Paradise, Hawaiian Style * (1966, Elvis Presley, Suzanna Leigh, James Shigeta, Irene Tsu, Donna Butterworth, Marianna Hill) – Classic Movie Review 6854

Elvis Presley stars as Rick Richards, a civil helicopter pilot who plans to start a charter flying service in Hawaii and plays the field romantically, and Suzanna Leigh co-stars forlornly as his main love interest, Judy Hudson. Rick makes friends with young Hawaiian girl Jan Kohana (Donna Butterworth) and her father Danny (James Shigeta).

With a minimal plot and second-rate songs, director Michael D Moore’s 1965 musical is one of the King’s all-time worst efforts. The lust for life of his earlier features is simply no longer there, and this dull and inconsequential trifle is best avoided except by die-hard Presley fans.

At least there were only three years to go until the 1968 Comeback Special, in which Elvis finally showed that he really still was the King.

Also in the cast are James Shigeta, Irene Tsu, Donna Butterworth, Marianna Hill, Linda Wong, Julie Parrish, Jan Shepard, John Doucette, Philip Ahn, Mary Treen, Steve Brodie, Doris Packer, Grady Sutton, Gigi Verone, Don Collier and Fred Carson.

Paradise, Hawaiian Style is directed by Michael D Moore, runs 91 minutes, is released by Paramount, is written by Allan Weiss and Anthony Lawrence, is shot in Technicolor by W Wallace Kelley, is produced by Hal B Wallis and Joseph H Hazen, is scored by Joseph J Lilley, and is designed by Hal Pereira and Walter H Tyler.

It was not a big hit. Costing $2,000,000, it grossed $2,500,000 in the US.

Child actress Donna Butterworth, just 10 in 1966, plays young Hawaiian girl Jan Kohana and performs three songs: ‘Datin”, ‘Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home’ and ‘Queen Wahine’s Papaya’, a lovely duet with a ukulele-strumming Elvis. Butterworth died on 6 March 2018, aged 62, at the Hilo Medical Center, Hawaii, after a long illness.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6854

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