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Welcome Home Elvis

June 18, 2001 | Video
Expectations for this DVD, of which 2500 copies were made by Joe Tunzi / JAT Productions, were high, but were these expectations met?

Design

The design for this DVD's artwork is a "copy" of the "Graceland" DVD. Put them next to each other and look for the ten differences. The cover image is great, Elvis in tuxedo singing one of hits hits. The cover is in colour, but the show on the DVD is in black and white. The information on the back is complete.

The DVD menu looks nice, fully animated with fragments of various chapters. But why a big image of Elvis from the late sixties for an early sixties DVD?

Content

Looking at the content we find:

Elvis Army interview after returning home from the Army /
The Timex Frank Sinatra "Welcome Home Elvis" Show / A slideshow featuring Elvis trough the sixties / TV Guide featuring "Welcome Home Elvis" issue with a review.

The Army interview is a good starter for the "Welcome Home Show". We see Elvis, just back from the army, telling about his future plans, including the Sinatra Show. The quality is a bit better than the same interview on the "Graceland" DVD from EPE.

The slideshow of exclusive photos from Joe Tunzi's collection is O.K., but it's nothing more than filling, and the 'review' of the show from TV Guide contains a few fragments / paper cuttings from TV Guide on the show.

Then the "Welcome Home Show" itself.

This DVD contains the entire show, including the sponsor message from Timex. The quality of the picture is a bit better than expected from a kinescope print (taped by a camera from the monitor for a safety copy), but don't have too high expectations just because it's a DVD release. The sound has been improved and mixed into Dolby stereo.

Looking behind that we do have an historic event on this DVD, Elvis back in the States and on the screen. In this show Elvis is introduced by Frank and Nancy Sinatra with Sammy Davis Jr. in a real staged show and joins them in a sing-a-long at the end of the introduction. And then finally, the man himself in a solo performance. He performs his new hits "Fame and Fortune" and "Stuck on You", and the well known duet "Love Me Tender/Witchcraft" with Frank Sinatra. Both the introduction and duet with Frank Sinatra are staged and fit in the TV-shows at that time. Looking at it now, it is like most of Elvis staged TV appearances, a bit artificial. The solo performance on the other hand is great and you can see Elvis is enjoying himself and the reactions he gets from the public.

Conclusion

Since this show was an "historic" event it is interesting for all fans. You get Elvis, not 100% at ease with Frank, but still the performer he was before he joined the army. The quality is O.K. regarding the source, but not better than video's of this show which are also available. If you want to be prepared for the digital era, get the DVD otherwise a video will do fine. But watch the price, it is double or triple the price of any other Elvis DVD release (in good quality).
dirklandwehr wrote on July 19, 2005
This is a typical Frank Sinatra TV show, but starring the best guest he could ever have invited. Elvis' performances are great (especially when he starts to imitate Sinatra while singing "Fame And Fortune")and Sinatra's are the same. The picture ist quite bad, but possibly the best you can get out of the material that is available from this show.