Harum Scarum

THANK YOU WARNER BROTHERS for useing the original MOVIE POSTERS for the covers of these wonderful DVDs! They look EXCELLENT! I wish the other companies that put ELVIS films out would have followed suit BUT instead they air brush a still from the film and think they can make a better cover than the EXPERIENCED MOVIE POSTER artists of the 1950's and 1960's. All you can ask from an ELVIS movie is that it is Entertaining and a GREAT Soundtrack...this film has both. HAREM HOLIDAY, the films' opening track, is a classic.

I first saw this movie as a very young teenage male who idolized Elvis. It made a lasting impression on me. It was one of the first records (LP's-remember those?) that I purchased. Yes, the movie IS cheesey, and in acordance with most of the other reviewers on this site, was not worthy of Elvis's presence. However, I recently saw the movie again for the first time in years on one of my satellite channels, and I would suggest some alternate obsevations. 1.) The plot is structured to conform to the typical "travelog" Elvis movie, i.e. "Blue Hawaii", and allows for him to sing some songs, do karate moves, and romance women in an environment that actually seems less contrived than perhaps "G.I. Blues". 2.)Yes, the movie is silly, but I still think that the sountrack has some really beautiful melodies, which I still enjoy singing. 3.)I would assert that Elvis' on-screen redition of "So Close, Yet So Far" was one of the very few songs that he seemed to put his heart in for the camera in all of his movie "career". Try to watch at least that scene with an open heart. The song is pretty, passionate, and well done. 4.)Today, the scene with the slave girl in which Elvis sings "Hey Little Girl" would most certainly not past muster for being "politically correct"-in fact, it may not get past many censors. But sometimes we need to regard things in a perspective of more innocent times. Elvis was staged to do many scenes with children in his movies. 5.)I like this movie because I think it did not pretend to be anything other than insipid ententainment. And, I still think that much of the music is very pretty.

I am a huge fan of Elvis's music and movies. Own them all on vhs and the DVD's as they've come out. That being said, Harum Scarum is THE WORST piece of trash ever captured on film. It's nearly criminal to watch one of the greatest talents in the history of mankind sleep walk through this pile of rubbish. The Presley estate should do Elvis and the rest of us a favor. Buy the master and burn it in a bonfire celebration at Graceland! (...)