Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6330 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-01-19
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Dolby, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, Restored, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 110 minutes

On the DVD
Disc 1:
1981 theatrical version - never before om video - in a new digital transfer
Vintage featurette Behind the Gates of Graceland
Elvis Presley movie trailer gallery
Subtitles: English & Fran�ais (main feature. bonus material/trailer may not be subtitles)
Disc 2:
1983 unrated expanded video version with 40 minutes of footage not shown in theaters
Subtitles: English & fran�ais (main feature. bonus material/trailer may not be subtitled)

Synopsis
This Is Elvis wants to have it both ways. At times, the film is a warm, loving tribute to The King. At other times, it merely exploits a dead man's reputation for the purposes of a fast buck. The documentary footage of Elvis in concert, overfamiliar though it may be, is excellent and well-selected. The dramatized portions of the film, featuring a quartet of Presley imitators portraying Elvis at different junctures of his life, range from passable to mediocre. For the record, and not in the order in which they appear, Paul Boensch III is Elvis at 10, David Scott is Elvis at 18, Dana MacKay is Elvis at 35 and an appropriately corpulent Johnny Harra is Elvis at 42. In addition, a fifth actor, Ral Donner, is heard as Elvis, narrating the whole affair. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

DVD Menu

• Disc #1 -- This Is Elvis - 1981 Theatrical Version
  • Play Theatrical Version
  • Scene Selections
  • Special Features
    • Behind the Gates of Graceland
    • Elvis Trailer Gallery
      • Play All
      • That's the Way It Is
      • This Is Elvis
  • Languages
    • Spoken Languages
      • English
    • Subtitles
      • English (for the Hearing Impaired)
      • Fran�ais
      • Off
• Disc #2 -- This Is Elvis - 1983 Unrated Expanded Video Version
  • Play Expanded Video Version
  • Scene Selections
  • Languages
    • Spoken Languages
      • English
    • Subtitles
      • English (for the Hearing Impaired)
      • Fran�ais
      • Off

Customer Reviews

A Biography for Fans of the Art of Elvis
As an Elvis worshipper and musician, I rate this video five stars. Among all of the documentaries on Elvis, this video is unique for its emphasis on actual performance footage and outstanding performances rather than hackneyed, misinformed, or irrelevant commentary/opinions on Elvis by Elvis experts/friends/family. I urge fans--especially newer fans--to check out this video for its singularly coherent and complete overview of the art of Elvis.
As an Elvis worshipper with an interest in history, on the other hand, I rate the video four stars. The art of Elvis does not tell the whole Elvis story. While the video does reference a bit of the biographical and cultural context of Elvis's early years, the video disregards almost completely the tragic decline and demise of Elvis. Ironically, by perpetuating the historical tradition of not dealing with Elvis's end, the video serves as an unexpected historical document in its own right.
In conclusion, this video is an artistically satisfying but historically incomplete account of Elvis Presley. If you don't yet own the new comprehensive DVD boxed set--or a DVD player, for that matter--this video will probably inspire you to buy both.

A lovely introduction to Elvis.
I am a new Elvis fan, having only discovered the King about four months ago, and only much more recently did I become curious about his life. I purchased _This is Elvis_ four days ago and have watched it no fewer than eight times since then.

Much has been said here already about this film, so I will focus on two much-maligned aspects of the film--the dramatic reenactments and the voiceovers.

The first moments of the film are dramatic reenactments. We open with a reenactment of Elvis's loved ones finding his body at Graceland, and then we have reenactments of scenes from Elvis's childhood growing up in Tupelo and then, Memphis. While the phrase "dramatic reenactment" can immediately bring to mind fears of copious cheese, this need not be the case here. These portions of the film are tastefully done and decently acted and directed. Most importantly, they are crucial to the structure of the film. It would have been odd, indeed, for a film claiming to be a definitive portrait of Elvis to pick up when he's nineteen or so and cutting records. We need a vision of his earlier life. Since there is no video record of that time, the dramatic reenactments are necessary to fill the void. At any rate, these only take up about the first ten or so minutes of the film.

