PEP's Import Video

Hello to all of YOU in the Elvis World
I would like To first,......Thank Willem & Claude for asking me to participate in one of the BEST ELVIS sites on the NET !
You Two are the BEST !

I have been an Elvis fan since the late 60's, and have collected over the years as many Elvis Albums, Regular CD's, Import CD's, Regular Video's, Unreleased footage Video's, DVD's, Books, and Pictures that I could get my hands on or afford.

I am Happy to say I got to see Elvis perform LIVE at least once and that Month and Year was in March of 75' in LAS VEGAS.

Elvis in my book was the MOST CHARISMATIC, CHARMING, COOLEST, Universal Singer of ALL TIME and after 25 years after his passing his legacy proves he is still NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD and WILL CONTINUE TO BE TILL THE END OF TIME ! I'm proud to say that I am an Elvis Fan and look forward to contribute to this GREAT ENTERTAINER.

My research relating to Elvis will be not just be to provide information, but provide an Objective Opinion of what I think of the Elvis Import video titles, Import VCD titles and CDR titles that I come in contact with,.......from the Elvis World.

I would like to point out that I found Nothing more disappointing than being mislead from people selling Elvis footage or Elvis audio and being told verbally or in print from them that everything they had was always talked about as in most cases as being in perfect or near perfect quality, ....this in most situations was NOT THE CASE especially with video. more times than any time at all,....... quality did not meet my expectations and possibly in most cases wouldn't meet anyone else's either from what we are told, nevertheless I hope I am able to provide a more honest and objective point of view on this web page about some or most of this material.

I would also like to say I welcome any material or new information relating to my Topic's, and please feel Free at any time to ask any question and I may have an answer for you if I don't have the answer your looking for or right away, I will at least do my Best to find the answer for you,.......... at the same time and in the same breath I must say that I DO NOT AND CAN NOT TRADE OR SELL ANY OF THE ELVIS MATERIAL I COME IN CONTACT WITH FOR OBVIOUS REASONS.

Now down to Business one of the first Video's I would like to talk about is a Video that has been given the title ELVIS #1 or has gone by the title Los Angeles to Vegas,......... which has been available for a number of years in the Elvis World and now recently is also available in shorter form on the VCD format.

Like most Import Video's available years ago their were NO covers given and labelling was done unprofessionally. Just like in the case of this Video,........ information was typed out on the sticker included with the Memorex Video bought. In a lot of ways covers weren't all that important anyway, .......what was important of course was the content and the quality.

The listing of material mention on this video is:
LAS VEGAS HILTON February 1972 (this involved varies shows with varies suits with and without sound) OMAHA, NE. July 1st 1974 ( this involved almost the entire show in pretty good quality with matching show) Phila., PA June 23 1974 matinee ( this footage was filmed without sound) Preview: Johnson City March 17th 1976 ( filmed with matching sound) Omaha matinee June 30th 1974 ( filmed with matching sound) Total running time approx. 1Hr 50 mins.

What we first see when we put the video in the machine is someone starting out their Elvis adventure in Los Angeles pointing their camera at Elvis' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, then very quickly we are in the car listening to Elvis sing "Always On My Mind" looking at our drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas along the way we get to see some of the different Bill Boards used to promote Elvis during this 72 season, we finally make it into Vegas and get to see more of all the promotional material used in Las Vegas and at the Hilton at the time, neat to see at least once,................this footage last's a little over 5mins, now we quickly jump to the real reason we are watching the video in the first place,......... to see the King Live !

Elvis comes out from the right side of the screen dressed in a two piece white high collar suit displaying red pockets on the side with a red eagle belt and paisley shirt, this footage is obviously filmed from the balcony, sound of this performance does not match up with the video exactly, however i do suspect that that the audio is from this performance filmed, and that the audio is possibly recorded on a cassette recorder and matched up later. Songs you see partially performed by Elvis in this footage are:
CC Rider/ Johnny B Good/ Until its Time For You to Go/ You don't have to Say you love me/ You lost That Lovin Feeling/ Polk Salad Annie/ What Now My Love/ Fever/ Love Me
This footage last's a little over 12 mins. and quality is about a 5 out of 10.

Next we see Elvis come out dressed in the "Port Hole Suit" used on the "Good Times" Album but wearing the same belt he worn with the two piece suit in the previous footage, again sound does not match perfectly however its a little closer matching this time around at least for the first few songs, however the sound completely disappears after the song "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" List of songs we see partially performed by Elvis for this show are:
CC Rider/ Johnny B Good/ Until Its Time For You To Go/ You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
This footage last's a little over 7 mins, and is also about a 5 out of 10 for quality,...... Highlight of this footage is the ending just before Elvis leaves the Stage as the Hiltons Gold Curtains come down you see the bodyguards surrounding Elvis, you then see Elvis waiving goodnight to the Hilton crowd, Elvis I should point out is also wearing his cape, two girls rush the stage to hug and kiss Elvis almost pushing him behind the curtain very cool and neat to see !

