Double Trouble

This was actually a decent movie but not great. It was a step up from the movies that he had been recently doing.Elvis plays Guy Lambert touring Europe, which Elvis wanted to do in real life. Unfortunately Guy gets mixed up in a scandal, and he and his love interest are running for their lives. The only part that I didn't like was Elvis sining "Old MacDonald."

Hear Elvis say "bikkies" (a kick for me, as one who grew up with that contraction of "biscuits," in America known as cookies), see Elvis lay his kenpo down on a bad guy who dies as a result, see Elvis drive a VW bug, witness Elvis smash windows, marvel at Elvis in a mustache and glasses mask, and watch him beat up a beautiful woman! Those are some of the highlights, anyway. In truth, this film is among my very least favorite of Elvis films, even judging by the somewhat unique standards of the '60s travelogue Technicolor musicals that became the standard by 1962. The formula had worn thin by 1965 ("Frankie And Johnnie," "Harum Scarum," "Paradise, Hawaiian Style"), to say the least, and -- other than some bright points in "Spinout" and the entirety of "Easy Come, Easy Go" (like "Double Trouble," shot in 1966...for some reason, I like that crazy film) -- nothing got better, in my opinion, until the formula changed radically with 1968's "Stay Away, Joe" and "Live A Little, Love A Little."

The period 1965-1967 was Elvis' nadir, in other words, though the May, 1966 Nashville sessions (that yielded the immaculate "How Great Thou Art" gospel album and a few stellar secular songs, including a definitive take on one of Bob Dylan's songs) and recently-surfaced home recordings from that period show all too well how phenomenal Elvis' talent was at the time, a contrast that would anger and frustrate anyone who cared about his place in American and world culture and history. But we have what we have, and the criminal waste of talent that to a great extent represented Elvis' film career during this time is undeniable but shouldn't necessarily result in us writing off the results out of hand for that reason alone. There are a few moments in this film that are good, and a few when Elvis seems to actually be engaged rather than bored with the whole proceedings and just sleepwalking through it to fulfill contractual obligations.

There're some great actors in supporting roles, too, like Leon Askin (General Burkhalter!), Chips Rafferty, John Williams, Norman Rossington (the only actor to appear in films with the Beatles and Elvis), and Michael Murphy. Annette Day is kind of lackluster in the lead female role. Yvonne Romain is much more like it. And the Wiere Brothers have always irritated the hell out of me in this film -- wish they were not in it, because they really stupid things up.

The songs are not the greatest even compared to other songs from Elvis movies of this time, but I do like the title track, "Long Legged Girl" (a tasty song, actually, written by Joy Byers, who usually contributed great songs even to otherwise not-so-great movies, such as "Let Yourself Go" in "Speedway"), and the jazzy "City By Night." "Could I Fall In Love" is a nice ballad, a duet of Elvis with Elvis, but the entire June, 1966 session for this movie suffered from sonic problems and I believe it's one that Elvis complained vociferously about. I also believe that Elvis walked out on recording "Old McDonald" before he'd produced an acceptable master take, being totally disgusted by the task, and the master was spliced from what the engineers had captured. Not his greatest recorded moment, anyway. And, darn it, it (and the rest of the soundtrack) was recorded on my second birthday.

IMDb mixes up the screen character credits for Chips Rafferty and Norman Rossington but, to be fair, so does the end title sequence in the film. Oops.

In this one, singer Guy Lambert (played by Elvis) is touring Europe. Actually, most of the film takes place in Belgium. Lambert is all tangled up in a spy, diamond smuggling and love affair. All that is very complicated for nothing because the movie is not so good. Actually, if you're not an unconditional fan of Elvis, you could easily skip this one. You won't miss anything. For the fans though, Elvis sings a few songs including: Long-Legged Girl, Could I Fall in Love and a unique version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Annette Day is not very convincing in the role of Jill, the girl who's falling for Elvis. I gave it a 5.

Amusing Elvis fare, in which E is stuck protecting a wealthy heiress (Day) from her greedy uncle (Williams) who wants her killed before her 18th birthday so it won't be discovered that he's been stealing from her inheritance. Of course, this same date also explains why Elvis is reluctant to hook up with the petite Brit, and enables the evil uncle to send bumbling Belgian cops on E's trail for kidnapping. Also, groupie Romain turns out to be after more than E's autograph -- she's in the employ of the uncle too! Elvis sings some pretty good songs, some pretty bad songs, and gets involved in some funny situations. He even kills a guy in a fight (well, actually, he does that in a lot of his movies).

Did frozen funds inspire this Anglicization of Presley? hmmmmm......

We've seen Elvis as the racecar driver, millionare texan, boxer (kid galahad), convict, hillbilly (kissin' cousins), dumb hilbilly again (follow that dream) Now we see the Tourist Elvis singing his way through England (although it's really Belgium, I'm told.)

Elvis is actually at his best when he is glib and cynical. In those instances his acting is really quite good in a comical way. Sort of like the wisecracking Jim Rockford of Rockford Files. When he tries to get serious, in most of his films, he appears wooden and scripted. This is not a bad Elvis movie, mostly due to the funny antics of the bumbling detectives following him, and Elvis' more relaxed acting style.

The fact that he breaks out in a song at the drop of the hat in some of the corniest situations doesn't matter. After all, it is an ELVIS movie.

One thing that baffles me is the title. Why DOUBLE trouble? Did I miss something? OK I think i get it.. 2 different women causing him trouble?...