Elvis Behind The Image

(DVD REVIEW)

I just received my copy of the new DVD " Elvis Behind The Image " and with all the hype surrounding this release, I thought I would be disappointed. I'm not a big fan of documentary DVDs even though the interviews can be interesting. Basically you wouldn't watch those interviews over and over after you saw it once, so what's the point of even buying them? My mind hasn't changed much after watching this one, yet it remains a very interesting DVD and certainly above average as far as I'm concern for this type of product.

The artwork of " Elvis Behind The Image " is attractive and has a professional design look. The total duration of this DVD is 75 minutes and the menu is divided into nine (9) chapters. It starts with " The Return To Live Performing " which contains some clips, pictures and introductions of Kathy Westmoreland, John Wilkinson and Sandi Miller before the program really kicks off.

The next four chapters contains the in-depth interviews of the above aforementioned persons. It was overall well produced because it isn't too static. During the interviews you see live footage, candid footage, photographs which make the whole experience a bit more dynamic and not boring to watch. We haven't seen too often these persons being interviewed either, thus adding to the interest. I will reserve my comments about the footage for later into the review.

The 6th chapter is a sneak preview for " Elvis Behind The Image vol.2 " and to say the least, it looks rather promising. I don't really understand why this specific preview isn't at the very end but nonetheless very exciting. You get to see short clips of both concerts from Los Angeles, CA. in May 1974, excellent footage from the evening show in Dallas,TX. on November 13th 1971 with Elvis wearing the " Philadelphia Spectrum " jumpsuit ( way above average for 8mm films taken by fans ), and finally some stunning footage of the Houston,TX. show the previous night in his " Red Lion " jumpsuit. That latter footage must be among the very best fan footage I have ever seen. If those different footages are rather extensive in duration then it might be worth buying the second volume for this reason only.

At this point we are into the closing credits which directly lead into a museum tour of the " ELVIS-A-RAMA " in Las Vegas. We get to see several Elvis' belongings owned by this museum, and a nice addition to the DVD as an extra.

The 8th chapter has to be my favourite since it contains the raw unedited candid and concert footage. Throughout the DVD you see several clips of these footages, but only a few sequences were retained for the documentary so this is really nice to have it all at the end. It starts with GREAT 8mm footage of the matinee performance at the LA Forum on November 14th 1970 (approx. 7 min.), and followed with some great shots of the evening show with Elvis wearing his famed " Long Fringe " jumpsuit (approx. 4 min.). Some parts of these footages are very dark but it was due to the stage lighting. Next is excellent footage from the November 15th 1970 show in San Diego,CA. with Elvis wearing the " Chain jumpsuit " (approx. 5 min.). Elvis was the BEST live performer the world has ever seen and those 15 minutes from the November 1970 tour are just another proof of this fact. We are going next in Las Vegas,NV with a film taken during the January/February 1971 season with Elvis wearing his " Elvis Now " jumpsuit. This one is a bit darker and again due to the stage lighting, but still rather good overall and interesting to watch (approx. 7 min.). Finally this chapter ends with candid footage (approx. 4 min.). At one point you see Elvis getting out of his car and walking towards the gate of his California home for a chat with his fans. This short sequence is EXCELLENT and hope there are much more like this one into the producers' vault. You see as well several short clips of Elvis arriving and/or leaving in one of his cars. Since all the films are silent we have a background music. Most of the time these audio fillers are getting on my nerves, but they made an effort to change the music from time to time, which consequently kept my nerves at rest.

The last chapter contains the trailer for this DVD that was featured on their website. I thought this trailer was very well done and a nice bonus addition here. I don't think we can compare 8mm films with materials like " That's The Way It Is " and " Elvis On Tour ". However if being compared with other footage from similar sources then we can say this is overall excellent. This is not the type of DVD I would watch over and over, especially the interviews, but the rarity and quality of the different films included is good enough, at least from my point of view, to justify the expense. These films deserve to be seen, and I'll watch them again with great pleasure !!!!

The Crazy Canuck (July 2002)