1961 Frankie Vaughan: Tower Of Strength

One of my favourite guilty pleasures are the films of Tod Slaughter. For those not in the know, Slaughter was a British film actor who cut his teeth treading the boards in a series of over the top Victorian melodramas before George King committed them to celluloid for posterity in the 1930's. 'Sweeny Todd', 'Maria Marten', 'The Ticket Of Leave Man' - Slaughter nudged and cackled and winked and murdered his way through them all in the grandest of Guignol styles that didn't so much chew up the scenery as take a chainsaw to it. And now, listening to Frankie Vaughan ham his way through 'Tower Of Strength', I'm very much reminded of Slaughter in his pomp.

Frankie's woman has done his wrong and like Lear on the heath, he rages he will do such things that will be the terror of the earth if only he had the guts to carry them out. Oh yes, if he were a stronger man then no way would this woman get away with taking him for a fool and he'd tell her straight - "I don't want you, I don't need you, I don't love you any more". But Frankie is too weak for any of that and his bug eyed rage at his own impotence ( "But a tower of strength is a something...I'LL NEVER BE!!!") even overshadows his hate for his ex.

It's an astonishing performance, as over the top as they come with Vaughan sounding nuttier than a shithouse dog in summer and all the while backed up by a brassy backing that blares up a storm of its own. Whether Frankie thought plugging everything directly into the mains then hitting the overload switch was the best way to sound relevant to a rocking generation turned off by the sophistication of his usual top hat and tails persona I don't know, but if it was then this is a major misfire. Yet in shooting wide he still manages to hit the bullseye of a different target altogether - by creating an Armageddon sized statement of camp intent (no I don't care how sincere Frankie is trying to be, this is camp with a capital 'C') he not only invents Tom Jones three years early, but effectively trumps him before he even set foot in a recording studio. 'Tower Of Strength' is not for the feint hearted, but there's a hell of a ride here for anyone willing to be carried along. I bet Slaughter would have loved it.