Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962)

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General		Extras
Category	Musical	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1962
Running Time	94:45
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:06)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Norman Taurog
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Elvis Presley Stella Stevens Jeremy Slate Laura Goodwin
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) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Arabic Bulgarian Czech Danish German Greek English Spanish French Hebrew Croatian Icelandic Italian Hungarian Dutch Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Slovenian Serbian Finnish Swedish Turkish English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes, Robin smokes.
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Elvis Presley. Girls! Girls! Girls! What more can I say? The Elvis name along with the title of the film just about summarises every film Elvis made during the 1950s and 1960s. The story goes something like this:

• Elvis sings a song over the opening credits.
• We meet Elvis in some exotic locale (Hawaii in this film).
• Elvis sings another song.
• Elvis meets the girl (optionally sings her a song).
• Boy woos girl (played here by Laurel Goodwin in her major film debut).
• Elvis sings a famous song (Return to Sender at 50:05).
• Boy loses girl (optional sad song).
• Boy ... well, I'm sure you get the idea.

    Okay, so it's hardly original, but it was very popular, as the number of films Elvis Presley made attests. He eventually tired of the endless repetitions and quit the movies, but a number of the films he left behind are surprisingly entertaining. Unfortunately, this is not one of the best, but neither is it one of the worst. The songs are pleasant, as is the scenery. On top of this Elvis had become a reasonable actor by 1962; he is quite relaxed and likeable in this film.

    In this film Elvis plays Ross Carpenter, captain of a game fishing boat hired out to rich tourists looking for a bit of excitement. He also moonlights as guest singer at the local bar, where he has an on-again, off-again relationship with the resident singer Robin (played by Stella Stevens). He meets young ingénue Laurel (played by Laurel Goodwin) and sparks fly as Elvis tries to cope with the attentions of too many girls (Girls! Girls!). As Robin says, he tries to be "Casanova and Sir Galahad rolled into one". To add to the drama (I am stretching the definition of that word a little bit here), the owner of the boat needs to sell; what will poor Ross do without his beloved boat?

    Well, my kids liked the film, which goes to show that Elvis has lasting appeal. If you happen to like him as well, you will probably last the distance with this one, though it won't win any new converts.

Video

    Well, I hate to say it, but this is yet another average transfer, bordering on poor.

    The film is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. This is acceptably close to the original theatrical release ratio of 1.85:1.

    The transfer is reasonably sharp, though there are moments when the focus is a little too soft. Shadow detail is below average (see 9:20 as an example) and there is frequent grain. This is particularly apparent in the fishing scenes where it is obvious that they were filmed at some other time, and on different film stock, to the main feature.

    Colours are generally muted and contribute to the dark look in parts of the film. Even the outdoor scenes are rather drab - it seems the film has faded over the years. Strangely, the last 5 minutes are a lot brighter with better colour - perhaps there was a newer reel available for this part of the film.

    The film also exhibits a number of artefacts, though they are not as troublesome as the grain and occasionally murky picture. Typical negative artefacts can be seen at 9:54 and 12:56. A persistent vertical black line can be seen from 38:58 through to 39:25. Numerous reel change marks are noticeable - see 61:30 for one of their frequent appearances.

    The subtitles are not particularly accurate, often missing entire phrases. As one example "I don't know, but it's putting up a fight" becomes "It's putting up a fight".

    This is an RSDL disc, with the layer change coming at 55:06. It is brief, but a little disruptive, coming in the middle of some on-screen action. There are a number of lengthy fades elsewhere in the film where it might have been better placed.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio overall is something of a mixed bag. At times it is nice and clear, with good directionality of sound, and at other times the sound is muffled and sound placement is indistinct.

    There are six audio tracks. These include two English tracks, a 5.1 Dolby Digital remix and a restored version of the original mono soundtrack in Dolby Digital 2.0. I listened to all of the 5.1 track and extensive segments of the 2.0 track. The disc also has 2.0 Spanish, French, Italian and German tracks. I listened to around 30 minutes of the Italian track.

    The dialogue quality of the 5.1 track was mixed, acceptable at times but indistinct at others. Audio sync is generally good and there is little background noise. I found the 2.0 track to be clearer. Listening to the Italian soundtrack it is apparent that no one else sounds quite like Elvis.

    The incidental music by Joseph Lilley is understated and rather forgettable, but then it is meant to play second fiddle to the Elvis songs. Stella Stevens also sings a nice rendition of The Nearness of You.

    The surround remix of this film is a mixed bag. At times it is quite precise and encompassing, especially during the early songs. It seems to lose some direction midway through the film and becomes quite murky at times. In this part of the film I preferred the mono mix, which unfortunately is spread too far across the front of the sound stage. Switching to Pro-Logic mode on my amp on the 2.0 mix made for better sounding central placement of the dialogue.

    The subwoofer was hardly used, adding some bass accompaniment in musical numbers in the 5.1 mix.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    The disc has no extras (apparently a frequent fault with Elvis Presley movies whatever the studio).

Menu

    The menu is static. You can choose from 20 scene selections. That's it!

    The Region 1 version of this DVD is lacking most of the foreign language tracks of the local release (it only has the French track). Because of this and the PAL picture, the Region 4 version is slightly preferable.

    Overall, this is an average Elvis Presley film presented with slightly below par picture, acceptable sound, and no extras. I found it a harmless way to pass a few hours of the day (well, evening), but would not rush out and buy it given the much better discs out there.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall