Elvis on Tour

After the solid success of Elvis: That's the Way It Is, and with his career as a movie actor having reached a standstill, Elvis Presley undertook a second concert documentary. Elvis on Tour trails after the King on a few concert dates in 1972, as he powers through a curious set list that downplays the classic hits in favor of the likes of "Polk Salad Annie" and "Proud Mary." Rehearsal footage, preshow jitters, and after-hours sessions singing gospel with the gang are included; most revealing is a sequence that follows Elvis off stage and into his waiting limo, where he towels off in exhaustion, cracks a few jokes, and listens to the praise of the entourage. These glimpses are a logical counterpoint to the concert material; less explicable is the rundown of Elvis's early years, which hardly fits the subject at hand--and frankly reminds us that Elvis looks pale and just a bit puffy at this moment in his life. The fun stuff includes a workout on the still-new "Burning Love" (Elvis has to read from a lyric sheet), committed takes on "Bridge over Troubled Water" and "I Got a Woman," and a spirited "Never Been to Spain," a song that fits Elvis's taste for simple, dramatic builds. That, and Elvis giving a stage introduction to "the guy that gives me my water and my scarves and so forth." The movie's structure feels a little random, not that that will matter to fans. At times it catches the King looking undeniably weary of it all, except in those moments when a song really catches him (certainly during the gospel moments) and you see just how utterly "in the music" he was. The split-screen approach is intact, and the film's "montage supervisor" was a young fellow named Martin Scorsese. Note about this 2010 edition: The original song that played under the opening credits, a cover of "Johnny B. Goode," has been replaced (apparently due to rights issues) with a live "Don't Be Cruel." --Robert Horton