Paradise, Hawaiian Style

Four years after Blue Hawaii, the principals (Hal Wallis, Colonel Parker, Elvis) all reconvened, returning to a land and a commercial prospect they dearly loved. The movie failed to do as well as the original for a number of reasons. First, Elvis’ appearance. This continued to disturb Wallis, who had been complaining to the Colonel for some time that Elvis looked “fat,” “soft,” and “jowly.” He worried that a puffy, overweight Elvis could not function effectively as a romantic leading man. In addition, Hill and Range, Elvis’ song publishers, had by now lost many of their good contract writers, primarily because Elvis’ record sales no longer justified the onerous terms of employment. The result was a pale imitation of the Blue Hawaii soundtrack album with a total of only ten songs, six of them written by the journeyman team of Giant/Baum/Kaye. Cut in the midst of Elvis’ musical doldrums, the vocals were overdubbed with a grudgingness that gave them no more than a smooth professional sheen.