Elvis By the Presleys
by Rob Klug
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Ed Parker, Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley, Riley KeoughDirector: Rob Klug
Producer: Anisha Kansal
Producer: David Saltz
Writer: David Saltz
Producer: Elisabeth Harris
Producer: Osmond J. Kilkenny III
Producer: Scott Floyd Lochmus
Writer: Bill Flanagan
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); German (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Japanese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-17
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Bmg Marketing
Movie Reviews of Elvis By the Presleys
Movie Review: A great time with the Presley's!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
after reading many of the reviews of the documentary, and especially the dvd set, i'm amazed at the negative comments. what will make these people happy? here, i give you my thoughts on what i saw in it. keep in mind, i just finished watching it and some of this is the wine talkin!
Priscilla (who is amazingly beautiful and seems to be aging at a rate of one year to every seven of our years!) is engaging and very forthcoming about her obvious affection for ol' 'E'. this portrait is more honest, and filled with less bias than any documentary so far. after Albert Goldman's turd of a book and everyone else who attacked, mocked and caricatured Elvis after his death, it's nice to find an intimate, mainly cheese-free study of who he was by the people who really loved him.
i liked him before this documentary and i like him even more now.
in no way, does the family portray Elvis as perfect, nor do they crucify him as an indulgent brat. he comes off as someone who became caught up in something bigger than himself and did the best he could to exist in that wild place without complaining. sure, Elvis could probably be an ass at times, but who isn't? sure, he was fairly incapable of personal intimacy...but i didn't see any hatred from Priscilla. in fact, with time, it seems she understands why he was this way and accepts him for it. i don't feel she was self-serving in any way. i also felt honored to hear things from HER personal perspective. I read, 'Elvis and Me' when it came out and i believe the wounds were still fresh back then. i didn't get the impression that there was any Presley propaganda or dirty laundry in what Cilla had to say here.
Elvis had control over Elvis' life and no one else. Pricilla did a damn fine job with herself and she must be a pretty good egg to be standing by Elvis the way she has. the Presley estate belongs to Lisa, not Pricilla. i really don't get the impression that money is her motivating factor with this show.
Pricilla's parents btw, are some of the coolest people i've ever seen. i'm certain they had a large impact on Elvis' life and it's obvious they felt for him as a son. i was glad to spend time with them as well as Cilla's sister. i'm sure you will too. these are people who experienced the crazyness from a distance and if they had something negative to say, i believe they would've said it.
through the eyes of the documentary subjects (granted everyone under the Elvis sun wasn't included), i feel i understand Elvis a little better. frankly, i don't want to hear every filthy detail of his life. this show does a wonderful job in breaking down the many facets of Elvis' life and giving you some insight into how they made up who he was.
sure it's a cliche to describe Elvis as a respectful, humble southern boy. after watching this you believe it. in fact, much of this is what i believe led to his downfall. you get the impression that Elvis' career decisions were not necessarily his own and he didn't speak up out of respect, trust and loyalty for the Colonel and the companies to which he was contracted. as horrible as the 60s movies and soundtracks were, you get the impression that Elvis did what he was told as a professional and did his complaining at home...and he suffered for it.
it's easy today, to laugh at Elvis and say he should have taken more control of his career. i believe the documentary shows that Elvis was incapable of disloyalty and i like him for it. i just read that Russell Crowe is making a settlement for 11 million dollars with a room service attendant in a New York hotel. apparently, the phone didn't work well enough for Crowe and this poor, minimum wage schmuck had the phone tossed at his head. the only reason Crowe is settling the case is due to US work permits being pulled. wot an ass. now, Elvis may have been a primadonna, but i sincerely doubt he would have engaged in such behaviour with people less fortunate than him. in fact, the one's he may have tortured are the one's he loved...and that's something Elvis didn't invent.
from the documentary, you get the impression that Elvis was a good guy that tortured himself as much as he delighted in his life's gifts. you see that these extreme emotions are what may have led to his early death. his talent was his savior and his downfall. all that remains is the record of his talent. i tend to rate Elvis on his highs rather than his lows.
finally, it's the crafting of the documentary itself. its just damn fun...period. yes, there's a great deal of footage that you've seen before as other reviewers have mentioned. however, they fail to see the pure craft in which the filmmakers use that footage. most of the edits are absolutely tounge-in-cheek. that's the point! example: the shot of Elvis leaving the Lisa Marie and "I Believe in the Man in the Sky" song clip...it's fun! that's the point! Elvis + Flying Machine = Man/Sky...get it? i like that the film is light and not pretentious or in corny glorification of Elvis. i feel it's more akin to home movie night with the Presley's and you're invited. i work in television myself, and from that point of view, these filmmakers did a consciously good job.
in the end, it's up to the individual viewer to decide. if you're thinking about picking this DVD up, in this reviewer's opinion, get it! it's fun, it's honest and it's sitting down with people you like sharing stories about a good guy who happened to be one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. the DVD did it's job for me!
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