It's Trad, Dad! (1962)

Best movie ever!

The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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!

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

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?