Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13183 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-08-13
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Special Edition
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 236 minutes

DVD Description
Warner Home Video commemorates the 30th anniversary of "The King’s" passing with a collector’s Limited Edition 11-Disc box set and several Special and Deluxe Edition DVD releases, one of which is the fascinating documentary This Is Elvis.

An intimate, behind-the-scenes portrait, This Is Elvis draws on interviews with the people who knew Presley best – family, friends, employees and mentor/manager Colonel Tom Parker – and includes some rare footage, such as home movies, newsreels and several key TV appearances. It traces the life of Elvis from his early days in Tupelo and Memphis and his audition for Sam Phillips at Sun records, through to his early TV appearances, his army years and his first meeting with Pricilla, then his time in movies, his 1968 comeback and touring years in the 1970s, up to his death in 1977. The film is digitally re-mastered with exceptional sound and includes bonus features.

Synopsis
An authorised biography of Elvis Presley from his poverty-ridden childhood in Tupelo, to stardom and his tragic untimely death.

Customer Reviews

Well it took a while!
So finally on the 30th anniversary of Elvis' death the first genuine filmed bio featuring actual Elvis performances hits the DVD shelf,(Elvis The Movie with Kurt Russell had Elvis' music dubbed by Ronnie McDowell) This Is Elvis, originally released in cinemas in 1981 had only been available previously on VHS, it was a pretty lousy transfer, being rather washed out and grainy, so to have the shiny shoes version is a welcome edition to the fans film library,

Since this film was released there have been many more filmed attempts at Elvis' life story, some good and some downright dreadful, in some respects with this film there is a respect(bordering on reverential at times) and naivety apparent, bearing in mind this was produced during Tom Parker's(Elvis' manager) lifetime and so covering some less savoury aspects would have been heavily discouraged, and in truth, this is the case here, Elvis' reliance in his final years on prescription medicine is barely touched but is quickly sidestepped, speaking as a fan I have no real desire to have Elvis' personal problems a subject of focus, preferring instead to enjoy the performances he left behind, still no honest bio-pic could omit the facts,

In summary what we have are some of the best musical and performance highlights in a truly remarkable career, spanning over 20 years, this two disc release has the original cinema version and the later extended version, obviously similar but the extended version has a stronger focus on the live performances, in particular the Aloha From Hawaii show in 1973, it also has Ronnie McDowell (from Elvis The Movie fame), a well known Elvis soundalike, re-dubbing some of the original dialogue as it was a little on the risque side, personally I love the un-edited dialogue as it shows Elvis' wicked and often 'blue' sense of humour, he comes across as all too human instead of the plastic doll image getting wheeled around nowadays, long story short, it's a very worthwhile purchase for longterm or newer fans and now I'm finally able to ditch my worn out VHS copy,

Mr. Warner ...Is it so expensive to remaster ?
This is ultimate documentary on life & music of Elvis Presley.
We have been waiting for this to come out on DVD for a long long time.
Now we have it. Moovie is great,full of many rare & candid videos but this double dvd edition stinks.
They have remastered sound & picture only on shorter, theatrical version and left longer one,(about 45 minutes longer)
in old picture and MONO sound!!! In 21st century!
And to make things worse,
Warner Brothers decided to treat Elvis like some candy bar product, and instead of great looking, one of the coolest front cover pictures of young Elvis, like in original issue, we have this childish, teenage bubble gum design for front picture. No booklet, you guessed it. On first disc we have even special features. But don't get too excited, cause it's only original moovie trailer and 10 minutes of realy bad picture quality 'Tour of Graceland' where we can see his ex-bodyguards showing us some bikes, cars, horses and nothing special. I prefered that beautifull Golden Palomino horse instead of bikes. Thank you very much, Warner Bross.
I had to turn off all my advanced sound options on Pioneer dvd player, I mean, stereo, multichanell etc,just to get sound on longer moovie version and i find it frustrating experience.

This is Elvis - Twice!
A biography of Elvis in two formats. One disc shows the shorter version with some funny x-rated Elvis comments (the backstage and in-car scenes) while the second disc shows a longer version with the x-rated comments overdubbed to hide what Elvis actually says.

The film traces the king right from the start, and relates the rags to riches dream - the essence of the Elvis legend. Actual and simulated footage is used to highlight certain events and landmarks of Elvis' phenomenal career.

The film itself is quite accurate and to a new viewer quite interesting. In my opinion the end is fairly depressing as it depicts a declining superstar. I think the film could have done without that. Why make it seem as if Elvis' final years were terrible. They were NOT. Yes he may have had some personal problems towards the end but the mid seventies were, professionaly, his best years as far as millions of people are concerned. The point is that they should have glorified and made the last years as exciting as they were in his early days - which is how it was.

Throughout the film, some of Elvis' original soundtrack songs are heard and actual performance footage is shown.

A thoroughly enjoyable documentary movie that will enthrall and enlighten and right at the end break your heart. You will walk away shaking your head at the trajedy of it all.