With: Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dolores Hart, Dean Jagger, Vic Morrow, Liliane Montevecchi, Paul Stewart, Jan Shepard, Brian G. Hutton, Jack Grinnage, Dick Winslow, Raymond Bailey
Written by: Herbert Baker, Michael V. Gazzo, based on a novel by Harold Robbins
One of Elvis Presley's best movies, perhaps thanks to a sure touch by veteran director Michael Curtiz, King Creole casts the King as Danny Fisher, a New Orleans kid who flunks out of school when he tries to help a girl (Carolyn Jones) trapped with an abusive date in a nightclub. He becomes a singer, but can't escape the clutches of the underworld, especially powerful crime lord Maxie Fields (Walter Matthau). Dean Jagger plays Danny's pharmacist father, who brings shame to the family when he's forced to kowtow to a mean boss. Dolores Hart plays a good girl who falls for Elvis, and Vic Morrow and Brian G. Hutton (a future director of Clint Eastwood movies) play thugs. Elvis sings the title song, "Lover Doll," the incendiary "Trouble," and the great early-morning street-vendor opening number, "Crawfish."
Kino Lorber's excellent two-disc set includes a 4K and a Blu-ray. Film historian Imogen Sara Smith provides a commentary track. On the Blu-ray only, Leonard Maltin discusses the film in a short featurette (6:11), and there are trailers for King Creole and several other Elvis movies: Change of Habit, Clambake, and Frankie & Johnny, plus Lonely Are the Brave. Recommended.
