The musical "Blue Hawaii" hit the cinemas on November 22, 1961. It earned as much as "Flaming Star" and "Wild In The Country" combined and made Paramount a whopping 4.2 million USD. That means the public spent approximately 8.5 million USD at the box office. Using the factor 15 to translate these amounts into the present we end up with a box office of 127.5 million USD and rentals of 63.7 million USD. Certainly not bad for for the US and Canada alone. Just like "G.I. Blues" the new Paramount picture also got nominated by the Writers Guild Of America for "Best Written American Musical". Once again it failed to bring home a Laurel Award, but the nomination demonstrates that the movies were rated differently in the early 1960s.

The German fans had to wait until April 21, 1962 to watch "Blaues Hawaii", a literal translation of the original title.

Storyline

After his army stint has ended Chad Gates (Elvis) returns to Hawaii and is supposed to join the pinapple business of his father. But Chad has no intention to do so, he favors to work as a tourist guide with his girlfriend Maile.

Production Staff

Hal B. Wallis (producer), Norman Taurog (director), Hal Kanter (script), Joseph J. Lilley (music), Charles Lang (camera), Terry O. Morse (editor).

Principal Cast

Elvis Presley (Chad Gates), Joan Blackman (Maile Duval), Angela Lansbury (Sarah Lee Geates), Nacy Walters (Abigail Prentice), Roland Winters (Fred Gates). This time Claus Wilke replaced Rainer Brandt as the German voice of Elvis.

Production

After having revised the dreadful contract with Paramount in 1957 and 1958 Colonel Parker once again necotiated with Hal Wallis in early 1961. According to the new arrangement the first three of the remaining five projects were to be paid with $175,000 each, the final two with $200,000. After the last movie Parker and his client were to receive a bonus of $45,000 each. The pictures made under this contract were "Blue Hawaii" (1961), "Girls! Girls! Girls!" (1962), "Fun In Acapulco" (1963), "Roustabout" (1964) and "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" (1966). Even though this was a major improvement, it soon turned out that other studios offered up to $850,000 plus a profit share of 50%. The deal from early 1956 cost Elvis millions of dollars.

Two months before the production started Hal B. Wallis wrote a letter to Colonel Parker, worrying about the look of his client. He asked him to make sure Elvis looked slender and tanned at the start of the shooting. But before the cameras rolled (back in the old days there were reels of physical filmstrips) there was a music rehearsal on March 20th and recording sessions for the soundtrack from March 21st to 23rd in Los Angeles. Two days later the king arrived in Honolulu and staged a charity concert to raise money for the USS Arizona Memorial. From March 27th to April 17th there were shotings at the Polynesian Cultural Center, at Coconut Coast and at the Hanauma Bay Beach Park. After that the crew returned to Los Angeles. Between April 20th and May 25th work continued at the Paramount Studios.

It seems as if "Blue Hawaii" was supposed to be a sequel of "G.I. Blues". The movie starts with the main charakter returning from his army stint, which easily could have been in Germany. Elvis' girlfriend was once again to be portrayed by Juliet Prowse, who was contracted by 20th Century Fox at the time. But eleven days before the production started, she suddenly demanded changes and also wanted to bring her stylist and an assistant at Paramount's expense. The studio refused and offered the part to Joan Blackman instead. 20th Century Fox suspended Prowse and stopped the monthly payments. Because the contract didn't allow her to work for other companies without approval, the procedure was more or less a prohibition to work.

The idea of Elvis portraying the same guy is also solidified by the fact that Chad Gates doesn't differ from Tulsa McLean at all. He's always nice, always helpful and always looks great. And he's always ready to sing, because the music appears from out of nowhere if necessary. However, this time Hal B. Wallis included an awfull lot of misogynistic moments. When Chad (Elvis) arrives, he extaticly kisses a lady in front of his girlfriend, but of course she loves him so much, that she forgives him instantly. Later he spanks an emotionally impaired teenager to get her off her bad behavior. WTF?!? Besides that, Chad's mother (played by Angela Lansbury, who was just ten years older than Elvis) is dumb beyond belief.

Soundtrack

With sales of more than ten million units "Blue Hawaii" became Presley's most successful album. The single "Rock-A-Hula Baby" / "Can't Help Falling In Love" also turned out to be a best seller. By tapping on the covers you'll be forwarded to the accordant reviews.  

Home Entertainment

A hd / 4k version of "Blue Hawaii" was released by Paramount in late 2022. For a short review tap on the cover.