Viva Las Vegas (HD DVD)

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From 1956 to 1969, in the second phase of his phenomenal career, Elvis Presley made a whopping thirty-one films! I had no idea until I looked it up. It's probably because he made so many films in so short a time and they were so very much alike that they all tend to blur together. At least, for a casual Elvis fan like me. Frankly, after his debut as a rock-and-rock sensation in the mid fifties, I sorta lost track of and lost interest in him. Nevertheless, the King was at the top of his game in MGM's 1964 release "Viva Las Vegas," one of his most popular and financially successful movies, and in this HD DVD high-definition transfer it looks and sounds better than anyone ever could have expected.

Apparently, Col. Tom Parker, Elvis's manager, wanted Elvis to make formulaic films that would deliver exactly what the entertainer's fans wanted and little more, despite Elvis's pleas to expand as an actor. With "Viva Las Vegas," MGM provided a bigger budget than usual, filmed almost entirely on location, and secured a top-notch director, George Sidney ("Annie Get Your Gun," "Showboat," "Kiss Me Kate," "Pal Joey," "Bye Bye Birdie"). The result may be a cut above most of Elvis's movies, but for me it still comes off as little more than a pleasant, upscale nightclub revue.

In this one, Elvis plays Lucky Jackson, a singing race-car driver. Why he races cars if he can sing so well is anybody's guess. The movie informs us he's a famous driver, too, but it doesn't show in the beginning of the film because he hasn't much money, and his car's got no engine. He and his mechanic, Shorty Fansworth (Nicky Blair), arrive in Las Vegas to compete in the Las Vegas Grand Prix (which didn't actually exist at the time of the movie). Lucky isn't in town long before he meets, first, a friendly rival, the Italian racing champion, Count Elmo Mancini (Cesare Danova), who drives Ferrari (what else?), and, second, the soon-to-be love of his life, Rusty Martin (Ann Margret), a hotel pool manager.

In a plot too flimsy to mention, Lucky loses what little money he has when he falls into a swimming pool, and he and Shorty have to don waiter's uniforms to earn enough dough to buy an engine for Lucky's race car. From that point on, Lucky has to deal with money problems on the one hand and chase after Rusty on the other.

The film is bright and colorful and totally devoid of anything that might resemble reality. It's a fantasy picture, where Elvis and Ann-Margret break out into song and dance every two minutes, and the color and sparkle of an empty-headed musical abound from start to finish.

Elvis is a dreadful actor, at least in the roles in which I've seen him, and "Viva Las Vegas" proves no exception. Happily, he doesn't have to do much acting here. He just has to look handsome and charming, and, of course, sing up a storm. Ann-Margaret, who seems more able to cope with what little dialogue the film offers, fares better, and their romantic entanglement comes off rather sweetly.

In the end, "Viva Las Vegas" is more like a travelogue for the Nevada Tourist Bureau than a legitimate motion picture; yet it has its attractions, and a couple of the songs are well worth the wait. From beginning to end we hear the title song, "Viva Las Vegas," sung three times, plus "The Yellow Rose of Texas," "The Lady Loves Me," "C'mon Everybody," "Today, Tomorrow and Forever," "The Climb" (a dance number with the Jubilee Four providing the vocals, a highlight of the show), "Wha'd I Say?," "If You Think I Don't Need You," "Viva Las Vegas" (I told you, again and again), "I Need Somebody to Lean On," and "My Rival." Then it closes out with, yeah, you guessed it.