Harum Scarum Blu-ray Review

Gene Nelson’s Harum Scarum is a forgettable musical adventure-comedy.

The Production: 2/5

Poor Elvis Presley: all that talent and sadly tied to a personal services contract that allowed Col. Tom Parker to make stale artistic decisions for him. Case in point: Gene Nelson’s Harum Scarum. After starring the previous year in two highly enjoyable films with Viva Las Vegas (with his best-ever co-star, Ann-Margret) and Roustabout (with the most outstanding star of Hollywood’s Golden Age who ever supported him, Barbara Stanwyck), he found himself pretty much trapped for most of the remainder of his movie career in less than stellar material like this, a forgettable adventure-comedy with songs, loads of beautiful women, and not enough story to fill a thimble. This is one of those unremarkable pieces of fluff that Elvis pretty much walked through to fulfill a contract, and his disinterest shows.

On a goodwill tour of the Middle East, movie star Johnny Tyronne (Elvis Presley), famed for having a karate chop that can put a man’s lights out in a split second, is abducted by Sinan (Theo Marcuse), the chief of the league of assassins, and tasked with eliminating King Toranshah (Philip Reed) if he wants his freedom. He’s momentarily rescued by master thief Zacha (Jay Novello) and his merry band of street-smart entertainers, but Zacha, always in the market for a payday, allows Johnny to be captured again and thus finding himself once again with the choice of killing the king or losing his freedom and likely his own life. When Johnny falls in love at first sight with a slave girl not knowing she’s actually the king’s daughter Shalimar (Mary Ann Mobley), his plight becomes even more dire.

It’s a ridiculous script that Gerald Drayson Adams has fashioned for this opus: spotty enough to drop in eight songs (Elvis sings three of them in the first ten minutes though “Harum Holiday” gets a reprise in the Las Vegas-set finale) but offering a plot without any surprises (though you’d think he’d sprung the twist of a lifetime from everyone’s reaction when it’s revealed the king’s secret adversary is his ambitious brother Prince Dragna played by Michael Ansara). Director Gene Nelson never quite gets a rhythm or tempo going to keep things moving along (lots of dull patches where everything stops in order for Elvis to croon another dud ballad), and he handles the climactic slapstick attack with no sense of building suspense or action (Elvis transforms into a strategic man of action a la James Bond at the end). It’s also a very studio-bound production, never once suggesting actual Middle Eastern locations and lacking atmosphere throughout (everyone speaks perfect English, so it’s a fantasy for sure). To be fair, that “Harum Holiday” song does have a fairly tuneful beat, and there is one charming sequence where Elvis sings and prances with urchin Vicki Malkin to “Hey, Little Girl.” Otherwise, the procession of pallid ballads (“Desert Serenade” in the film-within-a-film opening, “Mirage” after he’s been drugged, the “It’s Kismet” love song when he meets Shalimar, and “So Close, Yet So Far” crooned from his prison cell) go in one ear and out the other.

Thinking he was going to be playing a sheik, Elvis allegedly was enthusiastic about the project in the early going, but by the time the cameras rolled, it’s clear he’s merely going through the motions, sometimes not even bothering with the lyrics of songs he’s lip-synching to. Mary Ann Mobley may have been a former Miss America, but she was still a novice actress, and it shows: lovely looking but with no personality. Better work comes from the veterans in the cast who make much out of little: Jay Novello overacting his street beggar role, Phillip Reed as the kindly king, Billy Barty as the street scamp Baba who darts in and out to escape capture, and Michael Ansara who gives the most solid acting performance as the wily, treacherous Prince Dragna. Fran Jeffries, the nightclub vocalist who was getting some acting work at the time, looks quite alluring throughout in a role that exists only as a temptress for Elvis. Brenda Benet, Gail Gilmore, and Wilda Taylor as part of the beggar troupe do some fine dancing to Elvis’ upbeat “Tambourine.” Theo Marcuse makes a fairly convincing assassin chief.

Video: 4.5/5

3D Rating: NA

The film’s 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio is presented faithfully in a 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. At its best (which is most of the time), the picture is sharp and immensely colorful with the Metrocolor process under complete control offering believable skin tones and lots of varied hues that are a treat to the eye. Occasionally, there is a soft shot that must have been a camera operator’s mistake because there seems no reason for it, and there are also shallow focus problems occasionally with two people beside one another but only one in sharp focus. The movie has been divided into 25 chapters.

Audio: 4.5/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix offers typical audio fidelity of the era. Dialogue has been recorded professionally though it appears Jay Novello’s entire performance was post synched which sometimes doesn’t sonically blend smoothly with the live audio recordings of his co-stars. The songs and background score and sound effects have certainly been combined with great effectiveness, and there are no age-related problems with hiss or other aural anomalies.

Special Features: 2/5

Animated Shorts (HD): Tom and Jerry in 1966’s The Cat’s Me-Ouch (6:05) and 1965’s Of Feline Bondage (6:24)

Theatrical Trailer (2:05, SD)

Song Selection Menu: instant access to eleven musical moments in the movie.

Overall: 2/5

Gene Nelson’s Harum Scarum is a forgettable musical adventure-comedy trapping the talented Elvis Presley once again in a project that doesn’t begin to tap into his gifts as a performer of note.

Harum Scarum [Blu-ray]

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