King Creole |  | Director: Michael Curtiz
Actors: Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dolores Hart, Dean Jagger
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $12.97
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Seller: inetvideo
Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 123820
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0792164830
UPC: 097363766278
EAN: 9786305837800
ASIN: 6305837805
Theatrical Release Date: July 2, 1958
Release Date: August 7, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Before his handlers convinced him to settle for the safety of a screen franchise, the young Elvis Presley harbored riskier dreams as an actor, not just a star. This 1958 drama, his fourth feature outing, hints at the underlying seriousness of that goal. Presley plays Danny Fisher, a New Orleans teenager struggling to graduate from high school while working in a sleazy French Quarter club to support his family. He's also characterized as a troubled youth with a dangerous temper and feelings of shame and resentment toward his meek, unemployed father (Dean Jagger). When Danny's gift for singing provides him with a potential career break (and the requisite excuse for Elvis's production numbers), his involvement with a ruthless gangster (Walter Matthau) and his sultry, alcoholic moll (Carolyn Jones) soon threatens both his future and his family. That story line, with Danny torn between a budding romance with a good waitress (Dolores Hart) and the bad moll, Ronnie (Jones), proves as effective as it is predictable, hardly surprising given its source in an early Harold Robbins bestseller. But King Creole also boasts an impressive production pedigree (including the team behind no less a classic than Casablanca, producer Hal Wallis and director Michael Curtiz), and the supporting cast helps elicit one of Presley's most emotional performances. Jones in particular rises above her role's inherent clichés, her self-loathing and sexuality both palpable. Presley, still a few years away from the more sanitized image that would be integral to those franchise features, is young enough to be a credible teen, but more crucially he makes his rage and yearning largely convincing. Ironically, the dramatic sparks prove all the more welcome in light of the largely forgettable music, which variously plunders Chicago blues ("Trouble," a knock-off of "Hoochie Coochie Man") and unconvincingly crosses Presley's Memphis rock with Crescent City jazz ("Dixieland Rock"), all to far less effect than Presley's two preceding movies, Jailhouse Rock and Loving You. --Sam Sutherland
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 51
 Elvis' finest movie August 31, 2009
A Fan (VA)
Released in 1958, King Creole may be Elvis Presley's best movie and performance as an actor. Elvis plays Danny Fisher, a young, tough musician trying to make the big time in New Orleans. The movie soundtrack is also very good and was an innovative attempt to meld traditional Dixieland music with the still new Rock & Roll genre. This is one of the movies that Elvis should be remembered by; before Colonel Parker started churning out mediocre scripts and soundtracks in order to make a quick buck!
 Elvis' Best Movie February 17, 2009
Shopaholic108 (Atlanta, GA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you're an Elvis fan but aren't particularly fond of the girls-fawning-over-him movies, make sure you see his early work. Although they are black and white, this and Jailhouse rock are definitely his best movies. And, King Creole features the oh-so-sexy "Trouble," which isn't a very common Elvis song, but I can't emphasize enough how HOT it is to watch him sing it!!!! The new DVD is a wonderful quality too, much better than VHS. So if you already have the VHS, make sure you upgrade to this DVD. LOVE IT!
An Elvis Fan January 29, 2009
C. Byers (yakima, wa)
This is my favorite Elvis movie. This movie shows the potential of greatness that could have been. If all of Elvis' material had been written this well, and if he'd been directed this well through out his career...well, it's already been said that Elvis could have been as good as James Dean. Seeing this film makes you believe that. You can find that same potential in "Jailhouse Rock", "Flaming Star" (except for that scene where he sings, how out of place and stupid was that?) and "Wild in the Country" and a snippet or two in "Change of Habit" and, surprisingly, "Viva Las Vegas". This was the one film of his where the director seemed to actually take him seriously and the music is high caliber all the way through without the dopey juice jazz that made up the last 20 of his films. I rewind and rewind "Trouble" to see the way he lets his music take him and us to that fun place called WOW!!! Even people who aren't Elvis fans will like this movie. My sister, who could never understand my enthusiasm for Elvis, finally agreed to watch King Creole with me and there after became a fan of his as well. Between this movie and the "68 Special", you will have the Elvis that was worth watching and the Elvis that captures hearts still today.
The proof is in the crawfish September 6, 2008
Margo Carmichael (USA)
That gorgeous smile shows up in the first scene. The black and white movie opens with fabulous footage of New Orleans' French Quarter in the '50s, with vendors singing of their produce. A woman on a mule-drawn cart sings "Crawfish," and Elvis leans out a balcony window and joins in her song. As he sings, he ducks back inside and is viewed only through the sheer curtains, tantalizing his fans until the viewer is allowed into the apartment.
Elvis's favorite movie of his is mine, too. Good jazzy songs, good story, and yes, good acting by the young, trim Elvis. His lines were delivered without rushing them the way he did in other movies, and with an appropriate amount of emotion.
A few of the lines from the two needy women who loved him were a little melodramatic, but that can be overlooked, it's all so camp, cute and nostalgic, with a sweet song in a happy ending that brings tears to my eyes.
Written by Harold Robbins, who also wrote _The Carpetbaggers_, "King Creole" is heavy drama with some PG violence and adult themes but '50s clean.
Interesting note: Dolores Hart, who plays good girl Nellie, also appeared in "Loving You" and the first "Where the Boys Are." She left Hollywood and became a nun. Now a Mother Superior, she retains her membership in the Academy and votes each year for the Academy Awards, so I have read.
The supporting cast all give great performances, especially bad girl Carolyn Jones, her "boyfriend," Walter Matthau as the villain, plus Dean Jagger as Elvis's father.
Elvis loved this movie and wanted to do more drama, such as Peter O'Toole's "The Lion in Winter." He hated the trite movies the Colonel pushed on him, hated that his wildly successful movies provided financing for good movies of less-received depth and drama he was not allowed to do.
"King Creole" shows he could have done them well.
King Creole February 22, 2008
Alicia M. Noda
Loved this movie. I especially loved the opening scene and number. All around good acting & great musical numbers performed by Elvis. You won't be disappointed.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 51
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