mike edwards66 wrote:
Correct! Not only is Elvis' work on Blue Hawaii fantastic, it is exactly what he 'should have been doing'.
I have to disagree. It was what the film studio and management felt what he exactly should have been doing
And they were right. Elvis was a singer, the greatest popular voice of the 20th century - the only other contender for that title being Frank Sinatra - but he couldn’t act, not really.
mike edwards66 wrote:It is nothing short of a tragedy, that we deep fans and scholars do not have two wonderful musicals in the same vein as GI Blues and Blue Hawaii, to replace the rather redundant 'Flaming Star' and 'Wild In The Country'.
Just imagine an extra 28 glorious, lush recordings of Elvis at his absolute best!
I like Blue Hawaii - it is lushly photographed, amusing in the right places, has half-dozen good songs. Thinly scripted, all the actors make more of the material than the script provides. I have probably seen it more than any other Elvis film over my decades but, Flaming Star is a far better film.
Far better film, if he was Brando, maybe. But he was Elvis, and as Elvis, a singing Rock Hudson was his target, a target hit with aplomb in both GI Blues and Blue Hawaii.
>>>
some people say i done all right for a girl . . . oh yeah yeah
ForeverElvis wrote:
I like Blue Hawaii - it is lushly photographed, amusing in the right places, has half-dozen good songs. Thinly scripted, all the actors make more of the material than the script provides. I have probably seen it more than any other Elvis film over my decades but, Flaming Star is a far better film. Economically shot and edited, good performances all-round, excellent action. Wild in the Country is a well- intentioned drama with some good performances, but is undone by its pacing and one particular musical number that stops the film cold. (because it doesn’t belong (ISISIF))
Flaming Star is one of my favourite films. It was a hint into what Presley was capable of, if given further opportunities. It was the stuff that Presley hoped for and wanted to get more into. Follow That Dream was another decent feature for him. It proved that Presley could work with humorous material.
I agree with Doc in that most of the music is far from iconic. It was 1960 and here we have a serious rock star, in top form, in high demand and in control within the music industry and he decides to switch gears. Nothing really wrong with that. A path that Presley wanted to take and some great and entertaining music resulted during 60-61. The attention, success and accolades that followed from GI Blues and Blue Hawaii were amazing and great for business. However, those albums ended up hurting him more than it helped, artistically. Meanwhile, I am a fan of the Blue Hawaii album. I love what Presley did with the Hawaiian music. I listen to this album frequently but I place it in context. As a Hollywood family soundtrack I consider it a masterpiece! Maybe I give it more credit than it deserves but I love it. Yet, looking at the bigger picture, it wasn’t Presley at his best and at his core and it is these albums that continue to become too heavily associated with him as an artist.
It's less that Elvis decided, and more that he agreed as per management and Hollywood producers like Hal Wallis, to to "switch gears." It was not the path he wanted to take, really. Presley stated many times publicly and privately he wanted to be a serious actor.
But from the very first post-army film, "G.I. Blues," he admitted in an overseas phone call to Priscilla Beaulieu that the songs were poor, but he felt trapped to speak up and resist what he was being asked to do.
Funny you mentioned the phone conversation between Presley and Priscilla. I thought of that afterwards and probably should have edited or rephrased my statement “A path that Presley wanted to take…”. If I recall correctly, didn’t the HBO Searcher documentary talk a bit about how he felt trapped?
mike edwards66 wrote:
Correct! Not only is Elvis' work on Blue Hawaii fantastic, it is exactly what he 'should have been doing'.
I have to disagree. It was what the film studio and management felt what he exactly should have been doing
And they were right. Elvis was a singer, the greatest popular voice of the 20th century - the only other contender for that title being Frank Sinatra - but he couldn’t act, not really.
