Home :: DVD :: Musicals & Performing Arts :: Documentary  

Ballet & Dance
Biography
Broadway
Classical
Documentary

General
Instructional
Jazz
Musicals
Opera
World Music
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
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 .. 13 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great performance but missing songs...
Review: As many other reviewers have pointed out, this is Elvis at his best. However, it is not the same movie that I saw years ago. At least two songs featured in the original, Sweet Caroline and Bridge Over Troubled Water, have been cut. You can still see snippets of them in the original trailer. I wish they had included the songs that were cut for the "restored" version as extras on this DVD - anything Elvis sang whether he wrote it or not is worth hearing and seeing!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent
Review: There is no question that this is Presley at his best ever. He is 35 years old and has never looked or sounded better. the sad thing with this version is that some of the songs have been edited out. I just can't help believing, I've lost you and Bridge over troubled water live on stage versions. As the other's he does an excellent job woth these also. wish they had left them in. hopefully we can get another version or another dvd with all the other footage there must be.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: But what about the way it was
Review: This version of course contains great relics, any Presley footage is worth watching. But the original had moments that were special and have been cut. Such as the impersonators so desperately trying to sing tiger man and the cut to a Presley concert where he gives it the one and only signature. But the real mistake is cutting the stage version of "Bridge over Troubled water" probably the best version ever.
All in all it is a decent piece of editing but I need the original.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Elvis That's the Way it is Special Edition
Review: Fantastic, Super, Dazzling. This 90 minutes of concert and behind the scenic footage is breath taking. It is 1970 and Elvis has a Vegas tour planned, he has finished his movie contract and has been reborn more mature, thanks to his 68 comeback. 'That's the way it is' captures Elvis' charisma, talent and amazing voice, it is totally re-cut and restored by Rick Schmidlin (Greed, Touch of Evil). It is basically split into two parts - off and on stage. The off stage section follows Elvis in the MGM studios and his endearing clowning around through the Vegas warm up and the show itself. And what a show! It shows Elvis at the height of his carer holding the audience spellbound. There is a variety of songs (full list of songs below) incorporating R & B, Blues, Country and of course Rock & Roll. There are touching and spin tingling versions of You've lost that loving feeling and You don't have to say you love me. But naturally all the songs are outstanding. In conclusion I think even if Elvis hadn't had any of his movies, no previous concerts and no fame what so ever, just this - he would still be the King.

The full song list -

That's all right
Little sister/Get back
My baby left me
Crying time
Love me
Twenty days and twenty nights
Bridge over troubled water
Cattle call
Chime bells
Santa Claus is back in town
Mary in the morning

Mystery train/Tiger Man
That's all right
I got a woman
Hound dog
Heartbreak hotel
Love me tender
I can't stop loving you

Just pretend
The wonder of you
In the ghetto
Patch it up
You've lost that loving feeling
Polk salad Annie
One night
Don't be cruel
Blue suede shoes
All shook up
You don't have to say you love
Suspicious Minds
Can't help falling in love

