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Amazon.com
Originally released in 1981, Andrew Solt and Malcolm Leo's This Is Elvis was one of the first in-depth examinations of the life and work of Elvis Presley. Issued here in a two-disc set that pairs the theatrical version with a 1983 re-edit that adds some 40 minutes to the original, it combines newsreel footage, home movies, television and movie clips, and extensive re-enactments in an absorbing bio-documentary that's well worth watching--if only because interest in the singer apparently never diminishes (the 2007 DVD release date coincides with the 30th anniversary of Presley's death). The success (or failure, depending on one's point of view) of This Is Elvis rides in part on a single decision made by Solt and Leo, who co-produced, directed, and wrote the film: namely, to have the tale told by Presley himself. Not the real Presley, of course; Ral Donner, himself a rock singer of minor repute in the '50s and '60s, provides a reasonably authentic impersonation of Presley's voice (four on-screen actors portray him at various ages in the course of the film). Thus we have an "Elvis" who returns from beyond the grave to hold forth on such matters as the death of his beloved mother, his stint in the Army, his marriage to Priscilla and the birth of Lisa Marie, the skein of awful movies that preoccupied him during the '60s (thus sidelining him from the pop music scene while the Beatles and Bob Dylan were changing the world), and his descent into the maudlin, hyper-medicated fashion disaster that was Elvis in the '70s (his assessment: basically, "Geez, I wish I'd seen that coming"). It's nice to think that the actual Elvis could be so candid about both his successes and his missteps, but by and large this material is unconvincing, at best. Still, the real footage mostly makes up for it. Clips from his earliest TV appearances, even embarrassments like the Steve Allen show (on which the smug host had Presley wear formal attire and sing "Hound Dog" to an actual pooch), leave little doubt as to why he was the King; Presley's electrifying presence, not to mention his voice, great backup band, and seminal rock songs, were like nothing before or since. Had Solt and Leo dispensed with all the fakery and concentrated on the genuine article, their film would have been better for it. Sure, the final scenes of the fat, drugged-out Elvis onstage in his final months are brutal (a performance of "Loving You" featured in the longer edit is truly cringe-inducing), but they're part and parcel of the most fascinating and enduring story in American music history. --Sam Graham
Product Description
Actors portray Elvis Presley at various ages, combined with public and private documentary footage. Cast: David Scott, Paul Boensch III, Johnny Harra, Lawrence Koller, Rhonda Lyn, Debbie Edge, Larry Raspberry, Furry Lewis, Liz Robinson, Dana MacKay, Knox
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 63 people found the following review helpful
By Dean Wisland
Format:DVD
This is Elvis is a Documentary that traces the life of Elvis from his early days in Tupelo and Memphis, his audition for Sam Phillips at Sun records, his first rush of fame, his early TV apperances, the contraversy over his performing style, his army years and his first meeting with Pricilla, his movie years, his 1968 comeback, his touring years in the 1970, up to his death in 1977. This is elvis combines actual footage of Elvis with reenactments with actors representating him at 11, 23, and 42 years old. It is narrated by Ral Donner, an Elvis impersonator who sounds excatly like him. Also other people in Elvis life, including former girlfreind Linda Tompson and road manager Joe Espisito, also provide narration.
As noted in previous reviews, you do get to see upstairs at Graceland, as well as how it looked when Elvis died. Scenes from his early TV apperances, including the Milton Berle performance that caused a scandal as well as the "above the waist" performance on Ed Sullivan. Concert scenes from his 1968 show, Thats the way it is, Aloha from Hawaii, and from his last filmed show in 1977, are here as well. The 1977 show has never been on DVD, manily because Elvis was in bad health and it was just seven weeks before his death. Still he sings a good verison of My Way.
This DVD set will include the original Theactral version from 1981, and the version that has been on VHS that had more footage. As noted in a review, Elvis does make some off color remark to his friends about a woman he had been with the night before, in the home verison, Ral Donner overdubed something less off color. Also the theatracial verson, in the 1977 concert, had the version of Are You Lonesome Tonight, where Elvis fouls up the spoken part of the song saying plus tax etc. In the home version, it is replaced with Love Me.
Thanks to The Elvis Presley Estate for finally releasing this on DVD. It is a must for all Elvis fans, young and old.
As noted in previous reviews, you do get to see upstairs at Graceland, as well as how it looked when Elvis died. Scenes from his early TV apperances, including the Milton Berle performance that caused a scandal as well as the "above the waist" performance on Ed Sullivan. Concert scenes from his 1968 show, Thats the way it is, Aloha from Hawaii, and from his last filmed show in 1977, are here as well. The 1977 show has never been on DVD, manily because Elvis was in bad health and it was just seven weeks before his death. Still he sings a good verison of My Way.
