of the 21-year-old Gaye also makes this scenario even more ridiculous.

I suspect those involved figured teens would come to see Rock for the music, and I guess that worked, as the movie became a huge hit. Nonetheless, 67 years later, it just doesn’t seem especially interesting as a film.

Not that Clock gives us a terrible affair. It simply lacks anything memorable beyond its novelty and historical value.

Rock Around the Clock appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a fairly appealing presentation.

The only “concerns” came from the source, as transitions suffered from softness. Scenes that led into and out of these fades usually came across as a bit on the soft side.

Otherwise, delineation seemed positive. The movie couldn’t be called razor-sharp, but it brought good accuracy.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed light but natural, and the image lacked print flaws.

Blacks looked pretty dark, and shadows felt concise, though a few shots seemed a bit too bright. I suspect those “issues” stemmed from the source. Overall, the movie looked pretty good.

Though not bad, I felt less pleased with the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack, mainly due to iffy dialogue. While always intelligible, lines felt tinny at best and shrill at worst.

Effects also could come across as a bit rough, and those elements lacked much range. Music fared better, at least, as the movie’s many songs offered reasonably positive fidelity. Ultimately, this became an adequate but inconsistent mix.

Only one extra appears here: an audio commentary from writer/journalist Barry Forshaw and novelist/Critic Kim Newman. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at cast and crew, genre domains, and their thoughts about the movie.

When they stick with film-specific domains, Forshaw and Newman make this a reasonably good chat. However, they tend to digress a bit much and their comprehension of rock history seems spotty. This turns into a decent commentary but not a tremendously insightful one.

As the first movie to revolve around rock music, Rock Around the Clock deserves credit for this historical dimension. Unfortunately, the film itself lacks much to make it interesting beyond this status, as it lacks compelling story or character qualities. The Blu-ray brings generally positive picture, mediocre audio and a commentary. Though not a painful 77 minutes, Clock fails to deliver a particularly enjoyable flick.