THE MOVIE

"Love me tender. Love me sweet. Never, let me go...."

No readers, this isn't some desperate way to seduce you into reading all of this review. Those are in fact the opening lyrics to the classic Elvis Presley song, 'Love Me Tender', which as you may have guessed, features in this film of the same name.

Presley co-stars with Richard Egan as brothers in the Civil War period, who have a mutual love for Debra Paget. When Presley believes his brother has been killed at war, he marries Paget. However, Egan returns, which, as you would expect, causes some conflict. The film is basically a mixture of romance, western, and of course with Elvis on board, musical.

Love Me Tender holds a special place in many an Elvis fans heart for the mere reason that it was the King's first foray into films. As far as rock stars trying to make it in the movies go, Elvis never sunk to the level of say, Madonna (Body of Evidence anyone), but he also never really hit the mark either. Sure, his films were popular, but few were critical successes. Still, Elvis being Elvis, his films are about as critic proof as a Star Wars movie, and Love Me Tender was a satisfactory though unremarkable debut.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

The video quality is quite good, and is surprisingly rendered in its original ratio of 2.35:1, and is 16x9 enhanced. The black and white image is a little soft at times, but overall, the films looks quite nice for its age.

Audio:

We have an English 2.0 mono soundtrack here, and it is satisfying. Dialogue is always clear, and four Elvis songs featured come across nicely.

THE EXTRAS

Unfortunately, only the theatrical trailer is featured, as well as trailers for Wild in the Country and Flaming Star

SUMMARY

Packaged in a three disc set with other Presley films, Wild in the Country and Flaming Star, Love Me Tender is a watchable movie, notable mainly for Elvis' film debut. Whilst nothing spectacular, fans of the king will most likely snap up this reasonably priced box set.