Elvis: That's the Way It Is

It's an Elvis Presley documentary which coincides with the release of the album of the same name. It's his comeback era.

That low rating is not so much a comment on the quality of the documentary, but how depressed the whole movie makes me feel after watching it. Just two years after his triumphant leather-clad Comeback, here is Elvis at the beginning of his fossilisation into the white-suited self-parody he became during the 1970s.

I can't let my appreciation of Elvis Presley's music and career get in the way of this review. The first twenty five minutes or so of rehearsals, fooling around and Elvis falling off his chair a few times seemed a frivolous waste of time.

Elvis mugs and clowns through the entire film and manages to ruin virtually every song in the film.He imagines that he is funny but he isn't and of course he is surrounded by an army of sycophants who happily played along with his clowning.

There is a journey before stepping on stage and it's not just the car ride. From the recording room with musicians to rehearsals with background singers, a concert is the climax of a musical development.

Documentary on Elvis Presley the singer, directed by Denis Sanders and photographed by Lucien Ballard, chronicling the King's 1969 comeback tour as he prepares for a show in Las Vegas. Either you're entranced by Presley's megalomaniacal antics or you're not--he certainly is!

I'm commenting from the two DVD set one containing the original 1970 release version, and other the 2001 remastered version. The two movies are actually different enough to be considered two separate movies with mostly different songs, so if you play both back to back, it's like being entertained by a 3 hour long Elvis live in Las Vegas movie.

Excellent movie for True Elvis fans. there are some rare scenes.