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Elvis - That's the Way It Is (Special Edition)

Elvis - That's the Way It Is (Special Edition)

List Price: $14.97
Your Price: $11.98
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Elvis That's The Way It Is
Review: Absolutely a must-have for an Elvis fan's video collection. The included theatrical trailer was something that I had never seen before. The concert is great, but it's more interesting to see behind the scenes how he arranged the music with his band. This is the Elvis that I like to remember.

I agree with other reviewers that the sound is below par, but you have to consider the quality of sound equipment avaiable in 1970, compared to the equipment now. DVD is great, but just like CD, it reveals flaws in the original recording that may have never been heard before.

Nonetheless, I still plan to buy any Elvis concert DVD's I can get for my collection.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better quality but inferior performances
Review: I already owned TTWII on VHS and I bought the DVD version thinking the sound would be improved. What a let down. My Mobile Fidelity CD of "That's The Way It Is" is among my favorites. Because of the sound I don't know if I'll ever watch the DVD again.

This review was first written for the original DVD version. The sound on the Special Edition is great, but I wish they'd stuck with the original performances. Whereas Elvis was serious and rarely joked while singing in the original, he seems bored and distracted too often in the new version. The picture quality on the Special Edition is a vast improvement as well. Plus I'm glad the fan segments are gone.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The only Elvis documentary capturing Elvis' talent
Review: Apart from Elvis' early TV appearances, this movie really captured the magic of Elvis on stage and during rehearsals. It was at the same time the last occasion to do this, as Elvis' performance went gradually down shortly after this movie. The day Elvis died the movie was shown on the German TV and I saw Elvis for the first time (I was 17). It made me buy all his records as I was fascinated by Elvis' incredible talent. The 'On tour' documentary shot in mid 1972 already showed a sick man who, apart from a few rare moments, could no longer make the magic happen. One of the later rare magical moments is the June 1977 version of 'My Way' from the CBS television show which is the best version of that song I've ever heard. The DVD version of TTWII is far better than the various VHS versions, however, the picture quality could have been improved (restored) as well as the poor sound (3 stars for the DVD quality but 5 for the movie).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The best Elvis movie ever
Review: Other reviewers complain that the filmmaking is incompetent and that the fan interviews are pointless ... don't believe a word. This is a complete look at Elvis' Vegas production, with behind-the-scenes looks at the businessmen running the show (some segments look as if they were lifted straight out of a Scorsese film), and every inch of footage simply serves to capture the monumental grasp that Elvis had on the entire world. Particularly enlightening is the sequence that cuts back and forth from a Belgian Elvis impersonator performing "Tiger Man" to Elvis doing the same song in Vegas; as the camera settles on Elvis, wildly gyrating with his band at full steam behind him (particularly guitarist James Burton), you understand what a locomotive this show was. And the interviews are great, despite what some may think ... the hopelessly nerdy guy, for example, who acutely observes that Elvis can do it all -- sing, dance, act: "He's the Willie Mays of entertainment." These are all real people -- ugly or not -- and their enthusiasm for the King is by turns touching, comical, and pitiful.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Elvis' Best Film
Review: Like Richard Pryor, the talents of Elvis Presley were seen to best cinematic advantage in his concert films. "That's the Way It Is" shows a vibrant, charismatic and humorous Elvis that his fictional movies simply could not capture. This excellent documentary also reveals a masterful performer at the peak of his powers, which was not the case in "Elvis on Tour." Presley was a spontaneous, imaginative artist who worked better in concert arenas than on movie soundstages. "That's the Way It Is" proves this strength for all to see. The DVD version should be seen in the letterbox format in order to appreciate the excellent cinematography. If "Let It Be" shows The Beatles as a disintegrating musical entity, then "That's the Way It Is" reveals Elvis Presley as just the opposite -- a vital force in popular music.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The last glimmer of a shinning star.
Review: The movie is oh so sadley directed, I feel it could have been a masterpiece in the making ,but turned out to be "cut & splice" make do. The shows are the second season of his comeback in Vegas and that is where it should have ended. Instead we were treated to the gross and sad pictures of the shows up to 77'. " Bridge over trouble water" "Mary in the Morning" " I just can't help believing" are the high lights of this film,but Elvis never looked so good, or in such fine voice. Trash interconnecting garbage, i.e interviews with people who have no reason to be on the film. Finally the the interviewees must have been shipped in from "Ugly World", ignor this part of the film and you have a very good movie, if anyone's interested I spliced all that non Elvis footage of my video, makes one hell of a movie without it, try it! N.B. The sadess part of all is that hundreds of feet of film was originally shot but never made it to the sceen, we had part of this film released under "The lost Preformances", but that was only a tenth of what was shot.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Engrossing look at a still-talented great artist in decline.
Review: Shows Elvis preparing with band and backup singers for Vegas opening show. Interesting views into rehearsal dynamics, how Elvis worked with his help, etc. The songs range from early R & B ("One Night of Sin") to later down-home covers ("Poke Salad Annie") and heart-felt treatments of "This Time the Girl Is Gonna Stay" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water"). The garish lighting, and the interviews with star-struck fans now easy to chuckle at, put the stamp of authenticity on the film. It's an accurate record of its time and of Elvis's strange capitulation to the glitzy glamor of Vegas. The Colonel, the mediocre movies, his own bad decisions have pretty much doused his originality by this point. But the man's beauty, talent, and vital force somehow shine through. A must-see for Elvis aficionados.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: great performance, low quality sound
Review: This disc looks awesome and the performances here are exceptional, but the sound quality is terrible why would they not put this in 5.1 dolby digital? the cd sounds great and these are wonderful songs but iam very disapointed with the sound.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: ELVIS AT HIS BEST IN A DEEPLY FLAWED MOVIE
Review: What a tragedy: In these Las Vegas performances, Elvis looks and sounds better than ever -- but the experience is marred by almost shockingly incompetent filmmaking. It would be acceptable if the only flaw was that performances look as though they were shot in Super-8. But what really ruins this movie is that for some unknowable reason the filmmaker inter-spliced positively banal and truly boring interviews throughout, with the most peculiar Elvis fans a person could find. An example: We're treated to watching to English fans ride around on a bicycle that Elvis donated to their fan club. The interview segments have the inadvertent effect of making Elvis fans look absurd and making the rest of us wonder what could be wrong with a star who has such pallid followers. It's just too bad that these otherwise wonderful performances are marred by such bad judgement and lack of direction on the part of the filmmaker.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The way it is, is OK Only
Review: Improvisation and behind-the-scenes, the movie rates an 'A,' however for concert performance check out Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii, although I've only ever seen it available on tape or VCD.


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