The very next footage we see is Elvis now coming out dressed in the "Blue Good Luck Stage suit" with Macramé belt again filmed from the same position of the previous shows, disappointing to the watcher is that this footage is also silent and lasts only 5mins. (A little trivia this suit is now on display at the Hollywood Casino located in Tunica, Miss. and was bought at the Butterfield & Butterfield auction held in Las Vegas during June of 1994)

The next footage is also silent same angle as all the other footage seen so far and Elvis is seen wearing the" Comet Suit" with the Gold 69' international belt. quality for some reason is a little less than the 5 out of 10. This by the way is the same suit Kurt Russell wore in "Elvis the Movie" produced by Dick Clark in 1979. this footage lasts almost 8 mins.

More silent footage starting half way through the Performance shows finally a different camera angle which is more centred, ............Elvis is wearing the "Blue I Got Luck Suit" once again with Macramé belt for this footage, highlight is watching him with his cape spread out like an eagle, this footage ends at almost the 6 min mark.

We then go quickly to another show and see that it starts half way through another performance with Elvis seen wearing the same two piece suit which started out this video tape, but Elvis has already taken his jacket off showing the paisley shirt once again and is seen wearing a different belt which looks like the same red belt design he wore for the "White I Got Lucky suit". Sound appears during the song "My Way" and for "Can't Help Falling In Love", some more great cape shots are seen and footage is a little more than 2 1/2 mins. long. quality is the same about a 5 out of 10.

The next footage on the tape is the main event, we first see some footage outside of the Hilton Hotel in Omaha and see a black Cadillac driving from the Hotel,........ we however don't get to see Elvis in the Cadillac because the picture is Too dark. The show starts and Elvis comes out wearing the "Inca Gold leaf Suit" The first reel is filmed in Black & White with perfect matching sound,........... flash bulbs flashing through out the performance of CC Rider are going on, Elvis looks terrific and this footage really presents the charisma that Elvis had, it is totally electrifying and Elvis comes shinning through in this film. this is some of the best footage i have seen in my opinion the close up may not be as close as some other video's that are out there but the quality is there in my opinion, my footage I believe is 2nd generation from the master tape which isn't too bad for super 8 and the great thing again about this footage is the sound matches perfectly...........ironically its kinda neat to see some of the reels in B&W in an artistic sense however the color is cool too. The footage last's approx. 46:00 mins, songs seen sung at this performance are:
CC Rider/ I Got A Woman/ Love Me/ Trying To Get To You/ All Shook Up/ Love Me Tender/ Hound Dog/ Fever/ Polk Salad Annie/ Why Me Lord/ Suspicious Minds/ Introductions/ Can't Stop Loving You/ You Don't Have To Say You Love Me/ Help Me/ Bridge Over Trouble Water/ Big Boss Man/ Can't Help Falling In Love
I can't say enough about this footage if you can fine a copy you won't be disappointed. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate this video a very high 8 or 9 for this 8mm footage.

After this Omaha show we are treated with some more footage from Philadelphia June 23 1974 filmed from the side of stage where here Elvis is seen wearing the "Peacock Suit" with original belt, this footage however does not include sound and lasts a little over 9 mins and 30 secs.

The next to last footage seen on the video is mentioned as being a sample of what is to come out in early 1988 but to my knowledge never has come out,......... Johnson City Omaha March 17th 1976, Elvis is seen wearing the dark blue "Phoenix suit" with white bird,......... we get to see Elvis singing "Love Me" & Teddy bear with matching sound,..........picture quality is about a 7 out of 10, Elvis looks a little heavy in this footage but still looks good face wise and hair wise.

Finally the last footage on this video is some really rare footage of Elvis seen wearing the "Blue Rain Bow suit" with original belt from the Omaha matinee performance on June 30th 1974, Elvis is filmed straight on and is seen singing "Polk Salad Annie" Audio is matched up well but not of the greatest quality, this footage is very short and only lasts less than 2:00 mins. All in all this not a bad video the highlight is of course the main event Omaha July 1st 1974. Very quickly I will mention that its neat to see this video now available on the VCD format, however what is a little disappointing is that the VCD does not include any chapter search, and does not included any other footage other than the main event,......... but still nice to have on disc and with a cover which is shown on this page.

The next review will be on a video called "California Gold" and its VCD.
Until then keep ELVIS NUMBER ONE ! !
Cheers until next time !
PEP tcb