Ob blond, ob braun...

ELVIS PRESLEY gets to sing several non-memorable songs, the best of which is "One Broken Heart for Sale", but IT HAPPENED AT THE WORLD'S FAIR is strictly standard Presley stuff wherein the guy has his eye on a pretty gal (JOAN O'BRIEN) and makes a pitch, the sort that turns her off at first. Predictably, after a few misunderstandings involving a small girl abandoned at the fair, a happy ending is soon in sight.

The music by Leith Stevens is pleasant enough and the fair grounds at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair make colorful backgrounds for the slight story. GARY LOCKWOOD is Elvis' pilot pal, both of them down on their luck but seeming to spend plenty of money on the fair and decent lodgings. The sub-plot involving both bachelors entrusted with the care of a seven year-old by a complete stranger is more than a little improbable, especially given today's public awareness of children being taken advantage of by adults with criminal behavior.

Presley shares some effective scenes with the little girl but has his standard "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl" routine with leading lady O'Brien, a pert blonde who plays a nurse who suspects him of feigning illness as a part of his wolf routine. Naturally, the little girl is responsible for bringing them together again after a few silly misunderstandings keep them apart.

Nothing special, but passes the time pleasantly whenever Elvis sings, which is pretty often.

The 1962 World's Fair is the eye filling backdrop for this typical Elvis Presley project. Elvis and his flying buddy (Gary Lockwood) have their plane confiscated. Trouble occurs with involvement with gamblers and gangsters. Elvis befriends a little 7 year old girl that wants to go to the fair. Elvis uses the girl and a little boy (Kurt Russell) to aid him in romancing the infirmary nurse (Joan O'Brian). Ten light and whimsical tunes make up a pleasant soundtrack featuring "One Broken Heart For Sale". A small scene with Yvonne Craig could scorch a ten ton block of ice. This may be the hardest of the Elvis movies to find on home video. Worth seeing!

Enjoyed this Elvis Presley film where he plays the role as Mike Edwards who is down on his luck and meets up with a sweet little girl named Sue-Lin, (Vicky Tiu) who likes Mike and he agrees to watch her while her uncle takes care of his business affairs. Mike takes Sue-Lin to the Seattle World's Fair and they take in all the rides and Sue-Lin also wins a huge doll which is larger than she is. Mike buys Sue all kinds of food at the fair and she gets sick and is taken to a hospital where Mike runs into a very attractive blonde nurse, Diane Warren, (Joan O'Brien) who puts the make on her and Diane quickly brushes Mike off. Elvis performs various songs which were not very popular and this was not necessarily a great Presley film, but the story was very cute and if you missed the Seattle World's Fair, you will enjoy all the photography taken at the fair.

For me, this is one of Elvis' more enjoyable early-'60s "formula" films, partly because at this point it was still early enough that Presley still seemed to pretty much have his heart in it and is not yet bored by it all. He's an out-of-work pilot named Mike Edwards who finds himself saddled with babysitting a sweet little girl (Vicki Tui - very cute and a fine little actress) at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair when her dad drops her off and then disappears. While seeing the sights, Elvis makes the acquaintance of a lovely nurse whom he keeps trying to snare, and this necessitates a hilarious and oft-cited scene with a very young Kurt Russell as a kid at the fair who agrees to kick Elvis hard in the shin for a quarter; it's a short sequence but it's a lot of fun, and quite ironic since Russell would wind up playing Presely himself in a 1977 TV movie. This one's got laughs, romance, and also some of the best trademark Elvis fist-fighting (it's amazing to me that he would be allowed to do his own stunts in these movies where he could easily have gotten injured). Oh yeah -- and there are more songs -- quite a few of them, actually -- but only "One Broken Heart For Sale" was of moderate interest for me. *** out of ****

I like this film. It has everything for a relaxed, stress-free Sunday afternoon entertainment. Elvis Presley, lots of gloriously silly early sixties fluff and footage from the 1962 Seattle World fair. It has nostalgic moments too, like Kurt Russell's famous kick-on-the-shin to Elvis. I only wish there was a bit more footage of the Fair attractions, like the Bubbleator. Perhaps MGM will bear this in mind when they bring out the DVD.