Elvis Presley and Carolyn Jones in King Creole (1958)

Dutch postcard by Uitg. Takken, Utrecht, no. AX 3978. Photo: Paramount. Elvis Presley and Carolyn Jones in King Creole (Michael Curtiz, 1958).

We love this postcard of King Creole (1958) in which Elvis's defends himself and the scared girl behind him with a bottle. The long shadows give the action a wonderful dramatic effect. In his fourth film, Elvis Presley did a credible job. He clearly modeled his instinctive performance after his Method-trained heroes Marlon Brando and James Dean. Carolyn Jones is Ronnie, the 'bad' girl behind him. She later became unforgettable as Ms. Addams in the TV series 'The Addams Family'. The Film Noir lightning in King Creole was done by Russell Harlan, who vividly captured the tawdry atmosphere of the Deep South in the film.

In King Creole (Michael Curtiz, 1958), Elvis plays nineteen-year-old rebel Danny Fisher, who lives in the poor French Quarter in New Orleans. He takes a job as a singer in the King Creole nightclub in New Orleans to make ends meet after his father's business went bankrupt. Danny attracts the attention of a local crime boss, the sadistic blackmailer Maxie Fields (Walter Matthau) who wants him for his own place. Danny gets on pretty well with Fields' long-suffering gangster’s moll (Carolyn Jones) though, and all this plus his involvement with Fields' hoods and with innocent five-and-dime store assistant Nellie IDolores Hart) means Danny finds his world closing in on him all ways round.

King Creole (1958) is one of the few films where Elvis is given the chance to act and he passes with flying colours. Didi-5 at IMDb: "This is perhaps Elvis's best film and certainly the one with the strongest plot. Based on the Harold Robbins novel 'A Stone for Danny Fisher', Elvis plays Danny with that teenage angst you'd associate more with James Dean or the young Marlon Brando. The music too is exceptional, with the sexy title track alongside of such gems as 'Steadfast, Loyal and True', 'Crawfish' (a duet between Elvis and Kitty White), 'Hard Headed Woman', and 'Trouble'. The supporting cast is also eminently watchable with Dean Jagger, Walter Matthau, Vic Morrow, and Carolyn Jones. They help to move the pace along. The look of the film in its non-musical moments is strictly Film Noir, and the whole piece is slickly directed by Michael Curtiz." King Creole's screenplay was co-scripted by Michael V. Gazzo who was then still fresh from the Broadway success of 'A Hatful of Rain' (in 1957 filmed by Fred Zinnemann) but is now best-known for his Oscar-nominated work for The Godfather Part II (Francis Coppola, 1974). King Creole was released by Paramount in 1958, to both critical and commercial success. The critics were unanimous in their praise of Presley's performance. King Creole peaked at number five on the Variety box office earnings charts, and the soundtrack song 'Hard Headed Woman' reached number one on the Billboard pop singles chart. And fourteen days after the completion of King Creole, Elvis Presley was officially inducted into the U.S. Army.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Taken on: May 2, 2020

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