This DVD set will include the original Theactral version from 1981, and the version that has been on VHS that had more footage. As noted in a review, Elvis does make some off color remark to his friends about a woman he had been with the night before, in the home verison, Ral Donner overdubed something less off color. Also the theatracial verson, in the 1977 concert, had the version of Are You Lonesome Tonight, where Elvis fouls up the spoken part of the song saying plus tax etc. In the home version, it is replaced with Love Me.
Thanks to The Elvis Presley Estate for finally releasing this on DVD. It is a must for all Elvis fans, young and old.
38 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By Bryan
Format:DVD
A must own DVD for every Elvis fan. I'm glad to see both versions are included. I first saw this on HBO in the early 80's when I was a kid and remembered almost all of it. I was surprised to find, years later, that they changed it for the VHS version.
The most notable changes between the 2 versions are: In the newer version there is, obviously, a lot more performance footage. But there is also a censored remark that Elvis made about a groupie during the 'Promised Land' montage. His voice is overdubbed by a guy that sounds like him saying 'she could raise the dead'. You can see the difference by playing the 80's version after watching the newer version. Also, the ending is different. In the older version, Elvis sings 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?' and 'My Way' on the newer version they take out 'Lonesome' and replace it with 'Love Me' in which you get to see him do his whole scarf thing that he passes out to the screaming women in the audience. The change defeats the whole purpose of the thing - which is to watch it and feel sad at how much he's messing up "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" on stage(it is mentioned that the show was performed 6 weeks before he died). But the man can still sing, even during his weakened state. Strange how they edited his comment on stage: When he said "If you think I'm nervous... your right", on one version they cut to the crowd cheering and clapping yet on the other version, they show a quiet bewiledered audience. The kind where you would hear crickets chirping. That just doesn't make sense and it seeems like the editors wanted to make Elvis look even worse with the quiet audience.
The documentary ends with 'American Trilogy' and shows the funeral procession and then cuts to Elvis singing 'hush little baby don't you cry/you know your daddy's bound to die', a really sad moment. I don't see how anyone watching this cannot be affected by the last 10 minutes of this.
A must buy for Elvis fans or for fans who are not as familiar with his 25 year career. It covers pretty much everything as far as I can tell. You get to see backstage moments, car rides where Elvis doesn't realise there are mics in the car and they tell him, a montage of clips from his movies, his bodyguards releasing a tell-all book months before his death, karate classes, home movies, press conferences, and you get to see the upstairs area of the real Graceland during the first few minutes of the movie(an actor portrayed him walking up the stairs and into his room).
So if you like Elvis then you should definitely buy this. Reasonably priced and it has a lot of music from his entire career. The only bonus feature is a 9-minute video about Graceland by Joe Espisito but they barely go inside the mansion and instead talk about the horses, his cars, the raquetball court and other things on the property. It looks to maybe have been made in the late 70's or early 80's because it has that 'old video' look(as I call it). This DVD will remind you about what could've been if Elvis had done things differently and survived.
Elvis has left the building.
The most notable changes between the 2 versions are: In the newer version there is, obviously, a lot more performance footage. But there is also a censored remark that Elvis made about a groupie during the 'Promised Land' montage. His voice is overdubbed by a guy that sounds like him saying 'she could raise the dead'. You can see the difference by playing the 80's version after watching the newer version. Also, the ending is different. In the older version, Elvis sings 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?' and 'My Way' on the newer version they take out 'Lonesome' and replace it with 'Love Me' in which you get to see him do his whole scarf thing that he passes out to the screaming women in the audience. The change defeats the whole purpose of the thing - which is to watch it and feel sad at how much he's messing up "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" on stage(it is mentioned that the show was performed 6 weeks before he died). But the man can still sing, even during his weakened state. Strange how they edited his comment on stage: When he said "If you think I'm nervous... your right", on one version they cut to the crowd cheering and clapping yet on the other version, they show a quiet bewiledered audience. The kind where you would hear crickets chirping. That just doesn't make sense and it seeems like the editors wanted to make Elvis look even worse with the quiet audience.
The documentary ends with 'American Trilogy' and shows the funeral procession and then cuts to Elvis singing 'hush little baby don't you cry/you know your daddy's bound to die', a really sad moment. I don't see how anyone watching this cannot be affected by the last 10 minutes of this.
A must buy for Elvis fans or for fans who are not as familiar with his 25 year career. It covers pretty much everything as far as I can tell. You get to see backstage moments, car rides where Elvis doesn't realise there are mics in the car and they tell him, a montage of clips from his movies, his bodyguards releasing a tell-all book months before his death, karate classes, home movies, press conferences, and you get to see the upstairs area of the real Graceland during the first few minutes of the movie(an actor portrayed him walking up the stairs and into his room).
