He works on an ocean liner, performing in his spare time, and gets a job playing in a coffee bar.

[9] Steele later wrote in his memoirs that Cohen and Levy "were quite different from that other British film mogul, J. Arthur Rank.

[12] Bart considered the film premature, reflecting "Here's this guy, he's only 20, he ain't even started his story".

Hudis felt it "was an astute and alert move to make the subject but at most I thought it would be a sterling support film.

[18] According to Nat Cohen the film "paid for itself in two weeks on the circuit" and was successful in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Scandinavia.

[9] Kine Weekly claimed in 1959 the success of the movie was a turning point in the fortunes of Anglo Amalgamated.

Writing in Melody Maker, Tony Brown deemed Steele "a natural", commenting "he can amble in front of the cameras cocking a snook at RADA technique and still go over with a bang".

Every thing, it seems, happened so easily", but praised the film's production value and concluded "it must be counted as a triumph for the Bermondsey boy.

The album's twelve songs were composed quickly by Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt, with Steele co-writing all but one.

[13][25] The soundtrack features a broader range of genres than Steele's previous releases, with Bart having convinced Norman Hudis that "they couldn't all be rock and roll songs if they were doing [Tommy's] story.