Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Harum Scarum Blu-ray Movie Review

Middle East of Eden.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III August 13, 2024

Out of Elvis Presley's 31 big-screen outings, Gene Nelson's Harum Scarum is definitely one of them. A modest box office hit and one of three films starring The King released that year, it's touted as "A rockin', rollin', swingin' spoof", with a second original poster tagline proudly declaring "You won't believe it when you see it!". Almost 60 years later, both of those descriptions are still true (perhaps one of them for a different reason)... but though Harum Scarum is usually ranked near the bottom of Elvis movie lists, it's actually one of his more colorfully enjoyable ones in my book. Not enough to earn it high marks, mind you, but the guilty pleasure appeal of this featherweight adventure makes it good for a weekend afternoon watch. I mean, a leopard gets karate-chopped within the first five minutes.

Sporting a nonsensical plot later half-borrowed by Tropic Thunder, Harum Scarum follows American movie star Johnny Tyrone (Presley) to the Middle East where his new film is playing to a vaguely interested crowd. During the showing, he captures the attention of lovely Aishah (Fran Jeffries, one of many white Americans playing foreigners) who, along with Prince Dragna (Michael Ansara), leads him on before kidnapping him during a campout. Although he and fellow prisoner Zacha (Jay Novello) escape captivity with the help of Princess Shalimar (Mary Ann Mobley), Johnny is soon recaptured and he finds out the real scoop: a man named Sinan (Theo Marcuse) wants him to kill King Toranshah of Bar Esalaam (Philip Reed) using his karate skills. The reason? Why, so Prince Dragna will inherit the throne, of course!

They don't make 'em like Harum Scarum anymore, folks: this right here is a painfully bad stab at international action-adventure, and that's exactly why it's still pretty fun to watch. The purely American attempt at Middle Eastern character portrayals is not unlike most pre-1969 attempts to accurately depict outer space (2001 notwithstanding, of course); in other words, it's laughably crude by today's standards because we just didn't know any better back then. And sure, other aspects of the plot are high on the cringe factor -- one wide-eyed young girl dreams of harem life, for example -- but the entire tone of this production is way too campy to take seriously. Of course, the exact same thing could be said about most of Elvis' filmography... but in Harum Scarum, the cheese is turned up to maximum volume as he croons his way through multiple women and into our hearts. Lightweight and largely entertaining (purposefully or not) during the bulk of its brisk 86-minute running time, this sure as hell ain't high art but it's still good fun.

Warner Bros. and Warner Archive have release several Elvis films on Blu-ray during the last several years, the most recent ones being It Happened At The World's Fair, Double Trouble, and Spinout. All were predictably light on bonus features but had absolutely knockout A/V merits, and the same holds true for Harum Scarum -- this disc looks and sounds like a million bucks. Honestly, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving good-bad film.

Harum Scarum Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warner Archive is clearly on their A-game with this incredibly attractive 1080p transfer of Harum Scarum, which is advertised as being sourced from a recent 4K scan of the original camera negative. Not surprisingly given the film's numerous sets (many of them reportedly recycled from King of Kings filmed, four years earlier), this is an extremely colorful presentation with excellent saturation, fine detail, and depth, all of which far outshine the actual story. As seen in the accompanying direct-from-disc screenshots, there's no shortage of great-looking compositions and generous doses of eye candy, with close-ups and wide shots alike impressing greatly. Disc encoding is very solid with only trace amounts of black crush but no obvious signs of macro-blocking, posterization, or other eyesores, with the bulk of this main feature running in the mid-30Mbps range. Quite simply, this is a great-looking disc and will instantly remind new and returning fans why Warner Archive is one of the most dependable boutique labels in the business.

Harum Scarum Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Not to be outdone is the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix, which very capably supports its one-channel source material. The dialogue sounds clean and crisp -- not exactly hard, when the accents are this half-baked -- while foreground and background effects are nicely balanced and rarely fight for attention. Not surprisingly given its music-driven plot, the "live" performances are studio-grade with excellent overall fidelity and a rich dynamic range, very much pushing the boundaries of what 60-year old films can sound like. This is absolutely flawless restoration work and it's on par with all of Warner Archive's previous Elvis films on disc. One of the year's best-sounding catalog titles, for sure.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the main feature, which includes all song lyrics.

Harum Scarum Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with vintage poster-themed cover artwork and no inserts of any kind. The bonus features are mostly pre-show entertainment but they'll all worth a look.

• Tom and Jerry Cartoons - A pair of nicely restored 1965 Chuck Jones T&J shorts for your viewing pleasure. This isn't my favorite era of the franchise, but it's good to see more of these in HD for fans to enjoy.

• The Cat's Me-ouch (6:05) - Jerry gets a mail-order bulldog to do the fighting for him.
• Of Feline Bondage (6:24) - After being bullied in a pool hall, Jerry tries to even the score with an invisibility potion given to him by the Fairy Godmouse.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:05) - This rough-looking but watchable vintage promo piece is framed at 1.78:1 and does an appropriately over-the-top job of selling the film and accompanying soundtrack LP. See it here.

• Song Selections - Instant access to the film's 10 main song and music cues including "My Desert Serenade", "Go East Young Man", "Mirage", "Kismet", "Shake That Tambourine", "Hey Little Girl", "Golden Coins", "So Close, Yet So Far (From Paradise)", "Harem Holiday", and the opening and closing music.

Harum Scarum Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gene Nelson's Harum Scarum is not a particularly well-remembered Elvis film, often landing at or near the bottom of most fan favorite lists. I disagree -- this certainly isn't anywhere near his best, but goes so deep into "laughably bad" territory that it ends up coming out the other side. (In other words: travel south long enough and you'll come back full circle.) Questionably acted with impressive borrowed sets, over-the-top songs, and a ridiculous story, Harum Scarum is too campy to take seriously and that's why I actually kinda love it. Warner Archive's new Blu-ray plays to its strengths with top-tier A/V merits and a few fun bonus features to boot. Recommended to the right crowd.