So if you like Elvis then you should definitely buy this. Reasonably priced and it has a lot of music from his entire career. The only bonus feature is a 9-minute video about Graceland by Joe Espisito but they barely go inside the mansion and instead talk about the horses, his cars, the raquetball court and other things on the property. It looks to maybe have been made in the late 70's or early 80's because it has that 'old video' look(as I call it). This DVD will remind you about what could've been if Elvis had done things differently and survived.
Elvis has left the building.
47 of 51 people found the following review helpful
By Joe O'Brien
Format:VHS Tape|Amazon Verified Purchase
I first saw "This is Elvis" in the theatre when it first came out in the late summer of 1981.I decided to go see it after reading a several page layout about it in Rolling Stone and after watching "Siskel&Ebert" give the movie a good review on their show(back when they were on PBS).Gene Siskel said that even people who weren't fans of Elvis Presley may enjoy the movie. I've been a fan of Elvis for well over 20 years.Have more than 40 of his albums(on vinyl, not the CDs)some have even become collector items since then.I must say that I enjoyed this biography very much.Even went back to see again a couple of months later with some other family members.This was the first bio that was given the blessing of the Elvis Presley estate and certain members of the so called "Memphis Mafia" and Colonel Tom Parker were technical consultants on the picture.This was the first time anyone was permitted to film inside Graceland.This was a few years before it became open to the public.The film was produced by David L.Wolper(who produced the mini series "Roots") and directed by Andrew Solt and Malcolm Leo(who made documentaries on Marilyn Monroe,The Beach Boys, the very good theatrical bio "Imagine-John Lennon" from 1988,and "The Best of Ed Sullivan" specials for network television).The producers were allowed to use actual home movies and never before seen footage.
The highlights:Elvis' first TV appearances in 1956,scenes from his most popular movies,"Love Me Tender","Loving You" and "Jailhouse Rock", his first TV appearance after being discharged from the U.S.Army in 1960 on a Frank Sinatra special and newsreel footage from news conferences in 1960 and 1972.And,the home video version includes 45 min. of footage not seen in the theatre version.
The lowlights: the awkward dramatic recreations of Elvis'early life by various actors,and the narration(like it was from beyond the grave)by singer and Elvis' sound alike Ral Donner. And,narration by other actors portraying Elvis' mother,and Priscilla,etc.And,the sound quality isn't great because the video isn't in Dolby Stereo like it was in the theatre.And,the video version deleted two memorable scences from the original theatre version.One scene in the'70's where Elvis was riding with some of his buddies in a limo with a hidden camera on him.This scene was the reason the movie was rated PG instead of G.Another scene was a live performance in 1977 only two months before his death.
I've had this video since the late '80's on Beta(which I regret now because Beta is practically extinct,even though the picture quality is very good.It's become Super-Beta now and I hear TV news crews still prefer Super-Beta over Super-VHS).Some of my family and me took a 500 mile road trip to Memphis in 1996 to see Graceland.Spent 5 hours taking the entire tour.We enjoyed it very much.Warner Home Video released "This is Elvis" in a special edition 2 DVD set in 2007 in Dolby Digital and they restore the deleted scenes.I'm delighted.
And for Elvis fans a few things that have come to light since this bio.The singer Ral Donner(the narrator) wasn't and actual Elvis impersonator.Mr. Donner was a popular singer in the '50's and '60's. He met an untimely death back in the early '80's. Also,sadly the actor David Scott who portrayed Elvis as a teenager died from a suicide back in the early '90's. When Elvis died there were about 150 Elvis impersonators around. Today there is approx.250,000! Also,Elvis said in an interview that his favorite impersonator was the comedian Andy Kaufman.Elvis thought Kaufman did the best impression of him.And this from a bio in Reader's Digest,Elvis' hair was a sandy blonde and it turned prematurely gray(like his father's)so he had it dyed jet black and he kept it that way.Elvis's hairdresser said when Elvis was in his forties his hair was actually completely white.And,this from an interview with Elvis' lifelong friend and member of the "Memphis Mafia" Joe Espisito,he revealed that Elvis' had plastic surgery on his nose.Something Elvis kept secret.And, sometime after Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie married Michael Jackson in 1994 there was an earthquake in Memphis,about 5 on the Richter scale.They found out later it was just Elvis spinning in his grave.That was from Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. Thang ya.Thang ya verruh mush.(That isn't a typo, that's how you enunciate it).
