When Elvis Presley returned from the army in March 1960, popular tastes in music had changed significantly.
As the 60’s started teenage audiences were more interested in pop oriented artists like Ricky Nelson, Frankie Avalon, Sam Cooke and The Everly Brothers. Rock and Roll pioneers like Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry were having legal problems, others like Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran had passed away.
Sensing that times were not favourable to controversial rockers Coronel Tom Parker and Hal Wallis decided to change Elvis screen image to suit the more family oriented musical comedies he intended to produce with the singer.
Unlike the musical dramas of the previous decade, during the 60’s Presley starred in a string of romantic comedy musicals conceived to appeal to a broader audience.
As a result screenwriters had to tone down some sexual content and the Presley persona was no longer the social misfit, the teenage rebel, but a younger version of Hollywood romantic idols like Dean Martin and Rock Hudson.
The romantic stories, comic situations, exotic backgrounds and abundance of songs puts this films in the long tradition of the musical comedy, but contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean they were all alike.
Although tailor made for Presley’s screen persona, structurally these films are different. When closely examined the plots of the Elvis movies reveal significant differences in the way the male-female relationship is resolved.
Films like Girls, Girls, Girls (62) and Roustabout (64) are folk musicals because of the interaction of the couple with the community to which they belong and classics like Blue Hawaii (61) and Viva Las Vegas (64) are fairytale musicals reminiscent of the Maurice Chevalier films of the 30’s.
On the other hand, Roustabout is closer to the musical dramas of the 50’s and mixes the folk musical and the backstage musical subgenres in the same way that Judy Garland’s Summer Stock (50) did.
Also linked to the Hollywood tradition was Presley’s first post-army movie G.I Blues(60) an obvious throw back to the service musical comedies of the 1940’s.
The integration of the Musical Numbers
Another important factor in differentiating the Presley movies is the way in which the music is integrated in the plot .
Films like Follow that Dream (62) and Tickle Me (65) are comedy musicals, as opposed to romantic musicals like Viva Las Vegas (64) and Blue Hawaii (61).
The difference is not only in the way the plot resolves the romantic relationship, but also in the level of integration of the musical numbers.
A Fairytale musical like Blue Hawaii is also a semi integrated musical, meaning that all the songs are related with the story, and a few help to advance the plot, as for example Almost Always True and Hawaiian Wedding Song.
However in movies like Kid Galahad (62) and Tickle Me (65) the songs are not directly related with the story and basically constitute musical interludes inserted in the film.
This often criticised practice was very common in Hollywood, but unfortunately semi integrated comedy musicals were often perceived by critics as less important than integrated musical adaptations of Broadway Shows like The King and I or My Fair Lady.
This cultural and critical bias against semi or non integrated Hollywood musicals had negative reflexes in the critical reception of Elvis films mostly because movie critics were more akin to Tin Pan Alley musical traditions than rock and roll and the new pop music emerging in the early 1960’s.
It’s common to criticize the Presley musicals as formulaic and repetitive but that was not the case during the early 60’s.
Between GI Blues (60) and Tickle Me (65) Elvis worked in several subgenres of the Hollywood musical.
In the context of the declining popularity of musical films since the mid 50’s, Presley’s contribution to the survival of original Hollywood musicals was indisputable.
As the 60’s started teenage audiences were more interested in pop oriented artists like Ricky Nelson, Frankie Avalon, Sam Cooke and The Everly Brothers. Rock and Roll pioneers like Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry were having legal problems, others like Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran had passed away.
Sensing that times were not favourable to controversial rockers Coronel Tom Parker and Hal Wallis decided to change Elvis screen image to suit the more family oriented musical comedies he intended to produce with the singer.
Unlike the musical dramas of the previous decade, during the 60’s Presley starred in a string of romantic comedy musicals conceived to appeal to a broader audience.
As a result screenwriters had to tone down some sexual content and the Presley persona was no longer the social misfit, the teenage rebel, but a younger version of Hollywood romantic idols like Dean Martin and Rock Hudson.
The romantic stories, comic situations, exotic backgrounds and abundance of songs puts this films in the long tradition of the musical comedy, but contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t mean they were all alike.
Although tailor made for Presley’s screen persona, structurally these films are different. When closely examined the plots of the Elvis movies reveal significant differences in the way the male-female relationship is resolved.
Films like Girls, Girls, Girls (62) and Roustabout (64) are folk musicals because of the interaction of the couple with the community to which they belong and classics like Blue Hawaii (61) and Viva Las Vegas (64) are fairytale musicals reminiscent of the Maurice Chevalier films of the 30’s.
On the other hand, Roustabout is closer to the musical dramas of the 50’s and mixes the folk musical and the backstage musical subgenres in the same way that Judy Garland’s Summer Stock (50) did.
Also linked to the Hollywood tradition was Presley’s first post-army movie G.I Blues(60) an obvious throw back to the service musical comedies of the 1940’s.
The integration of the Musical Numbers
Another important factor in differentiating the Presley movies is the way in which the music is integrated in the plot .
Films like Follow that Dream (62) and Tickle Me (65) are comedy musicals, as opposed to romantic musicals like Viva Las Vegas (64) and Blue Hawaii (61).
The difference is not only in the way the plot resolves the romantic relationship, but also in the level of integration of the musical numbers.
A Fairytale musical like Blue Hawaii is also a semi integrated musical, meaning that all the songs are related with the story, and a few help to advance the plot, as for example Almost Always True and Hawaiian Wedding Song.
However in movies like Kid Galahad (62) and Tickle Me (65) the songs are not directly related with the story and basically constitute musical interludes inserted in the film.
This often criticised practice was very common in Hollywood, but unfortunately semi integrated comedy musicals were often perceived by critics as less important than integrated musical adaptations of Broadway Shows like The King and I or My Fair Lady.
This cultural and critical bias against semi or non integrated Hollywood musicals had negative reflexes in the critical reception of Elvis films mostly because movie critics were more akin to Tin Pan Alley musical traditions than rock and roll and the new pop music emerging in the early 1960’s.
It’s common to criticize the Presley musicals as formulaic and repetitive but that was not the case during the early 60’s.
Between GI Blues (60) and Tickle Me (65) Elvis worked in several subgenres of the Hollywood musical.
In the context of the declining popularity of musical films since the mid 50’s, Presley’s contribution to the survival of original Hollywood musicals was indisputable.
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