Elvis on Tour
Directed By: Robert Abel and Pierre Adidge
Starring: Elvis Presley [and 50 million fans who can't be wrong]
Studio: Warner Bros.
Year: 1972
Rated: G
Film Length: 93 minutes
Aspect Ratio: multi aspect in 2.4:1frame
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Release Date: August 3, 2010
The Film ****
Elvis on Tour documents the 15 city US tour Elvis Presley mounted in the spring of 1972. It follows Elvis both on and off stage and occasionally checks in with various adoring fans and city officials who are excited to see him in their town.
After spending most of the 60s splitting his time between Tennessee and Hollywood recording music and starring in movies, Elvis returned to live concert performing in the wake of his televised "comeback" special in 1968. His successful residency at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, where he performed a series of shows every February and August for five years, was represented by his first ever concert documentary, That's the Way it Is in 1970. For these shows, Elvis assembled a band featuring guitarists James Burton and John Wilkinson, pianist Glenn D. Hardin, bassist Jerry Scheff, and drummer Ronnie Tutt. For background vocals, Elvis hired male gospel group "The Imperials" and female gospel group "The Sweet Inspirations". These musicians and singers would provide the core of Elvis' touring and recording band for the remainder of his career.
Having had success with the previous hybrid documentary/concert film about his Las Vegas stand, MGM decided to provide similar treatment to his shows across the USA in 1972. Similar to the Woodstock... documentary, Elvis on Tour was shot on 16mm film and then assembled in an optical printer into a multi-aspect ratio "paneled" presentation designed to be projected at a 2.4:1 "scope" ratio. The concert footage shows a jump-suited, cape wearing, scarf sharing, rhinestone-studded, karate-kicking Elvis with some signs of the physical and mental decline resulting from his grueling schedule and personal troubles (he had separated from wife, Priscilla, less than two months prior to these shows). This becomes especially apparent during the sequences in the film including archival footage such as his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and a performance of "Love Me Tender" that is intercut with kissing scenes from many of his movies through the previous decade (with montage supervised by Martin Scorsese, no less).
Despite the physical decline, Elvis was still a commanding on-stage presence with devoted fans and an extremely talented band capable of following him if he turned on a dime. More importantly, his silky to snarly baritone was still completely intact. When he commits himself to a performance, such as on "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and the "American Trilogy", the results are riveting. Both the concert and behind the scenes footage suggest that he was most comfortable singing straight gospel and gospel-inflected secular music at this point in his career. At times, he seems to lose himself in the corny showbiz glitz, showing off his belt buckle and pandering to the ladies in the front rows, but just when it seems he has completely succumbed to the Las Vegas "Liberace effect", he will find a way to bounce back and bring the house down.
The film is aimed squarely at Elvis' hard core multi-generational fan base, and a significant amount of running time is devoted to fans offering gushing praise and eternal devotion to their idol. Given the target demographic this is understandable, but I could not help thinking that it would have been nice to see at least one fan say, "I am getting a little concerned about his health". In any case, Elvis on Tour is one of the three definitive audio-visual records of Elvis in the 1970s inclusive of the preceding documentary feature That's the Way it Is and the subsequent TV special Aloha from Hawaii, and is an essential document for Elvis fans of this era.
The Video ****
The 16:9 enhanced transfer is letterboxed to a 2.35:1 "scope" ratio consistent with the film's original variable aspect ratio multi-paneled theatrical presentation. The transfer is pleasingly film-like with good compression, fairly natural looking film grain, and no signs of excessive video processing such as edge enhancement. Overall, I would say it is impressive. Taking into account the fact that much of it was shot on the fly with available light and that every shot in the film is effectively an optical, I would consider upgrading that to "miraculous".
The Audio ****½
The highlight of the presentation is the newly created 5.1 audio mix for the film. The surrounds are used primarily for light reverb and audience noise during the concert scenes and for infrequent but effective directional effects during some of the documentary footage as appropriate (plane sounds at an airport, etc.). Other than that, the dialog during the backstage and documentary sequences is locked to the center channel, and the music is mixed in wide stereo across the three front channels during the concert sequences. Fidelity for the concert sequences is outstanding with only minor artifacts from the lossy Dolby Digital compression.
The Extras ½
There are no extras on the disc. When the disc is first inserted into a player, a skippable promo plays encouraging support for the American Film Institute.
Packaging
The disc is enclosed in a standard Amaray-sized DVD case. The cover art insert has foil enhancement giving it an appropriately shiny and glitzy appearance for 1970s Elvis. A promotional insert in the inside front cover highlights other commercial offerings to commemorate Elvis Presley's 75th birthday.
Summary ****
Elvis on Tour is a cinematic document of Elvis Presley' whirlwind US tour in April of 1972. It mixes concert footage with plentiful behind the scenes looks at Elvis and the fans who adore him in the various cities he vistits. It is presented on disc with video that looks better than it has a right to look given its 16mm origins and an outstanding newly produced Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix.
