Viva Las Vegas (DVD)

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I couldn't help thinking as I watched "Viva Las Vegas" how almost quaint the city looked back in 1963 when they made the film. Everything was just as glitzy as it is now, but much flatter. There were few of the high-rises we see today. And Elvis was still young and trim. Weren't we all?

Video:
It appears that Warner Bros. did everything they could to bring this movie to the home screen as well as possible. They had a good master print; they cleaned it up; and they transferred it to disc at a high-bit-rate in anamorphic widescreen. They preserved the movie's original 2.40:1 aspect ratio, and they ensured the film's colors were strong, deep, vivid, and realistic. The blacks are black, the reds are definitely red, and the whites glisten. What's more, the screen looks as clean as it could be, with hardly a trace of grain or noise anywhere. It's quite a pleasure to look at.

Audio:
The film comes with both Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Digital 1.0 mono. The 5.1 remix is ultrasmooth and soothing on the ears. While there is not much energy in the frequency extremes and not much more than a little musical ambience enhancement in the rears, the sound stage is reasonably wide and the midrange well balanced.

Extras:
The first major attraction among the extras is an audio commentary by Steve Pond, author of the book "Elvis in Hollywood." His comments are not only informative, they are unusually honest. He admits, for instance, that most of Elvis's movies were mediocre, with "Viva Las Vegas" at least having a decent budget and production values. The second major bonus item is the newly made featurette "Kingdom: Elvis in Vegas," a twenty-minute segment recounting the final phase in Elvis's career, his love affair with Las Vegas in the 1970s and his headline nightclub acts.

Beyond those things, there are twenty-four scene selections but no chapter insert; a widescreen theatrical trailer for "Viva Las Vegas"; an Elvis trailer gallery at start-up only; English as the only spoken language; French subtitles; a twenty-four-page photo book; and a handsome metallic-finished slipcover.

Parting Shots:
"Viva Las Vegas" gave Elvis's fans exactly what they wanted: music, pretty girls, music, dancing, and more music, all set amid the glamour and glitter of America's fanciest city. Today, I'd say dedicated fans might still find that about all they want, so WB's new transfer, as nice as it looks and sounds, is probably a godsend. For the rest of us, the movie might not be quite the pinnacle of Hollywood romantic comedies or movie musicals and might not hold quite the allure.

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