This Is Elvis

This Is Elvis wants to have it both ways. At times, the film is a warm, loving tribute to The King. At other times, it merely exploits a dead man's reputation for the purposes of a fast buck. The documentary footage of Elvis in concert, overfamiliar though it may be, is excellent and well-selected. The dramatized portions of the film, featuring a quartet of Presley imitators portraying Elvis at different junctures of his life, range from passable to mediocre. For the record, and not in the order in which they appear, Paul Boensch III is Elvis at 10, David Scott is Elvis at 18, Dana MacKay is Elvis at 35 and an appropriately corpulent Johnny Harra is Elvis at 42. In addition, a fifth actor, Ral Donner, is heard as Elvis, narrating the whole affair.