Elvis by the Presleys

This is a great two hour special event presented by CBS. An intimate look at the family and private life of the legendary Elvis Presley. Candid comments from his former wife, Priscilla and their daughter, Lisa Marie. Exclusive, never-before-seen TV performances and photos from the Presley Estate blended with private home movies of Elvis with his family and friends. Also interviews with Priscilla's parents, Paul and Ann Beaulieu and Elvis' cousin Patsy Geranen. And personal insight and comments from good friend Jerry Schilling.

You see different aspects of Elvis' life...his time at home in Memphis and Califronia; his time in Hollywood making movies; his concerts on the road and in Vegas. There brought to light unabashed is Elvis' career highs and lows, his generosity and human frailties and the glimmer and echos of just part of what makes his legacy enduring for decades and decades to come.

Of course its hard to mention Elvis without his music. Featured is music from TV specials, movies, concerts and his vast RCA catalog. Highlights featuring: 'Heartbreak Hotel', 'Suspicious Minds', 'In the Ghetto', 'Always On My Mind', 'Buring Love', 'My Way', 'If I Can Dream' and 'Can't Help Falling in Love'.

This special will be available on DVD with an extra two hours of footage. There is a double CD featuring 32 of the Presley family favorites. And there is also the "Elvis by the Presleys"in hardback. Long live the King!

28 years, well almost, he has been gone. This special delivered a great in site to a man many under 35 only know in song and those B-Movie re-runs on mid day and late night TV. A good documentary on this famous man with many glimpses into his personal life that a lot of people probably never knew. It was a worth while effort on the part of his family to make this movie and is well worth a look see by those who missed it when it shows again on TV.

It was put together with a lot of style, integrating some of the themes of his songs with pictures and home/new video clips of his life. Also a good sprinkling of never before seen (or heard) moments of both Elvis and Percilla's personal family life and the professional life of the "King of Rock and Roll".

Elvis by the Presleys (2005)

*** (out of 4)

Documentary produced by the Presley family to tell their side of the story in regards to The King. I'd suspect many will find the film too clean and one-sided but I didn't mind this since there's really nothing wrong with hearing good stories about the man. The best moment takes place when their discussing Elvis the father, which contains some great home movies. Another interesting thing is hearing Priscilla talk about the films Elvis was making for MGM and why she feels he finally gave up on life. The lack of drug taking on The King's part also made for an interesting segment. With all the concert footage, home movies and personal stories it's easy to recommend this to fans.

Whoever thinks this is going to be another one of those glorifying star docs is just partially right.

Yes, many episodes in this mammoth four hour family album are devoted to what a wonderful guy the King had been - and thus leave an aftertaste of triviality behind, but fortunately there are enough interesting aspects about Elvis's moody and egocentric personality, about his shifts in temper, about the dark side of showbiz, about his decline in mental and conditional health to merit an above average standard.

It's all presented in the usual soft-focus manner of television biographies. But the content is okay, though too long-winded.

6 out of 10 glitzy overalls

This Is most likely the best Elvis documentary I have ever seen, I did not watch it on TV I saw it in the stores on DVD for sale so I of course brought it, I loved the rare footage of Elvis in his later days, You don't see that very often. However I did feel really sad In certain parts of the doco, more in the last half hour on so. For those of you who haven't seen this documentary and you are an Elvis fan I recommend you go out and rent or better yet buy this film, its full of non stop Evlis footage The 68 comeback special, The Aloha from Hawaii concert, The famous 1977 last concert, and much more. This film shows just how kind and generous this Great man was. No one will ever be able to match Elvis Aaron Presley "The King" .