The highlights:Elvis' first TV appearances in 1956,scenes from his most popular movies,"Love Me Tender","Loving You" and "Jailhouse Rock", his first TV appearance after being discharged from the U.S.Army in 1960 on a Frank Sinatra special and newsreel footage from news conferences in 1960 and 1972.And,the home video version includes 45 min. of footage not seen in the theatre version.
The lowlights: the awkward dramatic recreations of Elvis'early life by various actors,and the narration(like it was from beyond the grave)by singer and Elvis' sound alike Ral Donner. And,narration by other actors portraying Elvis' mother,and Priscilla,etc.And,the sound quality isn't great because the video isn't in Dolby Stereo like it was in the theatre.And,the video version deleted two memorable scences from the original theatre version.One scene in the'70's where Elvis was riding with some of his buddies in a limo with a hidden camera on him.This scene was the reason the movie was rated PG instead of G.Another scene was a live performance in 1977 only two months before his death.
I've had this video since the late '80's on Beta(which I regret now because Beta is practically extinct,even though the picture quality is very good.It's become Super-Beta now and I hear TV news crews still prefer Super-Beta over Super-VHS).Some of my family and me took a 500 mile road trip to Memphis in 1996 to see Graceland.Spent 5 hours taking the entire tour.We enjoyed it very much.Warner Home Video released "This is Elvis" in a special edition 2 DVD set in 2007 in Dolby Digital and they restore the deleted scenes.I'm delighted.
And for Elvis fans a few things that have come to light since this bio.The singer Ral Donner(the narrator) wasn't and actual Elvis impersonator.Mr. Donner was a popular singer in the '50's and '60's. He met an untimely death back in the early '80's. Also,sadly the actor David Scott who portrayed Elvis as a teenager died from a suicide back in the early '90's. When Elvis died there were about 150 Elvis impersonators around. Today there is approx.250,000! Also,Elvis said in an interview that his favorite impersonator was the comedian Andy Kaufman.Elvis thought Kaufman did the best impression of him.And this from a bio in Reader's Digest,Elvis' hair was a sandy blonde and it turned prematurely gray(like his father's)so he had it dyed jet black and he kept it that way.Elvis's hairdresser said when Elvis was in his forties his hair was actually completely white.And,this from an interview with Elvis' lifelong friend and member of the "Memphis Mafia" Joe Espisito,he revealed that Elvis' had plastic surgery on his nose.Something Elvis kept secret.And, sometime after Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie married Michael Jackson in 1994 there was an earthquake in Memphis,about 5 on the Richter scale.They found out later it was just Elvis spinning in his grave.That was from Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. Thang ya.Thang ya verruh mush.(That isn't a typo, that's how you enunciate it).
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Elvis Presley forever
I never get tired of Elvis movies and documentaries. He still has the sex appeal no matter how long he has been dead. I love him now and forever. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Shirwil45
4.0 out of 5 stars
While not as music an interesting documentary of ELVIS behind the...
There were two versions of this film - The one shown in the Theaters at that time. and this extended version, which I like bettter!! Read more
Published 1 month ago by P. Strickler
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love Me Some Elvis
I am not fanatical like most of his fans, but I am a fan nonetheless. I will watch any and all documentaries, movies, etc., that have to do with Elvis. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Melinda Hensley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must have for any Elvis fan.
Pass this on to your children so they can know the story of the King of Rock and Roll. Details all of Elvis' life and triumphs and ultimately his death.
Published 4 months ago by doctari
3.0 out of 5 stars
From a Non-Fan Perspective...
I was never a big Elvis fan - didn't dislike him, but his music and style never really attracted my interest. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Kathleen M. Diehl
5.0 out of 5 stars
Elvis will always be the King
This video brought back memories of the first time I saw Elvis on TV, especially the Ed Sullivan Show. The video shows how Elvis really changed the music world. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Trains Rock
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is Elvis
Better than expected. Excellent audio and video. Well packaged and really
fast shipping. Reasonably priced too! Was well informed on approximate
date of delivery. Read more
fast shipping. Reasonably priced too! Was well informed on approximate
date of delivery. Read more
Published 15 months ago by CLORICE
4.0 out of 5 stars
They changed Elvis' words!!!
I may be wrong, but when I had this on BETA, and when I saw this on HBO, I could have swore E was talking about a girl performing a favor on him, and on this it says "She could... Read more
Published on November 18, 2010 by Rob D'Aquin
5.0 out of 5 stars
I very Happy
I own this in a Beta tape, but my Beta player isn't working right, and haven't taken the time to take it a part to repair it. I am so happy to add this DVD to my collection. Read more
Published on August 11, 2010 by Tony Trowbridge
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the ultimate video biography so far
Believe it or not, but my first exposure to Elvis Presley's live footage was his performance of 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?' from 'This Is Elvis'. Read more
Published on April 29, 2009 by John S