Presley was more than a singer. His first four films, along with Flaming Star and Wild In the Country, was a true testament of some acting capabilities within. Presley was asked in a 1960 interview if he was planning to take acting lessons from a school. He explained that he would learn better through hands-on, experience. At that time, being a serious actor was his real ambition and he was seriously hoping for more experience to learn. He was openly asking to be fostered and to be respectfully afforded more opportunities. Meanwhile, as great and fitting as it was, GI. Blues and Blue Hawaii was only success and that’s not what Presley was really after.
I agree with Doc in that most of the music is far from iconic. It was 1960 and here we have a serious rock star, in top form, in high demand and in control within the music industry and he decides to switch gears. Nothing really wrong with that. A path that Presley wanted to take and some great and entertaining music resulted during 60-61. The attention, success and accolades that followed from GI Blues and Blue Hawaii were amazing and great for business. However, those albums ended up hurting him more than it helped, artistically. Meanwhile, I am a fan of the Blue Hawaii album. I love what Presley did with the Hawaiian music. I listen to this album frequently but I place it in context. As a Hollywood family soundtrack I consider it a masterpiece! Maybe I give it more credit than it deserves but I love it. Yet, looking at the bigger picture, it wasn’t Presley at his best and at his core and it is these albums that continue to become too heavily associated with him as an artist.
It's less that Elvis decided, and more that he agreed as per management and Hollywood producers like Hal Wallis, to to "switch gears." It was not the path he wanted to take, really. Presley stated many times publicly and privately he wanted to be a serious actor.
But from the very first post-army film, "G.I. Blues," he admitted in an overseas phone call to Priscilla Beaulieu that the songs were poor, but he felt trapped to speak up and resist what he was being asked to do.
Funny you mentioned the phone conversation between Presley and Priscilla. I thought of that afterwards and probably should have edited or rephrased my statement “A path that Presley wanted to take…”. If I recall correctly, didn’t the HBO Searcher documentary talk a bit about how he felt trapped?
Oh yes, it is addressed.
Jorgensen:
For Elvis to have to do G.I. Blues, reflecting his two years in the Army in a way that probably doesn't compare a lot to what it was like, I don't think he really enjoyed that. G.I. Blues was a family type of film moving Elvis's image in a completely different direction from the very young, aggressive characters in the '50s movies. But he was given the promise that there would be two films for 20th Century Fox, following this, that were serious roles. It may have been a reasonable bargain for Elvis at the time.
Priscilla:
When he found out the songs that he had to do in G.I. Blues, he said, "Baby, I don't know how this is gonna go. I'm a little disappointed."
[snip]
Elvis said, "I'm starting to feel the pressure. "I'm obligated here. I don't think there's a way out for me." And I said, "Well, can't you talk to Colonel?" And that's when I think he started getting disillusioned. Basically, Colonel was part of it. Already, he's feeling that he's not in control, and this is really early on.
I agree with Doc in that most of the music is far from iconic. It was 1960 and here we have a serious rock star, in top form, in high demand and in control within the music industry and he decides to switch gears. Nothing really wrong with that. A path that Presley wanted to take and some great and entertaining music resulted during 60-61. The attention, success and accolades that followed from GI Blues and Blue Hawaii were amazing and great for business. However, those albums ended up hurting him more than it helped, artistically. Meanwhile, I am a fan of the Blue Hawaii album. I love what Presley did with the Hawaiian music. I listen to this album frequently but I place it in context. As a Hollywood family soundtrack I consider it a masterpiece! Maybe I give it more credit than it deserves but I love it. Yet, looking at the bigger picture, it wasn’t Presley at his best and at his core and it is these albums that continue to become too heavily associated with him as an artist.
It's less that Elvis decided, and more that he agreed as per management and Hollywood producers like Hal Wallis, to to "switch gears." It was not the path he wanted to take, really. Presley stated many times publicly and privately he wanted to be a serious actor.
But from the very first post-army film, "G.I. Blues," he admitted in an overseas phone call to Priscilla Beaulieu that the songs were poor, but he felt trapped to speak up and resist what he was being asked to do.