Some have also criticized the use of narration, in general, and the first-person narration of the Elvis impressionist, in particular. First of all, without narration, this film would be nothing more than a collection of video clips strung together. Narration is called for to give this collection the shape of a narrative (as the term "narration," of course, suggests). That said, one might still ask, why first-person narration? Personally, I find the use of first-person narration here to be inspired. It draws the viewer in and gives the story an immediacy and an intimacy that third-person narration would lack. The first-person narration works equally as well for the secondary subjects of this documentary (Priscilla, Gladys, etc.) The film is all the more compelling for the use of this dramatic device.

And now for some brief notes on other aspects of the film. I thought the way it handled the issue of Elvis's infidelity to Priscilla was smart and tasteful without skirting the issue. His cheating is never explicitly mentioned, but we do get two instances of Elvis discussing his dalliances with women, during the time that he was married to Priscilla. It is surprising then, that Vernon's brush with the law is baldly misrepresented. The voice of Elvis says that Vernon was sent to jail for writing a bad check--the more full truth is that Vernon forged a check.

At the same time, the film references Elvis's displeasure with many of his movies and with his film contracts--even though Col. Parker was a technical advisor on the film. So, in some ways, the film is surprisingly honest, and in other areas, the viewer is advised to take its assertions with a grain of salt.

That said, I rate this video five stars. There is a great wealth of footage here, and we are treated to *full* performances--not just little clips and tidbits. We get to experience a bit of Elvis's personality--I had no idea how hysterically funny he could be, or how self-effacing. It is also great to see the reaction of the popular media to his music, particularly in the 1950s. We get clips of a number of officials denouncing Elvis for bringing n****r music to white America. This really helped me to put Elvis into the cultural context of his time, and to understand just how truly groundbreaking and controversial his contribution was.

For the price, A must own.
Inspired by Gary's review below, I purchased this video through an Amazon seller expecting that anything so cheap would have to be utter rubbish. I'm pleased to report that this video is most decidedly not utter rubbish. At over 140 minutes of run time it is chockablock full of enough Elvis material to make any Elvis fan happy.
The premise of this video is to document the life of the 'King' from childhood to overnight sensationalia through military, marriage and moviestardom and finally to decline and ultimate demise. The director's conceit is to use actors to portray phases of his life as a set up for the plot and then to use actual film footage of subsequent events to flesh out the story. In addition, we are guided by narrations from 'Elvis,' 'Priscilla,' his 'Mom' and others all with suitably hill billy accents, where appropriate. In my opinion this departure from straight documentary hurts the film and I found my mind wandering from bits because they seemed bothersome and artificial. In addition, I believe that the story was poorly told in any event because the video comprised more than two hours of material (some of which was not on the big screen release), and still did an inadequate job of covering many of the many issues the story raised. For instance, we are shown a gathering of Elvis impersonators and Teddy Boys in Liverpool England which, apart from the spectacle, had absolutely nothing to do with the film. It was almost as if someone wanted to do a section on the spawn of Elvis kitsch, clubs, and impersonators but then begged off, and forgot to cut this clip. Also, a section is given over to a revelatory book written by his former body guards and mention is made of law suits, but with no other information. Now, these visual and audio clues might be enough to inform an Elvis fan, but it leaves one such as I who knows little about Elvis clueless. It is possible that since this film depended upon cooperation from the Elvis estate the director was unable to do more, I wonder?
On the plus side is the large amount of film footage of early Elvis performances, his hollywood numbers and interviews he gave and shows he put on. Especially nice are the interviews because they seem to allow one to observe Elvis form honest responses to unexpected questions; answers which often make him seem to be a really thoughtful and intelligent human being. The early performances are, of course, riveting and alone would make the video worth owning.
One walks away from this video thinking that it would have been much improved by extracting the faked bits and adding more actual film footage of Elvis. If this had been done, I'd have given this four or five stars without a thought.