The Trouble with Girls ** (1969, Elvis Presley, Marlyn Mason, Nicole Jaffe) – Classic Movie Review 9574

Elvis Presley gets an acting role as Chautauqua travelling show manager Walter Hale, in director Peter Tewksbury’s 1969 The Trouble with Girls, a tale of a 1920s educational and entertainment travelling tent show, in which Hale struggles to keep the troupe together when they pitch their tents in an American small town in Iowa.

The trouble with the movie is that there is too little chance for Elvis to sing, though it is an interesting try at something different for Presley, and he is effective. And there is an excellent cast you do not expect in a Presley movie, notably John Carradine (as Mr Drewcolt), Vincent Price (as itinerant lecturer Mr Morality) and Dabney Coleman (as the cheating druggist Harrison Wilby).

MGM blew the cobwebs off an old novel Chautauqua (by Day Keene and Dwight V Babcock) and left audiences wishing that they had left it on its shelf.

The songs are few, pretty poor and uninteresting, too: Almost, Swing Down Sweet Chariot, Violet, Signs of the Zodiac, though Clean Up Your Own Backyard (by Billy Strange and Mac Davis) has merit.

Also in the cast are Marlyn Mason, Nicole Jaffe, Sheree North, Edward Andrews, Joyce Van Patten, Anissa Jones, Pepe Brown, Dabney Coleman, Bill Zuckert, Pitt Herbert, Anthony Teague, Med Flory, Robert Nichols, Helene Winston, Kevin O’Neal, Frank Welker, John Rubinstein, Charles Briles, Patsy Garrett, Linda Sue Risk, Charles F Thompson, Leonard Rumery, William M Paris, Kathleen Rainey, Hal Pederson, Mike Wagner, Brett Parker and Duke Snider.

The Trouble with Girls (and How to Get into It) is directed by Peter Tewksbury, runs 105 minutes, is made and released by by MGM, is written by Arnold Peyser (screenplay), Lois Peyser (screenplay) and Mauri Grashin (story), based on the novel Chautauqua by Day Keene and Dwight V Babcock, is shot by Jacques Marquette (Metrocolor), is produced by Lester Welch, is scored by Billy Strange and is designed by Robert R Benton.

It is shot at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, 10202 W Washington Blvd, Culver City, California.

The Trouble with Girls (and How to Get into It) was released as the bottom half of a double feature with the Raquel Welch drama Flareup, and performed poorly in cinemas but strongly on the drive-in circuit.

Though it’s set in 1927, Elvis has impressive Sixties sideburns and front curl. Neither the six-string guitar nor the 12-string instrument Elvis and his backup musician are playing existed in 1927.

Sadly, Presley and Price never met.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9574

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