It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Double Trouble (1967) – Musical #707

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
Norman Taurog

Starring:
Elvis Presley, Annette Day, John Williams, Yvonne Romain, Chips Rafferty, Norman Rossington, Leon Askin

Plot:
Singer Guy Lambert (Presley) is on tour abroad, where he meets Jill (Day). At first he doesn’t know that Jill is both wealthy and only 17 years old. He tries to avoid her, which should be a cinch since he’s leaving on his tour. But Jill follows him, and so does Claire Dunham (Romain). In addition to his love troubles, he somehow gets mixed up with jewel thieves.

Trivia:
• Only film of Annette Day
• Last film of The Wiere Brothers
• Working title “You’re Killing Me”
• Initially considered as a vehicle for Julie Christie, but the script was rewritten for Elvis.

Notable Songs:
• “Baby, If You Give Me All Your Love” performed by Elvis Presley
• “Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On)” performed by Elvis Presley

My review:
This is one of those movies that it’s best … just not to ask questions while watching. Just let it happen, because it really won’t make much sense. Heck, it was hard enough to cobble together a plot summary, depending on what needs to be included and what not!

DOUBLE TROUBLE (1967) is a mix of several different film genres:
• The general Elvis musical
• Zany 1960s sex comedy
• 1960s jewel thief

It is such a strange film with so much rolled together, including two attempted murders! It’s a kooky, discombobulating movie.

In general, wealthy Jill Conway (Day) is in love with musician Guy Lambert (Presley), but she’s only 17 years old. She follows him on his tour, where they get mixed up with jewel thieves and also some attempted murders.

Several trivia sources erroneously say that Elvis’s character has a twin in this film. He doesn’t—double trouble refers to the two women after him, Annette Day and Yvonne Romain.

There aren’t really any memorable Elvis songs (or hits) in DOUBLE TROUBLE, though he does sing a very jazzy version of “Old MacDonald” (which is humorous, whether it means to be or not). There is also a sequence at a carnival with the song “I Love Only But One Girl” which feels overly long. In general, I felt most of the songs felt out of place for 1967. The title “Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On)” sounds like it would fit right into the era, but it had almost a doo-wop sound to it, like from Elvis’s early 1960s films. Other songs felt more jazzy.

Overall, this is just a strange, not great movie. And sadly, it’s not even fun, just dull and strange.

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