This is Elvis

This is Elvis. 1981 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Narrated by Ral Donner
Produced by David L. Wolper
Directed by Malcolm Leo and Andrew Solt
Two-disc special edition of This is Elvis available from Amazon.

Directors Leo and Solt piece together an interesting Elvis Presley documentary utilizing a ton of film clips, television appearances, and quite a bit of authentic home movies of Elvis and friends. There are also some filmed reenactments, notably in the beginning of the picture, which opens with a segment where Elvis walks into Graceland on what will be the last night he was alive, and the following day in Portland, Maine where he was scheduled to perform on the day he was found dead. Honestly, the filmed reenactments do distract from the rest of the documentary, and they might have been better served as either cut from this project, or at least, saved for a fictional movie about Elvis. My opinion.

There are a plethora of highlights included here; notably Elvis appearing on Ed Sullivan, where the host gave him a warm sendoff; Steve Allen arranging for Presley to sing "Hound Dog" to an actual basset hound while dressed in a tux, the Welcome Home, Elvis special put together by Frank Sinatra in 1960 where Elvis interacts with the entire Rat Pack, and of course, quite a bit of footage from the 1968 comeback special. As the documentary reaches its conclusion, there's also enough filmed concert footage of an overweight and drugged out Elvis struggling through songs while performing in Las Vegas. His voice is still strong, but everything else is falling apart for the king of rock and roll. Leo and Solt do deserve credit for not sugarcoating anything, and presenting Elvis as he was in the end.

Recommended music documentary, except for the faked scenes.