I noticed several Elvis films currently only available on DVD are available to purchase in HD (1080P) on Vudu. Titles I noticed included Speedway, Live A Little Love A Little, Kissin’ Cousins, Charro, The Trouble With Girls and several others.
I purchased Speedway and checked out the first 10 minutes or so. Easily the best I’ve seen it, and even the title graphics look extra-sharp/clear. The movie may be middling but worth it for those interested in the film.
With a number of Elvis movies appearing in HD on various streaming services (Vudu, Amazon, Apple iTunes etc.) I thought it might be helpful to list the 'best' picture quality versions available for purchase. All other factors being equal I rank phsyical discs higher than their streaming-resolution equivalent due to potential inconsitencies in streaming quality as well as bonus material availability. They're in theatrical release order with the original studio noted. And this is USA-centric as far as availability. Additions/corrections/clarifications welcome. Love Me Tender (1956, 20th Century Fox) – Blu-ray Loving You (1957, Paramount) - DVD Jailhouse Rock (1957, MGM) – Blu-ray King Creole (1958, Paramount) – Blu-ray but also available in 4K UHD via streaming G.I. Blues (1960, Paramount) – HD stream Flaming Star (1960, 20th Century Fox) - Blu-ray Wild in the Country (1961, 20th Century Fox) – Blu-ray Blue Hawaii (1961, Paramount) – 4K UHD streaming available now, will be on 4K UHD disc in later 2022 Follow That Dream (1962, United Artists) – Blu-ray Kid Galahad (1962, United Artists) – Blu-ray Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962, Paramount) – HD Stream It Happened At the World’s Fair (1963, MGM) – Blu-ray Fun in Acapulco (1963, Paramount) – HD Stream Kissin’ Cousins (1964, MGM) – HD Stream Viva Las Vegas (1964, MGM) – Blu-ray Roustabout (1964, Paramount) – HD Stream Girl Happy (1965, MGM) – HD Stream Tickle Me (1965, Allied Artists) – German and Australian Blu-ray, HD stream Harum Scarum (1965, MGM) - DVD Frankie & Johnny (1966, United Artists) – Blu-ray Paradise Hawaiian Style (1966, Paramount) – HD stream Spinout (1966, MGM) - DVD Easy Come, Easy Go (1967, Paramount) – HD Stream Double Trouble (1967. MGM) - DVD Clambake (1967, United Artists) – Blu-ray Stay Away, Joe (1968, MGM) – HD stream Speedway (1968, MGM) – HD stream Live A Little, Love A Little (1968, MGM) – HD stream Charro! (1969, National General) – HD stream The Trouble With Girls (1969, MGM) – HD stream Change of Habit (1969, Universal) – Blu-ray Elvis: That’s The Way It Is (1970, MGM) – Special Edition is on Blu-ray, original theatrical version on DVD Elvis On Tour (1972, MGM) – Blu-ray w/’Don’t Be Cruel’ intro, HD stream w/’Johnny B. Goode’ intro (at least via Vudu, not sure on other streaming options) As you'll see there's only a few titles available in less-than-HD quality - Loving You, Harum Scarum, Spinout, Double Trouble and TTWII theatrical release.
My local art house theater (which has the Baz Luhrmann movie currently) will be showing King Creole tomorrow night and Tuesday night! Going to the Tuesday night screening. They're saying they're using the 4K restored version to show. I also think sometime in early September they'll have Blue Hawaii, so I'm set for seeing Elvis on the big screen! Never saw any of his movies on a big screen, so I'm really looking forward to this!
Quick update: I now have all the movies. Right now, my plan is to just watch and enjoy them. At some point, I'll go back and watch chronologically and try to give my thoughts on each individually. So far, I'm enjoying them more than I thought.
As I need something to read on a lazy summer afternoon I ordered a copy of the original trade paperback of Charro! as it supposedly includes scenes that were cut from the script that - much to Elvis’ annoyance - were deemed too violent.
I posted my list above at Blu-ray.com and a member there helpfully pointed out that Warner Brothers has the rights to the films not yet available in HD (well, except for Loving You which is owned by Universal and is being held up over legal issues): Harum Scarum, Spinout, Double Trouble and TTWII theatrical release If anybody has any ‘ins’ at Warner Bros…
Alright, I've now watched all the movies up to Change of Habit. Overall, I found them enjoyable. I can only think of one right now I was questioning wtf was going on. I still agree with this comment I made a couple of years ago. Seeing and hearing the songs in context helped me in understanding why they were what they were. It still doesn't redeem one certain song whatsoever. More on that when I do my film by film review. For now, I'm gonna take a little break before starting a rewatch so I can do that review.
