Dreams Come True Inside Blue Hawaii ?

[TALLHAIR 2]

I'd learned about the existence of a 8mm home
movie made in Hawaii, 1961, when Ray Walker.
of Jordanaires fame, headlined together with
Scotty and DJ at the milenium party, friends and I
had put together in Amsterdam, nearly 10 years
ago. Ray made mention of the home movie,
during one of our conversations in his dressing
room. Unlimited bought the rights to have the
footage released on the dvd as part of the
Inside Blue Hawaii box, released last week.
Was it worth waiting for, all these years?
It would have, had the original 8mm film been
used for dvd transfer... What we get now looks
like a transfer made to video, some 30-40
years ago by Ray. Resulting in a washed out
picture, missing a lot of detail that surely was
on the 8mm original. A lot of holiday home
movies had gone that way when video became
the fashion... Same has happened to my
1977 concert footage. But that's a different
story.
What has happened to the original 8mm
footage? I guess we have to settle for what's
on the dvd now... It's about 15 minutes
running time in total. Lots of beach scenery,
The Jords fooling around , a bit of hula girls
dancing and pig roasting at a party, breakfast
with Tom Diskin on the hotel balcony... The
usual holiday stuff....Nice but forgettable.
Where does Elvis come in, I hear you ask?
Yes, he's in the movie... about 2 minutes long,
in a white dinner jacket rehearsing a scene,
while people walk on and off the film location,
including ( ofcourse!) the mighty Colonel.
The best piece is where Elvis, surrounded by
policemen, leaves the location. Even in watered
down picture quality, he still looks damn kool.
To be continued... ( Coffee break) .

[TALLHAIR 2]

THE MUSICAL LU-W O W OF THE YEAR !
The dvd starts off with a lenghty movie trailer
for the movie. Lovely kitsh slogans such as
"His Greatest Sunshine Hits" and "The Musical
Lu- Wow Of The Year" . They don't write
poetry like that anymore.
The trailer ( excellent quality) is followed by
Elvis'arrival at the airport, beefed up with nice
photographs. And audio plus photos of the
award presentation and some other bits
and pieces... Nicely done, but not spectacular.
There's a vinyl 45 included with the radio
interview that's been out before, and a newly
found and previously unreleased message
for his Aussie fans... Message, not an
interview.
The 3rd bonus in the box is a genuine plastic
'thingy' you can hang around your neck
while browsing through the goodies...
It's tacky. My cat loves to drag it around the
house. Tacky, but Colonel like fun.
The real meat, ofcourse is the photo book itself.
With informative text by Megan Murphy and
introduction by Sid Tepper, of Tepper and
Bennet fame. One hundred and twelve glossy
pages with some 300 mostly color photos.
Many new to my eyes. Great many recording
session shots, recording logs, original stereo
tape box, all courtesy of mr Blondie.
And one can actual read the printed and
hand written info featured on the paperwork.
There's also the handwritten list of songs
for the concert, lots of rare worldwide Blue
Hawaii memorabilia, studio photo sessions
used for the album cover, and other
promotional activities. There's a lot to
drool over. Printing is excellent and the
design by Kenneth Dokkeberg top notch.
And last: The gift box is fully illustrated,
front, back and sides. Like it was made
back in 1961....

[Mike Windgren]

Hi there!! .

Thank you mr. Ger Rijff for a detailed review . I have all the Inside boxes and I will buy this one too . I just can´t wait to have it in my hands. Bye for now .




Mike Windgren.

[Henrik Knudsen]

Ger, thanks for your review! About the footage. We got it from the VHS, so you are right, it could have been a (tall-) hair better
But have to say that David Wilson got the best out of this material anyway. Can't thank him enough.

The cover shot, only got this cool because of Narek and his magic. The photo is a real photo, just been coloriced. Some think we made it up.
Yes - Kenneth Dokkerberg is probably on of the best designer in the E - world. And then he is so young. He's a true pro.

Meg found most of the pictures and her friendship with Sid Tepper got Sid to write the foreword. The text she wrote make the book complete.

I know it's easy to say this, but this is going to be our best selling product to date. I guess many people have a good feeling toward this movie.

Thanks for all the kind words, we have gotten from fans around the world.

Henrik
http://www.elvisunlimited.com

[TONY]

[quote="TALLHAIR 2"]and a newly
found and previously unreleased message
for his Aussie fans... Message, not an
interview.
quote]

Is this the same message that was issued on one of the "Legendary Performer" CD's recently?

[TALLHAIR 2]

can't say, Tony. My record player is
not connected anymore. Knudsen said
it was newly found... but perhaps he
never bothered listening to the Legendary
cd ? Knuds ...?