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Released by: Fox
Released on: July 30, 2013.
Director: Maurice Geraghty
Cast: Elvis Presley, Richard Egan, Debra Paget
Year: 1956
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The Movie:
When Elvis sold millions of records and became a sensation on TV sets around the world it made perfect sense that he'd transition that star power and charisma to the silver screen. Directed by Robert D. Webb, Love Me Tender marks Elvis' first foray into the feature film world, and by many standards, it's one of his best.
The film begins when Vance Reno (Richard Egan) and his two brothers, Brett (William Campbell), and Ray (James Drury), return home when the Civil War ends with a large stash of money that they stole from the Union for the Confederacy. What with the war ending and all, they decide to lay low and keep the money in hopes of providing a better life for themselves and their family. Vance is shocked to learn when he returns that his girlfriend, Cathy (Debra Paget), has married his younger brother, Clint (Elvis Presley) after being told that Vance was killed in the line of duty. Vance decides to head to California to escape his broken heart but before he can leave, an investigator (Robert Middleton) who is fairly certain that Vance and his crew still have the money they stole, shows up wondering where it is.
Elvis is really only in this film as a supporting cast member and it's Egan and Paget who get the vast majority of the screen time. Regardless, it did well enough that it sent his film career off on a pretty strong starting note. In terms of Elvis' performance here, it's quite genuine and he actually suits the role of the naí¯ve younger brother very well, showing a decent range and playing his part quite believably. Of course, there are a couple of musical numbers here but they're not specifically at the forefront of the picture (though his performance at the small town fair where he's shaking his hips and wiggling his legs feels out of place in the period setting in which the film takes place).
Shot in scope, the film has a fairly epic feel to it that suits the melodrama and brooding romantic underpinnings of the script quite well. The black and white photography is slick and professional looking. The scene in which the Reno family are hanging out on the porch and accompanying Elvis as he sings them a song is unintentionally humorous but outside of that, the picture doesn't feel nearly as campy or forced as many of his other pictures would. Elvis proved here that with decent material and a competent director that he could act. Of course, this didn't stop Hollywood from pigeonholing him and insisting that his musical bits be the center of his films from here on out.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Love Me Tender debuts on Blu-ray from Fox looking quite good in an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in its original aspect ratio of 2.35.1 widescreen. The transfer is nice and sharp and the crisp black and white cinematography benefits nicely from the increase in resolution. This results in quite a bit more texture and detail than we saw in DVD versions of the movie and improved grey scales too. Blacks are solid without looking murky and the materials used were either really nicely restored or were in great shape to begin with as there's not much in the way of print damage to note at all. There are no problems with obvious noise reduction or edge enhancement and natural amount of grain is present without it ever being overpowering.
You've got the option of watching the movie in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio or DTS-HD Master Audio Mono with a dubbed Dolby Digital Mono mix available in Spanish and optional subtitles provided in English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Chinese and a zillion other languages. The 5.1 mix spreads things out well enough but the Mono track sounds a little more fitting. Regardless of which option you choose, levels are nicely balanced, dialogue easy to understand and the score and musical numbers sound great.
The best of the supplements is the commentary track from Jerry Schilling, a documentary filmmaker who was a close friend of Elvis' before he passed away. Schilling doesn't really do much here in regards to explaining the history or importance of the film, but he does do a fine job of relaying and sharing some interesting stories about Elvis as he knew him. Schilling does occasionally run out of things to say here and there and he tends to repeat information a few times - a moderator probably would have helped keep the pace moving - but overall this is a fairly enjoyable and personal look at Presley through the words of a man who knew him well.
There are also a few featurettes included here, starting with Elvis Hits Hollywood which is a twelve minute exploration of how and why Elvis wound up in the movies by way of some insightful interviews with a few of his friends and a few film historians and Elvis experts. The Colonel And The King is an eleven minute piece that spends eleven minutes explaining how Tom Parker became Elvis' manager and what their relationship was like, while Love Me Tender: The Birth And Boom Of The Elvis Hit is an interesting eight minute segment that explains how the song was written as well as why some of the other songs in the movie were used the way they were.
Rounding out the extras are a two minute bit called Love Me Tender: The Soundtrack in which an Elvis Scholar named John P. Bakke P.H.D. discusses the music used in the movie, an English language trailer and a Spanish trailer. Menus and chapter selection are also included.
The Final Word:
Love Me Tender isn't Elvis' greatest movie but it's a pretty solid debut, a nice mix of western action and reasonably compelling drama with a romantic slant. The new Blu-ray from Fox carries over all of the extras that were on the DVD and offers up the movie in a noticeably better transfer and with solid audio too. If you're a fan of the movie, this is one worth upgrading on.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
