…and greedy movie studios? That seems to be the theme of this month with the re-release of Elvis Presely’s entire film catalog. But while Paramount’s lackluster “Lights! Camera! Elvis!” set failed in offering anything new for fans of the musician-turned-actor, Warner Bros. – who just so happened to produce a majority of his films – has digitally remastered Elvis’ most popular movies just in time for the 30th anniversary celebration.
While every film is available individually in stores, Warner Bros. has packaged some of the King’s less impressive roles in “The Hollywood Collection,” a six-disc box set designed to save purists a few bucks. Let’s face it: Elvis may have made a lot of movies in his short time on this Earth, but a lot of them were really bad. Movies like “Charro,” “Kissin’ Cousins,” “Tickle Me” and “Stay Away, Joe” don’t have a very big built-in audience outside of the diehard fanbase, so it makes sense that WB would try to move a few more units by forcing the consumer to by all six. The lone classic of the bunch – “Girl Happy” – also happens to be the only film that has received a new digital transfer and a previously cut musical number added to the DVD.
Not crappy enough to make the box set, the rest of Elvis’ Warner Bros. catalog has been released, including “Harum Scarum,” “It Happened at the World’s Fair,” “Spinout,” “Speedway,” and “Double Trouble,” as well as deluxe editions of “Jailhouse Rock” and “Viva Las Vegas.” I really don’t know what the difference is between the regular releases and the deluxe editions, but the “Viva Las Vegas” disc does include an audio commentary, a never-before-seen new documentary (“Kingdom: Elvis in Vegas”), and a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, and I can only imagine that “Jailhouse Rock” (the other major Elvis picture from Warner Bros.) features much of the same.
Rounding out the August cash grab is “This Is Elvis” and “That’s the Way It Is,” two more special edition DVDs that include multiple versions of the film, featurettes on the restoration process, and never-before-seen footage. If I had to choose between one or the other, though, I’d have to go with “That’s the Way It Is,” the King’s sold-out 1970 performance at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. We’ve all seen The Story of Elvis before, but you’re not an Elvis fan until you own this seminal concert film.