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great DVD
Review: This was fantastic! What I liked most is that there was no narration, no interviews, no nonsense, yet still somewhat a documentary. They basically chronicle a Las Vegas show (though it's shot over 6 shows) by starting out with the rehearsals, the nervousness before taking the stage, and then the actual performance. The video transfer is very good and the sound is excellent. They had the original 16-track master so they were able to create a DD soundtrack that actually has some depth to it. There is also a brief "making of" and some bio notes. You get to see some of Elvis' personality which I had not seen before.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The way it is (now)
Review: After the '68 TV special I'd grown curious about the "movie" Elvis again and when this came out was eager to see him in a realistic format instead of the unwatchable '9 songs, 1 fight, Elvis gets the girl' formula with him singing crap like "Do the Clam." If you want to see the "Elvis, That's the Way It Is" that you saw in the movies, this is not it. Unlike some reviewers here, I liked the original better, with more interviews and preparations for the show to go with the stage performance(s). Neither version is up to his efforts on the '68 TV special, especially the separately released "Elvis: One Night With You", my favorite Elvis video performance. In Vegas, Elvis singing "covers" of Paul Simon and Bee Gee's songs told a lot of us that something was amiss...in a way this documents the beginning of the end. Here's The Show before the whole thing went south, with Elvis working his butt off to move in a new way and capture a different audience. If you want to hear him at his best, get the Sun Label CD. If you want to see the original movie with the same title as this one, look elsewhere. If you want to understand why he started Rock & Roll, get "Elvis '56" and "Elvis: One Night With You." And if you are mildly puzzled about why he sings "One Night With You" with a feeling and power the lyrics don't merit, give "One Night Of Sin" on "Reconsider Baby" a listen!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The King In All His Glory
Review: This is the best concert footage of Elvis on the market that I
can find. He absolutely mesmorizes the audience on the film AND
the audience at home. It leaves you wishing that the producers
could make a Part 2 assembling other songs that were performed
and not put on this one. This production is a must for any Elvis fan and anyone even remotely curious about him. Watch this and you will understand all what Elvis was about. It will
make you a fan if you weren't already one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ELVIS ALWAYS THE KING.
Review: I have read some reviews on the original video and the restored DVD.
I remember watching Elvis that's the way it is at the movies. I have been a fan of Elvis's for about 30 years now. I loved the video. The new DVD is great and I wouldn't give it up for all the money in the world. But I agree with some of the reviews. I wouldn't have minded if they took away some of the interviews with the fans, but they took out some footage that was really Elvis. It showed the real Elvis, joking with the guys etc. and they took that away. The extra footage is great. I would like to see a new DVD with the original in full and also the added footage.
LONG LIVE THE KING.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: elvis is red hot !!
Review: elvis on stage, set the u.s.a on fire after many engagements

at the las vegas hilton, the sound and footage was excellent

but very different from his 69 appearances, which are the shows that should have been recorded..

a must for a rock and roll collectors...!! hot

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprised and astonished!
Review: I have been an Elvis Presley fan since I was 6 years old. I was only 6 1/2 months old when he passed away. I'm not really sure how it all began, but what I do remember is being very young and seeing this man on TV in a white jumpsuit with a fringy belt dancing and singing. There was something about him that absolutely mesmerized me, even at that age. I realize now that what I was seeing was some part of the original That's The Way It Is film. Now, at 25, I have seen that film dozens and dozens of times and as I got older I would fast-forward through the creepy fan interviews, hotel preparations for the show, and other things just so I could get to the music.

When I first decided to view the New Edition I really didn't know what to expect. I had heard that they cut back on the interviews and added some new things. I really wasn't expecting my viewing experience to be any different than it was with the original version. I can honestly say that I was astonished, in a good way. Not only was I extremely glad that they cut out everything that didn't have to do with the music I was excited that they added additional rehearsal footage. I had become so used to seeing the original that I never truly realized just HOW fantastic he was. I felt an excitement that I never felt with the original, a joy that now, finally, THIS is how he was meant to be seen. I can't even begin to tell you how many Elvis videos, cassettes, and tapes I own, that when I view or listen to them there are no surprises for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy them but nothing ever struck me as being very different among them. Plus, with an almost constant repetition of listening and viewings you always forget how great some of it was.

This new edition totally changed that. In all my 19 years of loving him I have NEVER seen him in this way. I kid you not, I almost felt like I was THERE. I felt the urge to scream, laugh, cry, clap, you name it. I am really, really pleased at this new restoration. I have seen many reviews now saying that people who could care less about Elvis or were never fans became, after viewing this, people who WERE fans.

It is a shame that most people now, when you mention Elvis, automatically think of spangled jumpsuits and heavy weight. This is all they associate with Elvis when you mention the 1970's. How wrong they are. Elvis was at the TOP in this film. Thin as a rake, gorgeous, handsome, sexy, he's got the moves, his voice is at the absolute height of his ability here. If you want to talk about charisma, this man had it, people. It's there in the rehearsal footage and it's there in BUCKETS in the concert footage.

I could go on and on but I think by this point you understand what I'm saying. THIS IS A MUST-SEE!


<< 1 2 3 4 5 .. 13 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates