Sure, Elvis is the star, but the real force making it a great movie is Michael Curtiz. King Creole has a great cast, great acting, a solid script and many interesting musical numbers, not to mention excellent cinematography. Without all this, it might have just been another Elvis vehicle.
Look at the list of Curtiz' movies -- Yankee Doodle Dandee, Casablanca, Mission to Moscow, to name three in a row -- can you find a more versatile director? I don't think there is any "Curtiz style;" each is unique, in each he fits the movie to the material. His work begins in the silent era, 1912, yet King Creole epitomizes the 1950s. And Curtiz, 72, knows how to showcase the talent and energy of Elvis, presenting him as an artist.
Yes, Elvis can act. There isn't a wrong note anywhere, and it is a relatively complex role. I suppose the next question the studios would have asked is whether he had the depth to play a wide range of characters. Could Elvis transform himself into someone else? That is great acting. I'm thinking of someone like Paul Newman -- or Walter Matthau. Elvis never got a chance to find out. Perhaps the studios looked at King Creole and decided not to push their luck and stick to the Elvis persona?
To do good acting you need a good cast to react off of, and he had it here. We see some real chemistry and sparks flying as they interact with Elvis. Here is Matthau at his finest. This is no mobster don caricature; we see cruelty and cunning, but also rays of kindness and genuine appreciation for Elvis' talent. And who would guess that Ronnie -- Carolyn Jones -- was also Morticia in the Addams Family or Julie Rawlings in How the West was Won?
I am not a big Elvis fan, though I do respect the emotional energy of his style. Those who are not familiar with Elvis should watch King Creole to understand why he was so influential.
At first I was disappointed that there wasn't a broader range of musical styles displayed, given the title "King Creole" and the fact that Elvis's musical roots are in the black jazz and blues of Memphis, Tennessee. It appeared to be all all high octane Elvis. But then I looked closer and realized that Elvis' musical roots are, indeed, on display in the movie. Even in the slower numbers, the Elvis intensity just made them seem high octane.
The only Creole influence is seen in the opening number of street vendors calling out their wares, Crawfish, similar to the Street Cries number in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. But it does set up the musical environment.
The first performance number, Trouble, shows Elvis singing with a Dixieland group, but it is actually a solid blues number in a style similar to T-Bone Walker (Stormy Monday). Now this is Elvis' roots.
The closest to a slow love ballad is Lover Doll in the Five and Dime, accompanied only by a bass.
The closest to jazz is "New Orleans," which starts slow like W.C. Handy, and shows a connection between Elvis' style and jazz, including a banjo and some Dixieland riffs.
In the number "King Creole," the only connection to the movie's title aside from the club's name, we see typical Elvis energy and tempo, but also some of the blues and jazz roots we saw more clearly in earlier numbers.
Later, we have a somewhat gratuitous Dixieland Rock, which sounds a lot like Jailhouse Rock, and is closer to pure Elvis than most numbers here. The distinctive double clapping by Elvis that sets up the number, echoed by the band, corresponds to the sound of a car driving over a loose manhole cover. If you'd ever lived with one outside your window, you would recognize it.
Don't Ask Me Why is a slow number in the style of many Fifties pop songs, and a takeoff of O Sole Mio, an old Italian song that's seen many permutations, including Elvis' later It's Now or Never.
What stands out, at least to the modern listener, is the high energy, fast beat Elvis style that became so famous. But actually Curtiz does a good job of mixing styles and tempos, and of providing a sort of chronology of musical influences on Elvis in the various numbers. The range could have been a bit broader, but this was 1958 and the movie was helping to establish Elvis' musical identity.
The influence of black jazz and blues is there to the observant viewer, but not fully highlighted. This was the Fifties, and displaying too much black influence would have been risky. What we do see was a actually a bold move (though setting it in New Orleans makes it more acceptable), and probably enhanced Elvis' edgy, bad boy image with the teenagers and James Dean crowd. (Now, if they had made Elvis' role truly Creole, part black and part French, that would have been ballsy for the time.)
I suppose you could say the best Elvis movie is the one that was never made, the mature actor singing in a broad range of styles: rock, jazz, blues, creole and ballads. It's too bad he didn't return to his musical roots in later years, as well as acting. But King Creole comes surprisingly close to providing Elvis' musical testament.
In the end, Curtiz delivers not only fine acting and a fine script, but also some fine music in an assortment of Elvis' style. Once again, Curtiz fitted the movie to the material.
Look at the list of Curtiz' movies -- Yankee Doodle Dandee, Casablanca, Mission to Moscow, to name three in a row -- can you find a more versatile director? I don't think there is any "Curtiz style;" each is unique, in each he fits the movie to the material. His work begins in the silent era, 1912, yet King Creole epitomizes the 1950s. And Curtiz, 72, knows how to showcase the talent and energy of Elvis, presenting him as an artist.
Yes, Elvis can act. There isn't a wrong note anywhere, and it is a relatively complex role. I suppose the next question the studios would have asked is whether he had the depth to play a wide range of characters. Could Elvis transform himself into someone else? That is great acting. I'm thinking of someone like Paul Newman -- or Walter Matthau. Elvis never got a chance to find out. Perhaps the studios looked at King Creole and decided not to push their luck and stick to the Elvis persona?
To do good acting you need a good cast to react off of, and he had it here. We see some real chemistry and sparks flying as they interact with Elvis. Here is Matthau at his finest. This is no mobster don caricature; we see cruelty and cunning, but also rays of kindness and genuine appreciation for Elvis' talent. And who would guess that Ronnie -- Carolyn Jones -- was also Morticia in the Addams Family or Julie Rawlings in How the West was Won?
I am not a big Elvis fan, though I do respect the emotional energy of his style. Those who are not familiar with Elvis should watch King Creole to understand why he was so influential.
At first I was disappointed that there wasn't a broader range of musical styles displayed, given the title "King Creole" and the fact that Elvis's musical roots are in the black jazz and blues of Memphis, Tennessee. It appeared to be all all high octane Elvis. But then I looked closer and realized that Elvis' musical roots are, indeed, on display in the movie. Even in the slower numbers, the Elvis intensity just made them seem high octane.
The only Creole influence is seen in the opening number of street vendors calling out their wares, Crawfish, similar to the Street Cries number in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. But it does set up the musical environment.
The first performance number, Trouble, shows Elvis singing with a Dixieland group, but it is actually a solid blues number in a style similar to T-Bone Walker (Stormy Monday). Now this is Elvis' roots.
The closest to a slow love ballad is Lover Doll in the Five and Dime, accompanied only by a bass.
The closest to jazz is "New Orleans," which starts slow like W.C. Handy, and shows a connection between Elvis' style and jazz, including a banjo and some Dixieland riffs.
In the number "King Creole," the only connection to the movie's title aside from the club's name, we see typical Elvis energy and tempo, but also some of the blues and jazz roots we saw more clearly in earlier numbers.
Later, we have a somewhat gratuitous Dixieland Rock, which sounds a lot like Jailhouse Rock, and is closer to pure Elvis than most numbers here. The distinctive double clapping by Elvis that sets up the number, echoed by the band, corresponds to the sound of a car driving over a loose manhole cover. If you'd ever lived with one outside your window, you would recognize it.
Don't Ask Me Why is a slow number in the style of many Fifties pop songs, and a takeoff of O Sole Mio, an old Italian song that's seen many permutations, including Elvis' later It's Now or Never.
What stands out, at least to the modern listener, is the high energy, fast beat Elvis style that became so famous. But actually Curtiz does a good job of mixing styles and tempos, and of providing a sort of chronology of musical influences on Elvis in the various numbers. The range could have been a bit broader, but this was 1958 and the movie was helping to establish Elvis' musical identity.
The influence of black jazz and blues is there to the observant viewer, but not fully highlighted. This was the Fifties, and displaying too much black influence would have been risky. What we do see was a actually a bold move (though setting it in New Orleans makes it more acceptable), and probably enhanced Elvis' edgy, bad boy image with the teenagers and James Dean crowd. (Now, if they had made Elvis' role truly Creole, part black and part French, that would have been ballsy for the time.)
I suppose you could say the best Elvis movie is the one that was never made, the mature actor singing in a broad range of styles: rock, jazz, blues, creole and ballads. It's too bad he didn't return to his musical roots in later years, as well as acting. But King Creole comes surprisingly close to providing Elvis' musical testament.
In the end, Curtiz delivers not only fine acting and a fine script, but also some fine music in an assortment of Elvis' style. Once again, Curtiz fitted the movie to the material.