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Elvis: The King On Film
Edited by Chutley Chops
Published in paperback by Glitter Books, London
ISBN 1-902588-08-8
Glitter Books recently published the less that glittery "Elvis 2000," a book proposing that Elvis had died, but would return to more or less save the world (or at least give a phenomenal comeback concert tour) in the year 2000. They've done somewhat better this time round, with the much more down-to-earth "Elvis: The King On Film."
This paperback has a very attractive shot of Elvis from the 68 TV Special on the cover. The book is larger than the normal sized paperback, but has just 128 pages of fairly large print, so there's not an enormous amount of reading material for the relatively steep price (GBP9.95/$14.95). Although it is quite profusely illustrated in black and white, the photos used are fairly predictable and, of course, this reduces the amount of reading material still further.
Six different authors have provided essays for use in "Elvis: The King On Film", which includes an introduction and commentary on 9 films: Jailhouse Rock, King Creole, Flaming Star, Wild In The Country, Blue Hawaii, Kid Galahad, Viva Las Vegas, Roustabout, and Elvis On Tour. The 1968 TV Special forms the subject of an additional essay.
Most writers limit their essays to the discussion of the film being examined. A few veer off course somewhat, notably Craig Wilson, whose essay on Viva Las Vegas seems much more interested in the relationship between Elvis and Ann-Margret than with anything to directly to do with the film from an artistic point of view. Given the number of writers involved, it is perhaps not surprising that the quality of discussion varies; nevertheless, the criticism is generally good and largely refrains from the cliches normally associated with any review of Elvis's cinematographic output. Especially good is Robin Ince's analysis of Roustabout, which includes constructive, intelligent comments about the film itself and, more especially, with respect to Elvis's acting potential and the dilemma he found himself in as far as his films were concerned.
Unfortunately, "Elvis: The King On Film" suffers, like so many books about Elvis, from numerous minor errors that could so easily have been avoided through more careful research: the Viva Las Vegas essay states that Elvis played a racing-car driver in Roustabout, for example. But the essay about the 1968 TV Special must certainly take the prize for poorest research and absolute nonsense: not only does author Jonathan Wright incorrectly state that D.J. Fontana played on some of Elvis's Sun sessions, he also fails to discover the correct names of members of Elvis's entourage -- Charlie Hodge is referred to as Charlie Hodgson! Furthermore, he perpetuates the myth that the TV Special was Elvis's return to live performing after more than a decade -- even if he doesn't know about the 1961 Memphis charity shows, he should certainly be aware of the 1961 USS Arizona show. But then Wright really gets it wrong by implying that If I Can Dream is no more than a "melodramatic tonsil workout," one of the "lapses in so-called good taste" of the show. Generally, however, Wright is complimentary about the Special.
Indeed, the general feeling of "Elvis: The King On Film" is that Elvis's film career wasn't as bad as is generally believed, but that Elvis had a great deal of talent, especially for comedy, that was, because of Tom Parker's dubious management decisions, not allowed to be fully realised.
This is certainly not the best book ever published about Elvis's acting career, but it's a pleasant enough read and handles its subject with more than a modicum of respect.
If you have difficulty locating "Elvis: The King On Film" it can be ordered from
Glitter Books 4th Floor, 72-80 Leather Lane London EC1N 7TR
Phone orders (visa, mastercard, or AmEx): +44 (0)20 7430 9878
The book's price is GBP9.95/$14.95: cheques should be made payable to "Creation Books"; postage is free in UK and Europe, 10% elsewhere.
David Neale