bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

If you only know Elvis Presley through your own foggy memories or those even murkier of your parents or grandparents, Netflix documentary Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley will foster a new appreciation of the entertainer.
Filled with music, some rarely seen old film footage, and told in powerful narrative fashion, peppered with smart, perceptive and contemporary voices, this is one of the best music documentaries in a long time.
It centres on a programme that aired on American TV channel NBC on December 3, 1968, which was initially titled Singer Presents Elvis, brought to the screen by the sewing machine company.
It would come to be called the ’68 Comeback Special and boosted a career that many deemed over; it is a powerful reminder of the transcendent talent of Presley.


Many of the details leading up to that TV appearance revisit familiar chapters in the Elvis story: his impoverished childhood, how he was influenced by black music, his early frenzied concerts, the weird relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker.
Then we watch him being drafted into the US Army in 1958, his sideburns removed, and him being sent to Germany.
He came home in early 1960, not to concert halls, but rather to cinema screens. Parker locked him into a multi-year studio contract that saw him in films that were little more than cash grabs of ever-decreasing quality.

There is one particularly painful clip, with Presley sitting on a pickup truck surrounded by animals and singing “Old McDonald Had a Farm”.
It’s easy to understand why he grew frustrated with the scripts he was being offered, as his long-time friend Jerry Schilling says in the film. “One day (Presley) was reading a script, and he threw it across the room and said, ‘I’m not doing this’.”
Parker put together a TV special, to feature Presley in corny skits, holiday songs and other shtick. Presley, with the help of producer/director Steve Binder, turned the tables and was determined to be true to himself and his music.
It’s fascinating to watch how this happened, to see outtakes from the special and to see what it became.


Presley’s wife, Priscilla, was aware that the career stakes were immense, since he had not performed in a concert setting in seven years. As she says: “He was definitely aware of (that), yes. And he knew that this could be a failure, and that would be it. … It could ruin his career.”
Though she had yet to see him perform live, she knew of his stature, telling a story of the night she and Elvis were visited at home by The Beatles. “They were so nervous. Elvis sat down on the couch and John Lennon and Paul McCartney just stared at him. Elvis basically (said), ‘Well, if you’re not gonna talk …’ He turned on the TV. They were just mesmerised by him.”
Lennon would eventually tell Schilling: “We wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for him.”


The TV special show goes on with Presley in a leather outfit, powerfully delivering his hits and charming the predominantly female audience.
This documentary, directed by Jason Hehir, assembles a remarkable group of commentators, including singer Darlene Love; Baz Luhrmann, the director of the 2022 feature film Elvis; the late Robbie Robertson, who watched the original broadcast with Bob Dylan; TV host Conan O’Brien; and Bruce Springsteen, who was inspired by the TV show to pick up a guitar.
He recalls watching it on a small television in his family’s kitchen, saying: “This was (Presley) going where his destiny was leading him … It was the rebirth of Elvis Presley … a reintroduction, not just to who he had been, but to who he could be.”
Presley became a tragic figure, sullying himself and his talent in lengthy Las Vegas residencies, on concert tours, bloated and drug-addled in bejewelled white jumpsuits. His last concert took place on June 26, 1977 at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Six weeks later, he was dead at 42.
Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan puts it neatly in the show: “We sit here and judge how he handled normal life. The pressures of marriage, fatherhood, celebrity, Colonel Tom Parker’s (expletive). But in the midst of this … lightning strikes.
“And all we’re left to do is sort through the pieces and go, God, I wish there was more. Why isn’t there more?”
What we see here is enough. Parker wanted to turn Elvis Presley into Bing Crosby but what we got was Elvis, the one and only.


Meet Harris Dickinson, who stars in Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and Antonio Banderas, and in Steve McQueen’s Blitz, but who once struggled to land roles – the London native is dating musician Rose Gray

Meet Alec Baldwin’s outspoken brother Daniel Baldwin: the Trump supporter claims there’s a ‘bidding war’ going on for the alleged Diddy tapes, has been married 4 times, and struggled with addiction

Meet Miami Vice actor Don Johnson’s 5 children with 3 different women: from Fifty Shades of Grey actress Dakota Johnson and Twin Peaks star Jesse Wayne Johnson, to Gucci model Atherton Grace

Squid Game 2 star on its ‘genius’ writer, and becoming his character, Gi-hun

TV shows and streaming video

New Netflix documentary celebrates Elvis Presley’s return to the rock’n’roll limelight

Elvis Presley  performing outdoors on a small stage in 1957. Photo: Getty Images

Elvis Presley from his TV appearance in 1968, which has since come to be known as the ’68 Comeback Special. It is now the subject of a Netflix documentary.

Elvis Presley in Bad Nauheim, Germany. Sergeant Presley returned to the US in 1960. Photo: Getty Images

Beatles ’64 offers a candid view of the British band during their first visit to the US

New documentary Beatles ‘64, produced by Martin Scorsese, is centred on the band’s first visit to the United States and their famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Photo: TNS

Crowds of fans wait to see the Beatles during their first visit to the US in a still from Beatles ’64. Photo: Apple TNS

Netflix K-drama When the Phone Rings preview: Yoo Yeon-seok, Chae Soo-bin in absurd story

Yoo Yeon-seok as presidential spokesman Baek Sa-eon in a still from Netflix K-drama When the Phone Rings.

Chae Soo-bin as Hong Hee-joo in a still from When the Phone Rings.

Yoo Yeon-seok as Baek Sa-eon in a still from When the Phone Rings.

Yoo as Baek Sa-eon and Chae as Hong Hee-joo in a still from When the Phone Rings.

Yoo and Chae in a still from When the Phone Rings.

How Hollywood sci-fi movie Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp, flopped in China

Johnny Depp in a still from Transcendence, the Hollywood sci-fi film that failed to excite audiences in China. Photo: Golden Scene

Johnny Depp (right) and director Walter Pfister in Los Angeles during a tour to promote Transcendence. Photo: Zach Cordner/Invision/AP

Johnny Depp as Will Caster (centre) and Rebecca Hall as Evelyn Caster (right) in a still from Transcendence.

Depp in a still from Transcendence.

(From left) Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy and Rebecca Hall in a still from Transcendence.

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley tells the story of the comeback TV appearance of the ‘King of rock’n’roll’ in 1968


Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley tells the story of the comeback TV appearance of the ‘King of rock’n’roll’ in 1968.
