HOME |  CULT MOVIES | COMPETITIONS | ADVERTISE |  CONTACT US |  ABOUT US
 
 
 
Newest Reviews
American Fiction
Poor Things
Thunderclap
Zeiram
Legend of the Bat
Party Line
Night Fright
Pacha, Le
Kimi
Assemble Insert
Venus Tear Diamond, The
Promare
Beauty's Evil Roses, The
Free Guy
Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure
Rejuvenator, The
Who Fears the Devil?
Guignolo, Le
Batman, The
Land of Many Perfumes
Cat vs. Rat
Tom & Jerry: The Movie
Naked Violence
Joyeuses Pacques
Strangeness, The
How I Became a Superhero
Golden Nun
Incident at Phantom Hill
Winterhawk
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Maigret Sets a Trap
B.N.A.
Hell's Wind Staff, The
Topo Gigio and the Missile War
Battant, Le
Penguin Highway
Cazadore de Demonios
Snatchers
Imperial Swordsman
Foxtrap
   
 
Newest Articles
3 From Arrow Player: Sweet Sugar, Girls Nite Out and Manhattan Baby
Little Cat Feat: Stephen King's Cat's Eye on 4K UHD
La Violence: Dobermann at 25
Serious Comedy: The Wrong Arm of the Law on Blu-ray
DC Showcase: Constantine - The House of Mystery and More on Blu-ray
Monster Fun: Three Monster Tales of Sci-Fi Terror on Blu-ray
State of the 70s: Play for Today Volume 3 on Blu-ray
The Movie Damned: Cursed Films II on Shudder
The Dead of Night: In Cold Blood on Blu-ray
Suave and Sophisticated: The Persuaders! Take 50 on Blu-ray
Your Rules are Really Beginning to Annoy Me: Escape from L.A. on 4K UHD
A Woman's Viewfinder: The Camera is Ours on DVD
Chaplin's Silent Pursuit: Modern Times on Blu-ray
The Ecstasy of Cosmic Boredom: Dark Star on Arrow
A Frosty Reception: South and The Great White Silence on Blu-ray
You'll Never Guess Which is Sammo: Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon on Blu-ray
Two Christopher Miles Shorts: The Six-Sided Triangle/Rhythm 'n' Greens on Blu-ray
Not So Permissive: The Lovers! on Blu-ray
Uncomfortable Truths: Three Shorts by Andrea Arnold on MUBI
The Call of Nostalgia: Ghostbusters Afterlife on Blu-ray
Moon Night - Space 1999: Super Space Theater on Blu-ray
Super Sammo: Warriors Two and The Prodigal Son on Blu-ray
Sex vs Violence: In the Realm of the Senses on Blu-ray
What's So Funny About Brit Horror? Vampira and Bloodbath at the House of Death on Arrow
Keeping the Beatles Alive: Get Back
   
 
  Loving You The King Is Alive
Year: 1957
Director: Hal Kanter
Stars: Elvis Presley, Lizabeth Scott, Wendell Corey, Dolores Hart, James Gleason, Ralph Dumke, Paul Smith, Kenneth Becker, Jana Lund, Grace Hayle, Skip Young
Genre: Musical, DramaBuy from Amazon
Rating:  6 (from 2 votes)
Review: Glenda Markle (Lizabeth Scott) is managing the band of her ex-husband Walter Warner (Wendell Corey) and has secured him a gig providing the entertainment for a prospective governor. Walter isn't happy, but it's better than nothing and offers the band regular work, but he is reluctant to admit he might be over the hill. At one event, Glenda is impressed by the look of one young man delivering the crates of beer, and it turns out his name is Deke Rivers (Elvis Presley) - if only he could sing. But wait - it turns out he can, and very well at that...

Loving You was Elvis's first film in colour, and only his second screen role (for some reason his movies went back to black and white after this). If you couldn't get to a concert to see the megastar in 1957, then watching him here was the next best thing, especially if you didn't live in the United States as he would never tour abroad. And to witness him with his newly dyed, jet black hair in this was quite something, especially as the musical numbers were very much patterned after his live shows, quite unlike the cinematic efforts that followed.

The story is intended to be a lightly fictionalised version of Elvis's actual rise to fame, so instead of sinister svengali Colonel Tom Parker (who is listed as technical advisor in the credits) being the manager, you are offered Lizabeth Scott as a hard-headed yet considerably more sympathetic character. It is Glenda who discovers Deke and persuades him to join Walter's band, and soon the public is impressed with this gyrating singer and turning up to see him in their droves, giving him a taste of success that being a delivery boy would not.

The plot is somewhat flimsy, but it does include some of the problems as well as the benefits the real Presley would be having: obsessed fans, jealous boyfriends, dealing with the establishment's opprobrium, that sort of thing. As with just about every one of his films afterwards, he ends up in a fistfight (he could certainly throw a punch), which interestingly is shown to be sexually exciting to the girlfriend (Jana Lund) of his opponent, leading to the star's first screen kiss. He does have a proper romance which doesn't really get off the ground until the last five minutes, however.

The object of his affection is not Glenda, although there is some tension in that department, but with one of the other singers with the band, Susan (Dolores Hart, the rising star who left Hollywood at the height of her success to become a nun). But Walter feels envious that Deke is getting all Glenda's attention, leading to some hackneyed plotting that merely fills time between the songs, which is what most of the audience would be wanting to hear anyway. Among those recognisable tunes are the title track, Teddy Bear and Got a Lot o' Living To Do, and if Elvis is wooden elsewhere, then he has true electricity when he performs his music. His parents appeared as extras in the final concert, leading him to never watch this again after his mother died, a bit of trivia that is probably more interesting than the drama in Loving You, though it did record the man in his fifties prime.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

 

This review has been viewed 3833 time(s).

As a member you could Rate this film

 
Review Comments (0)


Untitled 1

Login
  Username:
 
  Password:
 
   
 
Forgotten your details? Enter email address in Username box and click Reminder. Your details will be emailed to you.
   

Latest Poll
Which star probably has psychic powers?
Laurence Fishburne
Nicolas Cage
Anya Taylor-Joy
Patrick Stewart
Sissy Spacek
Michelle Yeoh
Aubrey Plaza
Tom Cruise
Beatrice Dalle
Michael Ironside
   
 
   

Recent Visitors
Enoch Sneed
Darren Jones
Mark Le Surf-hall
  Louise Hackett
Andrew Pragasam
Mary Sibley
Graeme Clark
  Desbris M
   

 

Last Updated: