Product Details

• Format: Black & White, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: April 14, 1994
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301763122
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #332,986 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Six tunes from Elvis Presley's movies are the centerpiece of this, the second of three discs contained in the superb Elvis: The Great Performances set; and while his 33 films were generally atrocious, songs like "Trouble," "Return to Sender," and "Treat Me Nice" are a delight. Elsewhere, "The Man and the Music" touches on (via narration, some charming home movies, etc.) Presley's very first recording ("My Happiness," a gift to his beloved mother), his induction into the army, his life with (and divorce from) Priscilla, the absurd decision to shoot his TV performances from the waist up, and his return to live concerts after a decade-long layoff. As usual, it's the music that carries the day: one look at "Shake, Rattle and Roll" from the Dorsey Brothers' TV show in '56 is ample proof that in his heyday, Elvis Presley was a serious contender for the title of coolest guy on the planet. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Botch of an important job, January 9, 2003

By 

Harley P. Payette (Phillipsburg, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elvis - The Great Performances, Vol. 2 - The Man and the Music [VHS] (VHS Tape)

With 33 movies, nearly 20 TV appearances and who knows how much unseen footage you wouldn't think compiling a decent video collection of Elvis' greatest hits would be difficult. Yet somehow they've messed it up.

The music here may be generally five star quality but that's about the only thing that is. To start with, both this and its companion volume Center Stage are criminally brief clocking in at under an hour each. A lot more quality clips could have been fit on both tapes.

The clips the compilers have chosen though are sharp. However, the way they are presented is absolutely atrocious. The narration is dull and unenlightening. Too much space is taken up by incidental background music while George Klein states mind numbing platitudes. ("Elvis generally didn't like to hang out with the celebrity set but when he did he enjoyed the company of other performers." "Many fans were surprised to see Elvis make his first appearance after the army on a Frank Sinatra TV show.")This is done at the expense of providing context for a lot of the clips like the opening "American Trilogy". We learn nothing we didn't already know from this video. This is not even to mention the worst facet of the narration which is Klein's tendency to babble over the music as he does on the intro of "If I Can Dream" and the middle of "Got O' Lot O' Livin' to Do". (Wouldn't it have been possible to point out Elvis' mother before the song?)

The presentation of the clips themselves is incredibly flat. One minute we're locked in with some still pictures and the dull narration then comes the clip. Many of the clips are started a few seconds late thus diminishing their power. Worse several of the clips are truncated. This is most devastating on "Mean Woman Blues" from "Loving You" where some of Elvis' best moves are cut. (In Center Stage the entire middle section of "Jailhouse Rock" is omitted.)They are short songs already; there's no need to cut them especially in a 55 minute video.

There's worse. All of the clips from Elvis' movies are overdubbed with the official recorded release. I know this was done to allow for the best musical quality but it gives the impression of inauthenticity. Worse than that though some clips are marred by senseless overdubs like the handclaps on "Return to Sender".

That said, this is still the best we've got. There's some great music on here and Elvis was definitely a gifted visual performer. For collectors the only rarities are the gorgeous light falsetto performance of "Fame and Fortune" from the Sinatra and "Blue Suede Shoes" from his first Milton Berle show. Both of these though are just terrific. The Berle show is especially neat in that we get to see Elvis' band, especially Bill Black, echo his coolness and showmanship. They're rock's first hipsters. A lot of the other stuff is also essential like "Treat Me Nice", "If I Can Dream", "Always on My Mind" and "Mean Woman Blues" although it is available elsewhere in a superior presentation. Still if you don't have the dough to fork out for all those videos this is the most effective one stop shopping you'll find at this time.

If you can pick this up with Center Stage and the VH1 Documentary "From the Waist Up" in the box at a bargain price do it. At least you'll have a start at compiling a coherent Elvis collection with those three together. Until somebody wakes up and assembles a good career video retrospective, you'll have to settle for that.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How many volumes are needed?, November 11, 2002

By 

Stephen Verhaeren (Palos Park, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elvis - The Great Performances, Vol. 2 - The Man and the Music (DVD)

The first song in Volume 2: The Man and the Music is American Trilogy that Elvis perfromed in Elvis: Aloha From Hawaii. Plus Blue Suede Shoes that is on Volume 1, is also on Volume 2. Once again you can hear Elvis Presley perfroming songs from shows from The Dorsey Brothers, Stage Show to The Ed Sullivan Show. Plus you can hear songs from Elvis' movies from Treat Me Nice from Jailhouse Rock to Return to Sender from Girls! Girls! Girls! Which was Elvis Presley's life was made up, girls, girls, girls, girls. If Elvis loved girls so much, why did he wait until the late 60's to get married and why did he only get married once? Fame and Fortune is also on this volume. And you can buy all tree volumes speartly for buy them together on Elvis The Great Perfromances on video or dvd.