Croisière surprise

Guy Lambert (Elvis Presley) is a rock star touring Europe and chasing girls. In London, he brings Jill Conway back to his hotel room but it turns out badly. Jill's uncle Gerald Waverly is trying to keep her and her inheritance under his control. Guy is shocked to learn that she's a love-struck underage girl but she continues to pursue him. They get stuck in a jewel smuggling scheme when two criminals hide their jewels in her luggage. Someone is also trying to kill them.

Elvis always has his natural charms. I actually like his womanizing troubles. They humanizes him. I would change Jill age by advancing it four days. It would be funnier if she considers him her birthday present and less awkward if there isn't the smell of illegality. He can still try to keep her at arm's length due to her clinginess. Otherwise, I really like her character and she has fun with Elvis. I am surprised that Annette Day did not continue to act. This is her one and only notable appearance. The three idiot cops do go too far but I do understand having the Insp. Clouseau wannabes for comedic purposes. The movie struggles to keep going after someone dies. The death should be the climax instead of being in the middle. As for Elvis, he sings, he charms, and he Karate-chops. It's light Elvis fun with murder and mayhem.

This was actually a decent movie but not great. It was a step up from the movies that he had been recently doing.Elvis plays Guy Lambert touring Europe, which Elvis wanted to do in real life. Unfortunately Guy gets mixed up in a scandal, and he and his love interest are running for their lives. The only part that I didn't like was Elvis sining "Old MacDonald."

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.

As said many times, a lot of Elvis' early efforts were decent or more, his five best films overall being 'King Creole', 'Flaming Star', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Viva Las Vegas' and 'Loving You'. It was from 'Kissin' Cousins', his first real mediocre at best effort, onward when his films became hit and miss or worse. While Elvis certainly did worse, like 'Harum Scarum', 'Double Trouble' generally is down there with his weakest.

Regarding Elvis himself, there is more of the relaxed charisma and the enthusiastic charm than in most of his 1965-7 output (most of which he looked utterly disinterested in), the role really doesn't require much but he does his best and while he has looked in better shape he still sounds good. A few of the songs are decent, "Long Legged Girl" is the best of the lot and for a song from an Elvis film from this period is good. "City of Night" and "Could I Fall in Love" also fare well.

Some of the supporting cast also don't fare too badly considering what they were given to work with. Fun Leon Askin, lovable Norman Rossington, urbane John Williams and sultry Yvonne Romain come off best. Chips Rafferty is quite good too.

However, not all the supporting cast and songs work. Annette Day's acting inexperience comes through loud and clear in a performance that neglects any acting ability of any kind. She shares very little chemistry with Elvis either. Michael Murphy, in his screen debut, does his best and gives a creepiness at times but in a way where the darkness doesn't balance particularly well with the rest of the film. Stanley Adams and Walter Burke try too hard in bumbling roles more at home in a sitcom and the Wiere Brothers are just annoying and don't fit.

Apart from a few songs, the rest of the soundtrack suffers from being very forgettable, very sloppy lip-synchronisation (very rarely in time) and from being poorly recorded, almost like the equipment used was on its last legs and on the verge of breaking down any second. Only one of them reaches risible level though and that's "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", even Elvis himself looks embarrassed.

Norman Taurog's, a wildly variable director dependent on the material, direction is all over the map. As is the corny (even for an Elvis film) and wildly disjointed script, that is far too busy, and a story that is a mess of style, structure and tone, again trying to do too much and very little of it comes together (just didn't see the point of the diamond subplot especially considering how barely remembered it is in the film).

Overall, not awful but messy. Really strictly for the fans, and most likely even they will be pining for a film that lives up to Elvis' considerable talents rather than working against them. 4/10 Bethany Cox

The best Elvis movies were a trifle (or more than a trifle) surreal. They were slender plots like clothes lines to hang his songs on like Dali's melting watches.

"Double Trouble" is plumped out with a bit more story as Elvis gets involved with jewel smugglers.

The cast is pretty good, too. John Williams, Leon Askin and the Wiere Brothers. The Wiere Brothers, remnamts of Vaudeville, were famous as an acrobatic dance trio. I've caught some of their stuff on Youtube.

I usually fast forward through his songs but this one has "Long-legged girl with the short dress on," a favorite of mine. And "I love only one girl." Rank plagiarism and that's why it's good.

The problem here is that Elvis starts out too truculent for my taste and even sarcastic. Unintentionally amusing is Elvis tossing a girl out of his life for being too young, considering Priscilla's age when they met.

This movie isn't "Lawrence of Arabia." It's not even "Viva, Las Vegas." And his co-star isn't Ann-Margaret. Though they do go to Sweden (by way of the studio).

Whether one likes this flick depends strongly on one's tolerance for Elvis movies. Like black olives, they can be an acquired taste. I know. I used to hate black olives.

Amusing Elvis fare, in which E is stuck protecting a wealthy heiress (Day) from her greedy uncle (Williams) who wants her killed before her 18th birthday so it won't be discovered that he's been stealing from her inheritance. Of course, this same date also explains why Elvis is reluctant to hook up with the petite Brit, and enables the evil uncle to send bumbling Belgian cops on E's trail for kidnapping. Also, groupie Romain turns out to be after more than E's autograph -- she's in the employ of the uncle too! Elvis sings some pretty good songs, some pretty bad songs, and gets involved in some funny situations. He even kills a guy in a fight (well, actually, he does that in a lot of his movies).

Did frozen funds inspire this Anglicization of Presley? hmmmmm......