Posted 8:18 PM by Gene

In one-and-a-half minutes I learned why Elvis's movies stink. Some blogger has pirated a scene from Double Trouble (no link) and even through the dim lighting (which may have been MGM's fault) I could see the smell. People make fun of The King's movies reflexively despite some good tunes, like the one-and-a-half minutes of "Long Legged Girl (with the Short Dress On)". "Col." "Tom" "Parker" could at least have had his Hill and Range hacks write to the camera, and here they did it. Unfortunately the director and cinematographer were blind. First off, there's no staging; it's just Elvis wiggling and an audience clapping, and the men wheeling the dolly bumping into something. Much of the scene is in long shots and for a second Elvis turns his back to the camera. When you're the star doing an exciting number that is a mortal sin. Worse, there is staging, behind Elvis. Three Beatles mopheads simulate monkey orgasms on guitars. This is beyond stupid as a big band's backing him -- and the Jordanaires are MIA. Maybe they weren't that photogenic after years of imitating cows but they're on the whole song. And then there's Elvis himself, puffy, a little disengaged (and possibly stoned), going through not very convincing motions -- and here he had no excuse as he wasn't doing the "POS" he increasingly mocked and from whose grip he was never released. And to top it off the chowderheads cut off the song before the finish.

Elvis's films would never be masterworks but they could have been a lot better -- but too many people conspired to see that they weren't, not least of them The King.