Tommy the Toreador (1959) User Reviews

Pleasant Musical Diversion

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 22 November 2011]

Before seeing this I had seen Tommy Steele in Half A Sixpence, Finian's Rainbow, and The Happiest Millionaire and Kill Me Tomorrow, the latter a British noir feature where he sang one song. To me he's not a rock and roll singer as such, but rather a most talented entertainer in the British music hall tradition. But he did make a few films while he and Cliff Richard vied for who was number one rock and roller in the United Kingdom before the days of The Beatles.

Tommy The Toreador was made while he was still a rock and roll singer and this film most likely never made it to this side of the Atlantic. I was struck at how similarly constructed this film was to what Elvis Presley was doing in the USA. Of course this film was constructed around Steele's persona just as Presley films were. And like Presley films he was given casts of veteran performers in support to insure their success. Colonel Parker saw to that with Elvis and someone was looking out for Steele as well.

At times Tommy The Toreador gets a bit silly, but on the whole it's a rather enjoyable 90 minutes or so as Tommy is a sailor on a merchant vessel and gets stranded in Spain. He meets another British subject stranded in Spain in the person of Janet Munro and winds up in the hands of some sharp promoters who need a bullfighter for the Corrida. Steele in the Corrida acts a whole lot like Lou Costello in Mexican Hayride.

But he sings a bunch of nice songs that I'm sure were popular in the UK back in the day. And such people as Sid James and Kenneth Williams, veterans of the Carry-On troupe are here as one of the promoter and the very stuffy if daft British consul. And Noel Purcell of the Abbey Theater plays Tommy's exasperated captain.

Steele could actually draw from his own experiences, in his memoirs Bermondsey Boy Steele recounts that he did his national service on an ocean liner as part of the crew before going into show business.

Tommy The Toreador is a pleasant musical diversion and a real treat for Tommy Steele's still strong fan legion.

Watchable

[kentishmaid21 · 5/10 · 16 January 2004]

Light-hearted, Tommy Steele comedy vehicle which although enjoyable is extremely un-PC! The comedy comes from the farcical elements of the story (Tommy being mistaken for a toreador)and this works, on the whole. Famous for the 'Little White Bull' number. Rainy Saturday afternoon sort of a film - 5/10

Was this blond,blue- eyed cockney Britain's Elvis?...

[ianlouisiana · 5/10 · 23 April 2016]

Well,he was a refreshing change from impresario Larry Parnes' usual indenti - kit smouldering,greased - up Teddy Boys whose pimply faces adorned the bedroom walls of many a middle - class English schoolgirl in the late 50's. Tommy had nice teeth,loved his mum and came from Bermondsey which might as well have been Bermuda for all that most of his fans knew about it. He wasn't rally rock ' n ' roll,we all knew it. Now Gene Vincent..there was the real thing,and Jerry Lee till he married his 13 year old cousin. So Tommy was loved by mums and dads,a fact that immediately alienated him from 80% of his potential audience and before "Tommy the Toreador" was released he was already moving from pop star to entertainer. He did his best but the material,which defeated some of Britain's top comic talent of the time,sadly,did for him. Filmed determinedly at Elstree,it looked about as Spanish as The Old Kent Road apart from a few stock shots of a fiesta that scarcely blend seamlessly with the rest of the movie. The overwhelming impression is that the makers were desperate to milk this worn-out cash cow one more time before it dries up. The songs are very poor and that's suspending my critical faculties for the sake of courtesy. Some of our favourite actors make hurried almost furtive appearances before hurrying off to cash their cheques. Ten years later Tommy,his brief rock ' roll career mercifully forgotten, sung and danced gloriously in the excellent "Half a sixpence". That,I feel sure,is how he'd rather be remembered.

A very dated, but mildly amusing, light hearted film.

[geoffm60295 · 5/10 · 29 November 2019]

By the times of the film's release, Tommy Steele style of music and popularity with the teenage audience had already begun to be overtaken by British pop artists like Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde and Billy Fury. The film was proof, if proof was needed, that Tommy Steele had decided to widen his horizons in the entertainment world by launching himself into the world of musicals as a song and dance man. 'Tommy the Toreador' is mildly amusing and does offer our cockney hero the opportunity to show his skills as an all round entertainer. He gets great support from Sid James and Bernard Cribbins, who give the film a thin slice of humour and energy. The flimsy and fluffy storyline merely serves to give Tommy the chance to connect to a much younger audience with his rendition of 'Little White Bull,' and 'I'm Looking for the Birdy' - both simple and childish songs. This is a very average and dated musical and at times loses its way. Tommy Steele was an endearing, loveable cockney character in this film but he doesn't show any dynamism or charisma which would have audiences flocking to see him. He would achieve much greater success in the 1960's where he starred in films with considerably larger budgets.

Unfunny comedy with wasted cast.

[karl-a-hughes · 4/10 · 28 February 2006]

It has been a while since I saw this film and remember thinking that this was a wasted cast. Despite the presence of Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Eric Sykes this movie isn't all that funny. Tommy Steele's permanent and inane grin was certainly not an asset to this movie. Either he was a sandwich short of the picnic or he knew that he was getting paid too much for this bad flick. I suspect that it was the latter.

Directed by a name familiar from some of Norman Wisdom's comedies this movie treads uneasily between slap stick and musical without being successful as either. If for nothing else it is worth fans of the Carry Ons watching this just to see Sid James 'singing'. I guess in its day this movie was aimed at the sort of person that 10 years ago would have gone to see Spice World. Despite the desperate attempts to be a cheerful movie this really doesn't do much to lift the spirits.

Rubbish.

[alantootill · 1/10 · 19 April 2016]

This film is crap from start to finish. Tommy Steele was already past his best, which lasted ten minutes as a pseudo -cheerful Cockney tweeter.

There is nothing amusing about bullfighting and this film is the pits as regards both morals and display of talent. Avoid.

How much more do I have to say to fill the necessary ten lines IMDb requires?

Sid James does the minimum.

Bernard Cribbins is as Spanish as a dog poop.

FFS why does this need to extend to more. The film is absolute trash. End of.

Good cheer me up old school movie

[phoenixyk1 · 7/10 · 28 June 2010]

This film is a classic. If you are feeling low then there is nothing like a cheesy film from the old Ealing era. This is one of those classics. It really lifts your spirits... it is bordering on the worst side of comedy, as well as the worst side of musicals, but it is this that makes it work. The songs are catchy and leave you wanting to sing them forever. Watch the birdie, and little white bull especially. Every time I need a pick me up this film goes on. Tommy Steele is like Marmite, you either love him or you hate him. I love him too and so does the children. The children sit in silence apart from singing along to all the songs. Even Disney has not managed that.

A load of bull

[malcolmgsw · 3/10 · 28 May 2016]

There was a time when Tommy Steele was a rock and roll singer.However it is clear that by time this film was made he had already softened that image to more middle of the road,where he would find long term success.He is one of the numerous popular stars of that era who tried and failed to have a successful film career.He joins a long list of failures,such as Morecambe & Wise,Charlie Drake and Spike Milligsn.Despite a pretty decent cast and the name of Talbot Rothwell as one one of the scriptwriters,this film never gets off the ground.The songs are mediocre,though Steele had a hit with "little whit bull".The climax at the bullfighting is truly awful in every way.The producers should have been thrown to the lions.