True Stories – The Elvis Presley Anthology

When the cover of this release appeared on the World Wide Web, reactions were enthusiastic. Is there a reason to be enthousiastic for the content of the DVD too, or is this just another documentary?

Design

Now we got it, we can only agree on the enthousiasm, a classic shot with his hair curled on his head. The navigation menu is simple but clear, two options and chapterselection, with the Jaycees speech on the back ground.

Content

This release looks like an old documentary, with eighties interviews, although the ©-sign says 2000. In the first section people like Sammy Davis Jr., B.B. King and Tom Jones give their view on what they believe was Elvis' view on music and especially his love for blues and gospel.

Unlike many other documentaries there is little footage of Elvis himself, the usual fifties and army footage and Jaycees speech, and unfortunately no original music but Elvis style. A big minor is the audio track which doesn’t seem to run synchronal with the video footage, this is especially irritating in the interview sections. This chapter ends with a slideshow.

The fans are the focus of the second segment. This contains some nice footage of Elvis doing a press conference after his message and signing autographs in the sixties and seventies. Interesting to see were the shots of the Graceland mansion from the air.
Fans (not only British) and several celebrities like Ursula Andress and again Sammy Davis JR. give their view on the importance of Elvis. Fun to see Marty Lacker say “it is about Elvis and not about him”. Some fans tell the world Elvis is everything to them, giving them something nobody else can - a bit sad, because that is the image a lot of other fans have to defend themselves from.

In the final chapters “Untold Stories” and “A Perspective” we get a lot of stories from people who lived with him and worked for him. This part shows some Karate by someone who looks like Elvis, but the footage is very unclear so it is hard to make out if it is really Elvis. It is nice to see Ronnie Tutt and Larry Muhoberac in the eighties, Hal Wallis and Tom Jones who says "if I could make it in Vegas, so could Elvis" in a documentary for a change. This is the most interesting segment of this DVD.

Conclusion

The storyline of the documentary itself is known, but told in an honest way by people who know what they are talking about. And for a change these are some different people.