Wonderful character development!

Very well executed

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Elvis Presley was a hugely influential performer with one of the most distinctive singing voices of anybody. He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor.Some of his films, well a vast majority of the films before 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' (when his films became much less consistent), are actually pretty good and a few of them close to great. Particularly good are 'King Creole', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Flaming Star' and 'Loving You'. 'It Happened at the World's Fair' is hardly one of Elvis' worst however, if anything it's a middling effort, patchy but decent.There are good things here in 'It Happened at the World's Fair'. The locations are colourful and beautifully shot, the archive footage is very nostalgic and is inserted well. A few of the songs are great, the big one being "One Broken Heart for Sale", with "They Remind Me Too Much of You" and "How Would You Like to Be" on the same level.Elvis is good natured and charismatic with his singing beautiful and distinctive as ever. Vicky Tiu is adorable and never gets on the wrong side of annoying, Gary Lockwood is charming and Kurt Russell makes an interesting screen debut with two of the film's best scenes.However, 'It Happened at the World's Fair' is overlong and rather slight, with a couple of subplots either needing elaboration, in need of a trim down or excision. The ending wraps everything up far too patly too. Of the songs, three of them are great while the others range from good to forgettable and vary in how well they fit, though none of them are disposable (like the worst songs in 'Blue Hawaii', 'Girls! Girls! Girls!' and Elvis' worst films).As to be expected, considering that it is rarely a strong suit in Elvis' films with a couple of exceptions ('King Creole' and 'Flaming Star') the dialogue is corny with mawkish sentimentality and humour that sometimes is fun but too often falls flat. Joan O'Brien is flavourless window dressing, and Norman Taurog's direction is routine at best.To conclude, a decent if patchy middling Elvis film. 6/10 Bethany Cox

It was late 1962 when Elvis Presley started filming at the World's Fair in Seattle, It Happened at the World's fair follows the exact same formula that producer Hal Wallis developed for Elvis on Paramount, beautiful scenery, beautiful girls, lots of songs and occasionally some children to showcase Elvis new found maturity.As with most Presley movies, this has an innocent plot, a few fights, lots of movie songs, and a pretty gal to win his heart. Enjoy the Seatle fair as it was in 1962 and Elvis being on the receiving end of two painful kicks by child actor Kurt Russell. And there's some very heart warming moments as well as a few chuckles here and there.This is a great light-hearted movie with a couple of well known Elvis songs, such as One Broken Heart For Sale. Elvis talks, sings, fights, loves, flies, fights again, and endearingly looks after a little girl.Get away from reality and escape into Seattle's fair with Elvis - just for those ninety minutes. Nice Feelgood Movie.

As a longtime Presley fan, I didn't remember liking this one even when I was a kid way back when and loved his pictures. I have all of his movies on DVD as part of my collection and stuck this one in last week along with the dreaded "Double Trouble", if only to confirm my memories. And I was pleasantly surprised with "...World's Fair". Once you get past that horrific opening sequence of Elvis singing while in the plane, this is actually not bad. The songs are typical; only the lovely ('Anything That's Part Of You'-rip) 'They Remind Me Too Much Of You' and the tame-but-likable 'One Broken Heart For Sale' stand out, but there are only a couple terrible ones. The film itself is silly, unbelievable fluff, but with a sweetness that's rarely irritating. As far as Elvis musicals go, "It Happened At The World's Fair" isn't one of the better ones, but not among his worst, either. Fans should have a look (as if they already haven't).

Elvis Presley (as Mike Edwards) goes to Seattle for their 1962 "World's Fair" (set mainly in Culver City, though). Accompanying the singing pilot is his crop-dusting partner Gary Lockwood (as Danny Burke). Along the way, they pick up cute little Vicky Tiu (as Sue-Lin); and, they agree to take her to the fair, for her uncle. Mr. Presley and Mr. Lockwood succumb to weaknesses for women and gambling, and lose little Miss Tiu. Presley sings ten songs; he ogles shapely women, and falls for one Joan O'Brien (as Diane Warren)...Truly a FAIR film; "It Happened at the World's Fair" is more disappointing in that it does, after all, star Elvis Presley, a man capable of so much more. Two of the ten new songs are worthy: "They Remind Me Too Much of You" is a strongly sung ballad; and, "One Broken Heart for Sale" is a good, albeit medium-paced, rocker. The version of the latter song has an extra verse in the film, but the album version is punchier. Look out for future "Batgirl" Yvonne Craig (Dorothy Johnson) to really bust things up, in an early scene. At the fair, young Kurt Russell kicks Presley in the shins a couple times, after asking him, "Are you drunk?" Not enough happened at the world's fair to justify the length of this movie.**** It Happened at the World's Fair (4/3/63) Norman Taurog ~ Elvis Presley, Joan O'Brien, Gary Lockwood, Vicky Tiu