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Category:    Home > Reviews > Musical > Rock > Comedy > Drama > Jailhouse Rock + Viva Las Vegas (Warner HD-DVDs/Elvis Presley)

Jailhouse Rock + Viva Las Vegas (Warner HD-DVDs)

 

Picture: B+     Sound: B     Extras: C+     Films: B-

 

 

When Elvis began to make more films that Rock albums, many considered it his nadir and most fans feared it would kill his career and relevance, but we now know about his big comeback and permanent position as an all-time legend.  However, while Col. Tom Parker landed Elvis in more turkeys than winners, some of the films were pretty good and not B-movies with superfluous pop music quickly forgotten.  Though he made several music films for three of the majors (including Fox and Paramount), he made the most for MGM and two of the best were Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas.

 

Jailhouse Rock (1957) tells the tale of a young man who goes to jail for accidentally killing another man when he hits him, with Elvis as the rough loner with nowhere to turn.  Then, when he serves his time, becomes a rock and roll singer.  Though it would seem obvious and sounds melodramatic, director Richard Thorpe (in one of his few memorable films) keeps the pace and energy going, capturing Elvis in his prime.  Mickey Shaughnessy plays his one-time country singer cellmate (implying Rock was pushing Country aside), Judy Tyler is the record executive/female interest and Dean Jones arrives in one of his few non-Disney hits.

 

Viva Las Vegas (1963) follows the soon-to-be-tired “Elvis Musical” formula of “boy-meets-girl, boy-barely-loses-girl, boy-obviously-will-get-girl” but here, it was still fresh and had one of the few female co-stars who was the equal of Elvis: Ann-Margret.  Director George Sidney had directed several successful Musicals and brought this above a B-movie level it could have sunk to otherwise.  Again, energy is all over the place, Ann-Margret is one of the few woman in any Elvis film who has great musical moments and the film is even more upbeat and fun than many of the teen Rock films of the time (like the Frankie & Annette cycle) offered.  Like Jailhouse, it has a few dead spots, but in these new transfers, even the lower points are tolerable.  Cesare Danova, William Demarest and Nicky Blair also star.

 

 

The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is very impressive on both films, especially ones so much older than most scope releases in either HD format.  The most immediate point to make is that both benefit from Ted Turner’s early efforts to preserve the classic MGM catalog (he owned the films all the way up to 1986) taking action to preserve a catalog he took more seriously than the major studios were taking theirs at the time.  Though these were produced with some differences, they set new watermarks for back catalog HD releases.

 

Jailhouse was shot in black and white, with CinemaScope lenses, while Viva was in color (specifically, MetroColor) and using clearer Panavision lenses.  Except for the distortion the two-lens CinemaScope system used, Jailhouse is a vivid example of how terrific black and white scope films can be.  Director of Photography Robert J. Bronner already impressed MGM with his use of the scope frame on Musicals like Silk Stockings and constantly comes up with classic shots for Elvis here.  Martin Scorsese has rightly sited the title song performance as a landmark, but Elvis also shines performing You’re So Square (Baby I Don’t Care) and helps contribute to this being one of the few “Elvis Musicals” that worked.  Viva was shot by Director of Photography Joseph F. Biroc, a cinematographer since the 1920s who became a key cinematographer in TVs early days and ironically lensed Bye Bye Birdie (1963, which included a send-up of Elvis, director Sidney and co-star Margret) before capturing the legend here.

 

If distortion is a slight flaw on Jailhouse inherent to the early scope lenses, I had small issues with the Video Red on Viva that kept me watching and thinking, but the color and detail is far superior to previous releases of the film.  Jailhouse is another monochrome winner from Warner like Casablanca (see our HD-DVD review) that is the kind of classic black & White release that could reignite interest in such films after a long dry spell.

 

As for sound, both films were originally monophonic, though Jailhouse has Perspecta Sound which allowed for a pseudo-stereo effect, that still does not make it real stereo.  Besides having Dolby Digital Plus 1.0 Mono for purists and fans, there are Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 and (big surprise) Dolby TrueHD 5.1 remixes.  Both easily outperform the 1.0 Mono and the TrueHD is particularly interesting as after no multi-channel Elvis material after all these years except the awful DVD-Audio of Elvis – The #1s (one of the worst discs in the format), the TrueHD becomes (by default, give or take vinyl record purists) the best audio reproduction of Elvis in any format to date.

 

While the dialogue and sound effects show their age on both films, the mixes come alive when the songs kick in and that means stereophonic sound with nice soundstage and long overdue at that.  Even audiophiles will be impressed when they hear Presley’s voice with unprecedented life, warmth, clarity and depth.  Though not every song is a gem in either film, most of them work and Elvis gives some of his best vocal performances in any of his narrative films here.  Ann-Margret also sounds really good, rivaling her vocals on Ken Russell’s Tommy 12 years later, though that has yet to hit Blu-ray.

 

Extras include original theatrical trailers and terrific audio commentary tracks by Elvis/film expert Steve Pond (different for each film) on both releases, plus each has a brand new featurette.  Jailhouse offers The Scene That Stole Jailhouse Rock and Viva has Kingdom: Elvis In Vegas.  Of course, there are many more Elvis films, including concerts to issue from the MGM catalog.  We hope Paramount is as thorough when issuing King Creole on HD-DVD, while Warner should give the same upscale treatment to Elvis: That’s The Way It Is (both versions) and the underappreciated Elvis On Tour.  Since RCA/BMG never issued multi-channel audiophile-caliber Elvis music in DVD-Audio or Super Audio CD, HD-DVD (and Blu-ray where applicable) is finally a chance to do justice to his best music work.  That it includes Elvis captured on film is all the better.

 

In all, that makes Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas two of the best back catalog HD releases to date.  That it sets a new high watermark for music films and Musicals will have people talking for years to come.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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