Sous le ciel bleu d'Hawaï

This is one of his all time best movies. The plot is great and so is the scenery. Young man who wants to make it oh his own. This movie also has a strong supporting cast with the lat Howard McNear, Joan Blackman playing opposit Elvis and the heralded Angela Lansbury. This was his best musical and second only to Charro! as his best. Unfortunately this movie and GI Blues (both good movies) were so successful that this became the formula.

This is the first of Elvis Presley's trio of Hawaii movies. It's also his first with Joan Blackman as his leading lady. It's also the only time Angela Lansbury and Roland Winters-a former Charlie Chan-played his parents. And the second time he's directed by Norman Taurog. In summary, Blue Hawaii has Elvis singing many songs including his hit "Can't Help Falling in Love with You", some jealously between his girlfriend and some of the ladies he tours the island with, an unusually lame performance from Ms. Lansbury as a stereotypical Southern matriarch, a pretty amusing one from Howard McNear as Presley and Ms. Blackman's boss, and a thin plot that is extended by all those numbers! I'll just say that this movie was pretty entertaining despite all that....

Elvis Presley was in great shape when he made "Blue Hawaii," which was a cut above the typical Elvis garbage films that Colonel Tom arranged for him to make later. This is a really fun film with some great numbers. I have always been partial to Rock A Hula - it's exuberant, it's sexy, it's Elvis. This film also features "Can't Help Falling in Love" and the "Hawaiian Wedding Song." Angela Lansbury has a great turn as Elvis' southern mother.

This film, with its big budget and great soundtrack, laid the groundwork for the Elvis movies made later. Unfortunately, as Parker had negotiated a percentage of each film, it didn't take him long to realize that the faster and cheaper they made them, the more money for him and, by extension, Elvis. In fact, later on, the songs done in the films were not specifically written for the particular film - they were simply unreleased songs that were bundled into an album as the movie soundtrack.

But when you see Blue Hawaii, don't dwell on any of that. Just enjoy the scenery and the young, healthy Elvis, with his whole post-Army life ahead of him. All 17 years of it.

Blue Hawaii, the title song of this film, was originally from the score of another Paramount film Waikiki Wedding which starred Bing Crosby in 1937. Bing sold a few records of that one, albeit they were 78s back then, and Elvis nicely revives it and sells a few more.

Crosby's film was made to take advantage of a whole lot of publicity he received for a trip to Hawaii. But Paramount as they usually did with his films back they made them on the cheap and Hawaii for Waikiki Wedding was recreated on the back lot.

Bing must have been a little jealous and who could have blamed him when Paramount did this film completely on location in Hawaii for the King. And Elvis got to go back to Hawaii for another film in Paradise, Hawaiian Style.

Elvis got a whole lot of musical numbers here including the title tune which he sings over the opening credits. He does a rockabilly version of the French song Alouette and with different lyrics, the Mexican love ballad, La Paloma. And he borrows a hit from Andy Williams when he reprises the Hawaiian Wedding Song.

Of course no film set in Hawaii is complete without Aloha Oe. But the big song from this film is one of Presley's greatest Can't Help Falling In Love With You. He sings it during a scene for a birthday party for Joan Blackman's grandmother. It's sort of done in a throwaway manner like the producer's didn't think it would be the big number in the film.

It might surprise Presley fans that this blockbuster hit was also recorded by another RCA Victor artist named Perry Como for one of his albums. Perry does a nice job with it, but it ain't a patch on the King's version.

Elvis is a rich young kid who'd like very much to get out from under Mom and Dad and prove himself. He's even done a hitch in the army, but that doesn't help. Parents are played by Roland Winters and Angela Lansbury.

Angela Lansbury recounted a story where she and her husband had dinner with Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis when they were casting Blue Hawaii. She said Elvis was a nice, polite young man who barely said three words during the dinner. The talk was all from Colonel Tom who was making all kinds of offers to the future Jessica Fletcher to be in this film.

Angela's career was somewhat in a dry spell, she hadn't made The Manchurian Candidate yet or appeared on Broadway in Mame. So she was quite willing to appear.

I gained some insight into how Colonel Parker handled Elvis with that story. If you look at the cast and even the behind the camera credits of his films, you'll see them populated with a whole lot of Hollywood veterans. I'll bet there were many such dinners during Elvis's film career.

To be sure Presley was certainly the Colonel's meal ticket. But I would have to say that he made every effort to see that Elvis and his films were given the best possible production values. I think that's why the King had a long sustained film career until public tastes change which they inevitably do. Also musicals, even Elvis's became too cost prohibitive to produce any more.

Blue Hawaii marks the height of Presley's singing and film career. The Beatles hadn't come on the scene yet, the King was still ruling the roost on the record charts and his films were grossing big box office.

And unless your Bing Crosby and feel a twinge of jealousy that his Hawaii film was done on the cheap, you'll like Blue Hawaii very much. It's nice entertainment from a great entertainer.

Elvis Presley was a hugely influential performer with one of the most distinctive singing voices of anybody. He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor.

While not one of the top three Elvis films, those being 'King Creole', 'Flaming Star' and 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Blue Hawaii' is one of his better overall films. It's proof that his early films were actually pretty good, but unfortunately it was one of his last good ones when the formula started here wore increasingly thin and further suffered from looking less appealing and even the quality of the soundtracks and Elvis' acting wavering significantly.

'Blue Hawaii' could have been better. The formulaic story has occasional draggy spots due to the content not quite being enough to sustain the running time. While most of the soundtrack is great, there is a big difference between the best songs and the weakest, with a couple of songs that don't feel necessary, feel thrown in for the sake of it and are neither catchy or beautiful, particularly "Ito Eats" and "Splicin' Sand". The supporting cast is variable, annoying Jenny Maxwell and dull John Archer coming off worst.

However, Elvis looks natural and is very charismatic, as well as vocally and performance-wise being very much in prime. Personally thought Joan Blackman was appealing, likewise with her chemistry with Elvis, but Roland Winters and particularly Angela Lansbury fare best in support.

Visually, 'Blue Hawaii' is one of the most beautiful-looking Elvis films, along with 'King Creole' and 'Flaming Star'. It's beautifully shot and Hawaii entrances more than it ever has on film. Norman Taurog directs assuredly in by far one of his better outings with Elvis (there were 9 and the first two, the other two being 'GI Blues', are the best).

Most of the soundtrack is simply great, the highlight being the sublime "Can't Help Falling in Love", one of Elvis' most famous songs and it is impossible to not understand why. "No More", "Rock-a-Hula Baby", "Hawaiian Sunset" and "Hawaiian Wedding Song" are honourable mentions. The script is witty and there is enough of the story that amuses and charms.

In conclusion, good Elvis film, one of his better ones without being among his very best. 7/10 Bethany Cox