Funny you mentioned the phone conversation between Presley and Priscilla. I thought of that afterwards and probably should have edited or rephrased my statement “A path that Presley wanted to take…”. If I recall correctly, didn’t the HBO Searcher documentary talk a bit about how he felt trapped?
Oh yes, it is addressed.
Jorgensen:
For Elvis to have to do G.I. Blues, reflecting his two years in the Army in a way that probably doesn't compare a lot to what it was like, I don't think he really enjoyed that. G.I. Blues was a family type of film moving Elvis's image in a completely different direction from the very young, aggressive characters in the '50s movies. But he was given the promise that there would be two films for 20th Century Fox, following this, that were serious roles. It may have been a reasonable bargain for Elvis at the time.
Priscilla:
When he found out the songs that he had to do in G.I. Blues, he said, "Baby, I don't know how this is gonna go. I'm a little disappointed."
[snip]
Elvis said, "I'm starting to feel the pressure. "I'm obligated here. I don't think there's a way out for me." And I said, "Well, can't you talk to Colonel?" And that's when I think he started getting disillusioned. Basically, Colonel was part of it. Already, he's feeling that he's not in control, and this is really early on.
It surely was an unfortunate situation for him at the time. In such a scenario, I try to think of what other approach he could have made that would have helped him get around this trap. How could he have avoided the constant repetitive string of silly money making musicals? Once he went along with it then that was it. It made it harder for him to get out of it later on.
Little off topic here, please forgive me, but I think of stars like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe who at first were not really good actors. They too had to work hard at it, but they were somehow, through their agents and the studios, afforded numerous opportunities to grow and become serious actors. Crosby reached the top with Going My Way and Sinatra reached his with From Here To Eternity, which got him more serious type roles. Surely, the same blueprint for them could have been afforded to Presley? Why did his hard working progress have to end and slide after King Creole?
Little off topic here, please forgive me, but I think of stars like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe who at first were not really good actors. They too had to work hard at it, but they were somehow, through their agents and the studios, afforded numerous opportunities to grow and become serious actors. Crosby reached the top with Going My Way and Sinatra reached his with From Here To Eternity, which got him more serious type roles. Surely, the same blueprint for them could have been afforded to Presley? Why did his hard working progress have to end and slide after King Creole?
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A manager with great control and whose only concern was profits, not art.
As mentioned up-thread, had Flaming Star and WITC been huge at the box office, it's likely Elvis would have been allowed to take on further serious roles. However, the success of the more frivolous G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii, and their attendant soundtracks, paved the way for much of the remainder of his Hollywood career.
Little off topic here, please forgive me, but I think of stars like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe who at first were not really good actors. They too had to work hard at it, but they were somehow, through their agents and the studios, afforded numerous opportunities to grow and become serious actors. Crosby reached the top with Going My Way and Sinatra reached his with From Here To Eternity, which got him more serious type roles. Surely, the same blueprint for them could have been afforded to Presley? Why did his hard working progress have to end and slide after King Creole?
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Each were Oscar-winners for those films.
Why not Presley?
Management acquiescence.
. Dr. John Carpenter, M.D. Stop, look and listen, baby <<--->> that's my philosophy!
Will get this of course, love all the FTD sessions sets . Hopefully the next after this will be a 1967 studio session set.... .
After that, who knows, maybe another movie session set? . Bye for now .
I really enjoyed the movie back in the day. But the only way I would buy a Complete Sessions release of this soundtrack is if I read several reviews from sources I trust who tell me there has been a marked increase in audio quality.
I really enjoyed the movie back in the day. But the only way I would buy a Complete Sessions release of this soundtrack is if I read several reviews from sources I trust who tell me there has been a marked increase in audio quality.
You cannot have "a Complete Sessions release" without all the reels. RCA does not have all the reels, or the like.
Some members here like to engage in fantasy statements meant to look like they're credible.
FTD quietly upgraded the master takes of 2003's Girl Happy from a better quality source in 2009, but that's it.
. Hopefully the next after this will be a 1967 studio session set.... 
. 
.