Starting my rewatch/review. Hopefully, I won't take more than a couple of months to get this done. Love Me Tender (1956) It's hard to call this an Elvis movie. It's a movie that has Elvis in it. He doesn't even appear on screen until 20 minutes in. He does a good job considering it's his first acting role. I feel there were a few times though that he went overboard on the drama, but that's the inexperience. I like how the antagonists weren't made out to be evil bad guys. One can understand their motivation. I won't say it was paranoia, but they seemed to have reasons for jumping to the conclusions they did. Unfortunately, they got into Clint's head so deeply that he got lost in the rage and jealousy. All in all, it's a decent movie. It's not the best one he did, but it's way better than what he ended up doing. Not sure where this ends up in a ranking, but I'll be surprised if it doesn't make my top 10.
If you are including the documentaries then That's the Way It Is is essential and Elvis On Tour is not far behind. Personally I would then start with Jailhouse Rock, Loving You and King Creole. I think each of these films have around 7 or 8 songs. After this perhaps Blue Hawaii - although a relatively lightweight film, it is perhaps the biggest of the 60's musicals and sets the template for many of the others.
As posted on the FECC Forum, Double Trouble is currently available to stream in HH via iTunes. Hopefully it will appear on other services in HD soon. Updated list: Love Me Tender (1956, 20th Century Fox) – Blu-ray Loving You (1957, Paramount) - DVD Jailhouse Rock (1957, MGM) – Blu-ray King Creole (1958, Paramount) – Blu-ray but also available in 4K UHD via streaming G.I. Blues (1960, Paramount) – HD stream Flaming Star (1960, 20th Century Fox) - Blu-ray Wild in the Country (1961, 20th Century Fox) – Blu-ray Blue Hawaii (1961, Paramount) – 4K UHD streaming available now, will be on 4K UHD disc in later 2022 Follow That Dream (1962, United Artists) – Blu-ray Kid Galahad (1962, United Artists) – Blu-ray Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962, Paramount) – HD Stream It Happened At the World’s Fair (1963, MGM) – Blu-ray Fun in Acapulco (1963, Paramount) – HD Stream Kissin’ Cousins (1964, MGM) – HD Stream Viva Las Vegas (1964, MGM) – Blu-ray Roustabout (1964, Paramount) – HD Stream Girl Happy (1965, MGM) – HD Stream Tickle Me (1965, Allied Artists) – German and Australian Blu-ray, HD stream Harum Scarum (1965, MGM) - DVD Frankie & Johnny (1966, United Artists) – Blu-ray Paradise Hawaiian Style (1966, Paramount) – HD stream Spinout (1966, MGM) - DVD Easy Come, Easy Go (1967, Paramount) – HD Stream Double Trouble (1967. MGM) - HD stream via iTunes Clambake (1967, United Artists) – Blu-ray Stay Away, Joe (1968, MGM) – HD stream Speedway (1968, MGM) – HD stream Live A Little, Love A Little (1968, MGM) – HD stream Charro! (1969, National General) – HD stream The Trouble With Girls (1969, MGM) – HD stream Change of Habit (1969, Universal) – Blu-ray Elvis: That’s The Way It Is (1970, MGM) – Special Edition is on Blu-ray, original theatrical version on DVD Elvis On Tour (1972, MGM) – Blu-ray w/’Don’t Be Cruel’ intro, HD stream w/’Johnny B. Goode’ intro (at least via Vudu, not sure on other streaming options)
Hey, y'all. VUDU has a bunch of HD Elvis movies on sale for $4.99. I think today is the last day, so if you're interested...
If anybody receives HD Net on their cable or satellite package, they are going to be airing an all day marathon of Elvis' movies tomorrow (08/16/22).
This is a nice comparison of screen grabs between the 4K Blue Hawaii and the HD (1080P) version: I’m still not crazy that they re-keyed the text in the opening credit scene, would be nice if the original title scene was an extra (not sure if the closing credits were redone too?). Speaking broadly, where I’ve seen this done before no matter how hard they try it’s never quite ‘exact’.
I've heard it was licensing issues over who has the right to issue. Paramount sold the film outright to NBC in the 90s. NBC ends up merged with Universal, yet no reissue since the Goodtimes DVD, which was licensed by NBC.
IIRC there was an email shared on an Elvis forum from Screen Archives (the label that was set to release Loving You on Blu-ray) and it mentioned music rights as well as unnamed ‘things’ as the reason it was cancelled.
As @RSteven mentions in the Elvis 2022 movie thread several Elvis movies are being added to HBO Max in September. I saw the complete list and Spinout and Double Trouble are on it. So far, Double Trouble is only available on iTunes in HD so it will be interesting to see the resolution of what the HBO Max version is. More interesting is Spinout which - up to now - has only been available in DVD quality. Fingers crossed HBO Max has it in HD.
