ELVIS PRESLEY BLU-RAY COLLECTION

I love Elvis.

And I will admit, I love the movies. I’ve seen them all. While most aren’t great, Elvis had a presence that made them all watchable.

To celebrate what would have been his 75th birthday, Warner Home Video has released a three Blu-Ray set of three of his films. Two have previously been issued on Blu-Ray and the third (ELVIS ON TOUR) is new to the format. All are available individually.

The films in the set are:

JAILHOUSE ROCK (1957) - Considered by many critics to be Elvis’ best film (although maybe not my favorite), and contains one of his most popular theme songs, here Elvis is sent to prison and becomes a singer, performing the unforgettable title number.

The Blu-Ray contains a commentary by Steve Pond, author of ELVIS IN HOLLYWOOD. It also features a 2007 featurette, THE SCENE THAT STOLE JAILHOUSE ROCK (15:29) about Elvis and the making of the film.

Next up is:

VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964) - This is one of my favorite Elvis films. It features Elvis as a race car driver in Vegas with Ann-Margret. Another classic title song, but I always considered “The Lady Loves Me”, where Elvis sings to Ann-Margaret around a swimming pool, one of my favorite Elvis movie moments. And, watching it again, I loved “My Rival” as well.

On Blu-Ray, the film looks stunning. I had the film on letterboxed laserdisc and it never looked this good. The neon of Vegas, even Ann-Margret’s hair and lipstick, this is a great looking disc.

The Blu-Ray also has a commentary by Steve Pond, along with a featurette KINGDOM: ELVIS IN VEGAS (20:34) about the film and his time in Vegas.

New to Blu-Ray is

ELVIS ON TOUR (1972) - Here is Elvis in his later period, the jumpsuit days. The film follows him on a 15 day / 15 city concert tour. He talks about his life between cities and clips of memorable moments of his career are shown (in montages supervised by Martin Scorsese). When it comes to the music, he performs “Burning Love” for one of the first times (he even has to read the lyric sheet to remember the words). Among the other numbers, “See See Rider”, “Don’t Be Cruel”, “Teddy Bear”, “Love Me Tender”, “All Shook Up”, “Suspicious Minds”, “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Are You Lonesome Tonight”, and “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You”.

There are no extras on the Blu-Ray. In the version of the film sold individually, it includes a book of essays about the film. One disappointing thing about the disc, while there is a chapter selection, it doesn’t list what song is at what chapter. Only a photo of each chapter is shown. This is a bit of a disappointment as the ability to skip to each song would be a great option.

SHOULD I BUY THIS SET?

Diehard Elvis fans probably already have the Blu-Rays of two of the films. If so, they can pick up ELVIS ON TOUR individually. If not, or for the casual fan, this is a great representation of his work.