The ultimate site about the king of the analogue age
Even though Paramount had released "Easy Come, Easy Go" in March 1967, MGM didn't wait any longer than April to roll out "Double Trouble". In the USA and Canada the movie earned rental fees of 1.6 million USD, so the box office must have been somewhat around 3.2 million USD. With our magic factor of 15 we can estimate that "Double Trouble" would have grossed 48 million USD and made 22 million USD for MGM in the present. For the studio it was a disaster, compared to "Spinout" the revenue almost had bisected! The lack of business on the domestic market lead to the decision not to release "Double Trouble" worldwide. In Germany the movie premiered on television on January 9, 1986 under the name of "Zoff Fuer Zwei". The translation is "Trouble For Two" or in other words "Double Trouble".
The minor Jill falls in love with singer Guy Lambert (Elvis) and follows him at his concert tour accross Europe. Two gangsters hide their loot in his case, so it isn't just Jill who is after him. To make things worse, Jill doesn't know she's rich and her uncle wants to kill her before she comes of age to inherit her fortune.
Judd Bernard und Irwin Winkler (producer), Norman Taurog (director), Jo Heims (script, based on a story byn Marc Brandel), Jeff Alexander (music), Daniel L. Fapp (camera), John McSweeney (editor).
Elvis Presley (Guy Lambert), Annette Day (Jill Conway), John Williams (Gerald Waverly), Yvonne Romain (Clair Dunham), The Wiere Brothers (themselves), Chips Rafferty (Archie Brown) und Norman Rossington (Arthur Babcock). The German voice of Elvis was dubbed by Peter Kirchberger.
This was the final project according to Elvis' conract with MGM from 1964. Therefore his fee was $750,000 plus a profit share of 40% after the deduction of the fee. According to our rough factor of 15 the movie would have made him 11,25 million USD today.
By 1966 it was common sense that the Presley movies were outdated. MGM and Paramount independently tried to modernize the concept and "Double Trouble" was no exception. There were "wild" colors, "crazy" music and impressions of London (at the time it was the center of pop culture) during the opening credits, Guy Lambert performs at discotheques and his band is reminiscent of The Beatles. Unfortunately Elvis didn't look the part at all. His style was not up to date, his hair looked like a wig and his weight was obviously fluctuating between the scenes.
The production of "Double Trouble" went from June 11th to September 15th, 1966. Most of the movie was shot at MGMs studio lot in Culver City, but the producer also sent a team to Belgium to film on location. Of course Elvis himself didn't travel to Europe. For long distance shots he was doubled, for close ups he acted in front of a screen. The streets and villages were mostly built in the studio and lookd as artificial as the star.
This time RCA Victor issued a single and an album. Combined they sold no more than 2.1 million units. A tap on the covers leads to the reviews.
Warner Brothers released "Double Trouble" in October 2023 as part of their "Warner Archive Collection". For a review just tap on the cover.
"Double Trouble" has many shortcomings, but the story about the murderous uncle is something different and the jokes work astonishingly well. On top of that the artificial-looking sets add an almost surreal touch. In total it's an entertaining affair!
Movie Poster (C) MGM, DVD Cover (C) Warner Brothers, Collectors Box (C) Elvis Matters,, Record Covers (C) RCA Victor