Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)

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General		Extras
Category	Musical	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1966
Running Time	87:12
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Michael Moore
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Elvis Presley Suzanna Leigh James Shigeta Donna Butterworth Marianna Hill Linda Wong Jan Shepard
Case	?
RPI	$24.95	Music	Joseph J. Lilley

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Slovenian French German Swedish Danish Norwegian Finnish Dutch Bulgarian Icelandic Portuguese Hebrew Greek Croatian Arabic Turkish Polish Italian Spanish Romanian Czech Hungarian Serbian Italian Titling	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    I have seen quite a few of the Elvis movies on TV over the years, though not for quite a while, and I thought I knew what to expect. Was I wrong! I thought it would be a simple but entertaining story, pretty girls and Elvis singing. It was all this and far, far less.

    With Paradise, Hawaiian Style Elvis' acting career reached a new low. Half-way through the movie I was screaming 'not another song, he just finished the last one' at the screen. I was bored out of my mind and couldn't wait for the movie to end. I just couldn't believe they made THE KING do something this bad.

    The storyline is wafer-thin and barely plausible. As expected, it revolves around Elvis who this time is cast as Rick Richards, a commercial pilot. Now, Rick hasn't been a good boy. He keeps getting caught in compromising situations with female airline staff. Of course, all of these are completely innocent situations and not Rick's fault but he still gets fired. Rick returns home to Hawaii and convinces friend Danny Kohana (James Shigeta) to form a partnership and start a tourist helicopter service. Against his better judgement Danny agrees, but only if Rick will behave himself.

    Danny is immediately worried as Rick does not change his womanising ways. In the meantime, Rick flies around the islands drumming up business by making deals with and singing to old girlfriends who all just happen to work in resorts and can send business his way. It does not take long before Rick is in trouble with the Hawaiian equivalent of the FAA. The business is now at risk and Danny could lose his life savings, and Rick his pilot's licence. Things get worse before they get better, but all the way through Elvis just keeps on singing.

    The acting for the most part is acceptable, but Elvis puts in a lacklustre performance. At times it seems he is reading his lines off cue cards and putting no effort into his acting at all. It is obvious that he does not want to be there, and wants it over as soon as possible. After watching this film, I know exactly how he feels.

Video

    The video transfer is acceptable but could have been a lot better.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This is not the original aspect ratio, as it was originally filmed in 1.66:1.

    The transfer is reasonably sharp and clear, but it does suffer from slight grain throughout which is particularly noticeable during the first four minutes of the movie. The shadow detail was acceptable but there were few night scenes and therefore little chance to examine it thoroughly. There was no noticeable low level noise.

    The colours are clear and bright but not always constant. At 27:40 some small colour variations occur, but these are only noticeable because they are combined with a white background flicker.

    There are no noticeable MPEG or film-to-video artefacts. Film artefacts are common throughout the entire movie, but for the most part they are small and not very distracting, with the exception of a blue flash across the screen at 56:22. It is mostly during the first four minutes of the movie that larger, more distracting artefacts occurred. Reel change markers are also noticeable periodically through the movie.

    This release has an impressive range of subtitle option available. They include; English, English for the Hearing Impaired, Slovenian, French, German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch, Bulgarian, Icelandic, Portuguese, Hebrew, Greek, Croatian, Arabic, Turkish, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Czech, Hungarian and Serbian. I sampled the English subtitle offering and found them to be accurate.

    Even though it is claimed on the DVD cover that this DVD is dual layered, this is not the case. This is a single layered disc and no layer change is therefore present.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is the highlight of this title, but is still not of reference quality.

    There are six audio tracks offered on this DVD. They are; English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). The default track is English 5.1 and this is the track I reviewed.

    The dialogue was clear and easily understood at all times. Audio sync was not an issue with this disc, and was accurate at all times.

    The musical score was written by Joseph J. Lilley, and it is not up to the standard of some of Elvis' other movies. For the most part the songs in Paradise, Hawaiian Style are light, fluffy and just downright silly. However, there is one stand-out amongst this mediocre crowd, "The Drums of the Islands", but this is the soundtrack's only saving grace.

    The surround channels were used sparingly, but since this a dialogue and musical movie I was not surprised. The subwoofer is also used infrequently except during "The Drums of the Islands".

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The menu system is static and silent.

    There are no extras to be found on this disc.

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on nothing.

    The Region 1 version of this DVD misses out on;

• German Audio Track
• Italian Audio Track
• Spanish Audio Track
• All subtitle options except the English

    Unless you speak another language, the differences between the two versions are negligible. Both are equally good.

    Paradise, Hawaiian Style is a very disappointing movie and must be one of the worst Elvis movies ever made. It has been given an average video transfer and an acceptable audio transfer. There are no extras. This DVD is for die-hard Elvis fans only.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall