LittleStorpingInTheSwuff I am almost 73 years old, in grade school when Elvis first hit the music scene in the mid 1950's. After hearing "Don't Be Cruel" I was an instant fan of his music. I saw "Love Me Tender" in the local theater when it came out but never saw another Elvis movie in the theater. And (hard to believe) today was the first time I ever watched "King Creole". And I was impressed! This movie had a good cast, and a good story line based on the Harold Robbin's novel "A Stone For Danny Fischer", which I read in the '60's. Unlike the musical that made Elvis a ton of money this one featured Elvis doing some serious acting. More serious than I imagined he was capable of, especially after recently watching "Loving You" and "Jailhouse Rock". I've seen some of Elvis' romantic musicals in the past and was never impressed with his acting ability. "King Creole" brought out the best in him (imo), even with the music that no doubt attracted most of the paying audiences when it came out. No, Elvis will never be confused to Frank Sinatra (who was very capable of doing serious roles) but his performance in "King Creole" did impress me.

nicholls_les I watched this again recently and loved it. This film clearly shows that Elvis Presley can act! Elvis plays Danny, a rile that was originally meant for James Dean, but in my opinion Elvis is a much better actor than Dean ever was.OK there are the obligatory singing bits but even then the music is well in keeping with the story and shows Elvis at his very best.The title track 'King Creole' as well as 'Steadfast, Loyal and True', 'Hard Headed Woman', and 'Trouble'. In fact the beginning of this film is truly remarkable and one of the finest I have seen. Kitty White and Elvis sing 'Crawsish' along with an unknown bass singer. I believe this showed how good Elvis was as a white singer with a Black man's soul.Dean Jagger, Walter Matthau, Vic Morrow, Carolyn Jones are all good and play their parts perfectly.Such a shame that more of Elvis later films could not have been directed as well as by Michael Curtiz does in this film.Sadly he never made another film as good as this one, mainly due to his manager, Colonel Parker, forcing him into silly musical films.As another poster here rightly says this film is a hint at the movie career that Elvis could have had without his manager Col. Parker's constant greed to display his peacock client in an ever-grating role of innocence to make money. Brilliant film!

Spikeopath King Creole is directed by Michael Curtiz and adapted to screenplay by Herbert Baker and Michael V. Gazzo from the novel A Stone for Danny Fisher written by Harold Robbins. It stars Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dolores Hart, Dean Jagger, Vic Morrow, Paul Stewart and Jan Shepard. Music is scored by Walter Scharf and cinematography by Russell Harlan. Plot finds Presley as Danny Fisher, a high school student struggling at school who falls in with the wrong crowd just as family matters of the heart start to take a hold.He said anybody that disagreed with you got a punch in the mouth. Is that what I brought you up to do, to fight?The last film Presley made before going off to do his service in the army, King Creole is his best film. It's one of only a small handful that showed the star actually had some acting ability, here he gets a top director to work under and a very tidy cast put along side him for him to respond too. Presley immediately warmed to Curtiz (Casablanca/Mildred Pierce), wilfully doing as he was told by the wily old director, rewarding the film fan with a performance of some merit. Presley would often say it was his personal favourite of his own films, and it's not hard to see why. Though packed with musical numbers, many of them belters as well, the film always stays dramatic, in fact the tunes form part of the narrative, they are not frothy interludes slotted in purely for fan appeasement.Everything he touches turns to drink.It's not unreasonable to expect King Creole to be a fun movie, the kind where Elvis flies a plane, speeds around on power boats, or saves the word during a treasure hunt, because the poster art and DVD covers lend you to think that. Honestly, one shows the King with guitar wrapped around him, hips bent and a huge smile on his face, the other has the same Elvis pose but along side him is a smiling beauty bedecked in a banana patterned dress! I mean really, would you think this film is shot in moody black and white, features murders, theft, family upheaval, drunks, knife fights, wasted life and all round dirty tricks? That the King is snarly, aggressive and channelling Jim Stark from Rebel Without a Cause? Because all these things reside within this potent and most agreeable Elvis picture.Now you know. That's how you get into it.With the drama relocated from the New York of the novel to Bourbon Street New Orleans, and Danny Fisher changed from a boxer to a singer, atmosphere needed to be tight to the emotionally battered story. And it is, very much so, with Harlan (Ramrod/Riot in Cell Block 11) doing a great job of making The Big Easy come off as The Big Seedy. This is a world of back alleys where hoodlum youths dwell and of wet tinged streets barely lit by gas lamps, many of the night scenes shot here are worthy of film noir status, with a rain sodden mugging sequence truly top of the line. Conversely Curtiz also paints a bustling Orleans picture, with song clubs and street sellers proving to be the heartbeat of the city. It's a twin viewpoint of Orleans that matches other duality themes that drive the narrative forward, because Danny is caught between two girls and two night club owners.Cast are very good across the board, with Matthau menacing, Morrow weasel like, Jagger and Jones sad and pitiful, Stewart elegantly honest and Hart doing a neat line in confused love. Stand out tunes include the title song, "Hard Headed Woman", "Trouble", "Steadfast Loyal and True", "Lover Doll" and the quite beautiful "As Long As I Have You". It's not perfect, serious crime goes unpunished, the main motive driving on Matthau's club boss is rather weak and the two love interest girls are written lazily as love sick puppies. Yet this is still a cracker of a movie, where Presley bristles with magnetism and emotional conflict and Curtiz and Harlan rack up the requisite amount of impressive atmospheric visuals. 8/10

Aida Nejad "Danny Fisher, young delinquent, flunks out of high school. He quits his job as a busboy in a nightclub, and one night he gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and the local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at his night club The Blue Shade. Danny refuses, but Fields won't take no for an answer..." Awesome plot, great acting and a brooding Elvis is what makes this film a classic, a mix of crime, drama and musical. This is Elvis' greatest movie so far, well it's a tie between this and Jailhouse Rock, and he is amazing as Danny Fisher, the young delinquent who gets mixed up with crook Maxie Fields (the incredible Walter Matthau) and the lovely Carolyn Jones. This is probably the one movie where all leading, and supporting, actors give great performances all over. It's a must see for any Elvis (or classic film) fan. And I promise, you won't regret it.