Deluxe sets cull Elvis' momentous TV moments

By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service

Two new sets focus on pop legend Elvis Presley's "Singer Presents Elvis" and "Aloha from Hawaii" concerts. Elvis seized the opportunity to re-establish his rock 'n' roll credentials in the "Singer" event. Advertiser library photo

But make no mistake, even a casual fan should reserve shelf space for the three-DVD "The '68 Comeback Special" (BMG), the odds-defying NBC special, which, of course, was not broadcast with that title. It was called "Singer Presents Elvis" after its sponsor, the Singer Sewing Machine Co.

But a comeback it was, with Presley, bored with the cage of B-movies built for him by Col. Tom Parker, finally showing some backbone and showing the Beatles generation exactly why he was called the King.

Elvis fans already know the story. Parker expected Elvis to do a heartwarming selection of Christmas songs for his first TV appearance since his post-Army comeback, but with the encouragement of director Steve Binder, the singer seized — albeit nervously — the opportunity to re-establish his rock 'n' roll credentials.

The show opened with Presley promising, via the Lieber-Stoller song "T-R-O-U-B-L-E," that "If you're looking for trouble, you've come to the right place," and it ended with his passionate performance of the Martin Luther King-inspired "If I Can Dream." In between was a kitschy off-off-Broadway-style fantasia based on the song "Guitar Man," which is easily and conveniently forgettable.

What sealed the deal was the so-called boxing ring sequence in which Presley, clad in black leather, did a stripped-down, way-unplugged set of his earliest hits and blues tunes, such as "Baby, What You Want Me to Do," in front of a small, up-close crowd. It was nothing short of electrifying.

It wasn't as spontaneous as it looked, however. The broadcast was actually made up of material culled from two performances, and much of the outtake material has been seen on an HBO special and made available on video and audio recordings. The new release collects all of it, with false starts and unedited between-song chatter, as well as all the takes of the choreographed and orchestrated material, including a sequence in which Presley's mike goes out and the backup singers just keep going. It's like being present at an entertainment event that would soon be historic.

The success of "Singer Presents Elvis" (which the set also includes exactly as originally broadcast) emboldened Elvis to take a live show to Vegas, then on tour.

In 1973, the NBC broadcast of "Aloha from Hawaii" was a certified event. It was seen live in some countries, shown on tape delay in Europe and finally shown three months later in the United States. Again, the material not originally used, including a full-dress rehearsal, has been previously available, but this two-DVD edition (BMG) collects both shows, as performed, in their entirety, as well as five songs recorded to an empty arena after the broadcast for the impending U.S. special.

It also includes unedited footage of Presley's helicopter arrival at the arena, clips of which were seen in the broadcast. You may not watch "Aloha" often, but when you do, you will be impressed at Presley's vocal performance and stage presence, as well as the work of his excellent band, led by guitarist James Burton.

Satire on 'savages'

For most Yanks, the Merchant-Ivory era of art-house filmmaking began with 1985's "A Room With A View," or, if you were extremely cosmopolitan, 1983's "Heat and Dust." But Public Media digs deeper with its ongoing Merchant-Ivory Collection, adding two more little-seen (in the United States, anyway) titles to general circulation from director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant.

From 1972, "Savages" is an odd yet watchable satire that's as much John Waters as Evelyn Waugh (perhaps because of "Saturday Night Live"-National Lampoon writer Michael O'Donoghue's script). The story, a "The Gods Must Be Crazy"-style comedy, follows a primitive tribe that follows a croquet ball to a country estate where its members affect the manners of the sort of folks who would later populate "Howard's End."

More satisfying and accessible is "Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures," a 1978 effort written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It sends art collectors Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Larry Pine to Royal India to relieve a naive maharajah, played by Victor Banerjee, of his collection of valuable miniatures, only to get caught up in palace intrigue with the collection's curator and the maharajah's sister.

Originally shown on British television, it presages the cultural clash of later films like "Heat and Dust" and "The Europeans."

Great works restored

Another week, another Criterion Collection essential. The two-disc "The Lower Depths" couples Japanese master Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Maxim Gorky's play about a derelict thief (Toshiro Mifune) who commits murder in the name of love with an earlier version by French master Jean Renoir, with Jean Gabin as the thief.

The DVD is terrific, with both works beautifully restored and outfitted with smart commentaries and other extras.