Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (November 2, 2023)
Twice the Elvis, twice the fun? Alas, no.
While the poster art for 1967’s Double Trouble implies Elvis Presley goes the Patty Duke Show/Parent Trap route, that doesn’t occur. Rather than portray two characters who look alike, Elvis just plays one.
Singer Guy Lambert (Presley) takes his band to Swingin’ London and then Continental Europe. He attracts lots of attention from females, and two of them – naïve heiress Jill Conway (Annette Day) and sophisticated social butterfly Claire Dunham (Yvonne Romain) – follow after him.
In addition to romantic complications, Guy deals with a mix of other threats due to various thieves and potential killers. This leads to… double trouble?
In 1968, Elvis shot his famous TV “Comeback Special”. Given that Presley starred in two or three movies every year of the 1960s – and thus produced a constant string of singles/soundtrack albums as well – one might wonder how he could “come back” when he never went away.
While Elvis worked constantly, his popularity faded as the decade progressed. Of course, the biggest blow to his success came when the Beatles arrived in the US circa 1964, and other developments in rock also made Elvis look quaint.
Rather than shift with the times, Presley continued to do the same old same old. Outside of some windowdressing changes – like a backup band who attempt to look “mod” - Trouble shows an “Elvis movie” framework virtually unchanged across the years.
And that goes for the King itself. Granted, I admit I feel relieved Presley didn’t shameless imitate his younger rivals, as Elvis with a Beatle haircut would’ve looked silly.
Nonetheless, the Presley of 1967 shows no changes in style whatsoever from the Presley of 1966. Or 1865. Or 1964.
And so on. Even if we go back to the beginning of Presley’s career in the mid-1950s, the 1967 iteration looks awfully similar, especially when compared with the “post-Army” Elvis of 1960 and later.
That went for the music as well. Oh, a couple Double Trouble songs attempt a vaguely “60s vibe”, but they still “sound like Elvis” – and not in a good way.
Presley’s songs here just seem mailed in and perfunctory. The music uses the same formula that would essentially allow you to plug them into any movie Elvis made over the prior decade and not miss a beat.
I don’t know Presley’s history well enough to understand why he barely attempted to change with the times. I suspect his overbearing manager “Colonel” Tom Parker encouraged Elvis to stay the same, but that’s just my speculation.
All I do know is that Elvis’s “frozen in amber” vibe means he seemed less and less cool as the 1960s progressed. Elvis could kind of pull off the same old through 1964 and maybe 1965, but as the rock music around him became more adventurous and literate, hokey songs about sassy girls and lovin-and-leavin-em seemed woefully out of touch.
Again, Elvis managed to maintain a decent audience for the first half of the 1960s, but by 1967, his inability to connect to the era’s changes caught up with him. As both soundtrack album and movie, Double Trouble bombed.
Thus the need for 1968’s “Comeback Special”. While that also didn’t reinvent Elvis for a modern audience, it did at least allow Presley to shed the image of his rom-com movies and remind fans what made him such a sensation in the first place.
Double Trouble does absolutely nothing to demonstrate why Elvis became a star in the mid-1950s. Presley looks completely bored the whole way through the movie, and I can’t blame him, as the flick sticks him with essentially the same role he always played.
Guy offers one in a continuing series of Presley leads who sing, attract the ladies, and find themselves reluctant to settle down. Trouble does attempt other plot details beyond the ways that Claire and Jill pursue Guy, and it actually finds a few moderate twists.
However, none of this adds spark to the proceedings. Despite all the “danger” and silly comedy thrown at us along the way, the core remains Elvis wooin’ the ladies and singin’ his songs.
None of this entertains, mainly because everything about it seems so rote. Even attempts to give Guy a “hip ‘n’ happening” backing band feel contrived and phony – especially since they look a couple of years out of date.
In addition, the decision to pair 33-year-old Presley with Day as a 17-year-old character seems creepy. Day was actually 19 but we hear endlessly about how Jill is just about to turn 18.
The movie uses this to tie into the plot slightly, but it seems irrelevant in the greater scheme. Of course, it’s also possible Guy is supposed to be younger than Presley’s 33 years, but nonetheless, the relationship tends to look predatory and awkward.
Beatles fans may enjoy the sight of Norman Rossington – a key actor in 1964’s Beatles classic A Hard Day’s Night. We also find successful character actor Michael Murphy in his first big-screen role and what sure sounds like Mel Blanc as the voice of a parrot.
Outside of those trivia notes, I find little to enjoy here. As madcap and bouncy as Double Trouble attempts to be, it largely just ends up as another paint-by-numbers Elvis flick.
