'8mm Elvis'

Book Review  

8mm Elvis - The Story of Elvis on 8mm film - The Forgotten Format  

By Vince Wright  

Reviewed by Nigel Patterson , April 2022

Elvis "himselvis" had a standard 8 camera in 1955, and his home movies also included 16mm, but that's another story for another time. (Vince Wright)

To many younger Elvis fans, the term 8mm may draw a blank look. For those unaware of its meaning, it is a motion picture format that, for many years, was favoured by both professional and amateur film-makers. At home, you could watch commercially released and/or your own personally captured (produced) films using an 8mm projector and screen.

Author-researcher, Vince Wright became enamoured with 8mm when, a long time ago, a friend invited him to watch Laurel and Hardy and cartoons on his home cinema. Later, Wright would work for the company, Derann, in its soundtrack department.

In 2023, and after many years of searching and researching, the author has released his comprehensive narrative and visual record of Elvis on 8mm. And the 160-page hardcover (complete with a page ribbon!) is an information and visual treat! Design wise, the book replicates the size of 7” diameter 8mm tape boxes.

Included in the book are sections about Elvis' commercially released film catalog on 8mm (both English and non-English speaking), the story of 8mm, major 8mm companies, trailers, classic TV, and technical specifications. The book includes many colour photos of all the legal releases and imports as well as the underground world of the 70s bootlegs.

There are also interviews with those who worked in the industry and a whole lot of nostalgic archival marketing material from around the world.

Many fans will appreciate the sections about Rex Martin and other fan filmed Elvis footage, and coverage of the current series of Sold Out! DVD releases is included.

The author’s discussion about 'the most famous 8mm Elvis film' will likely surprise many readers!

Wright’s narrative is easy to read and informative:

I love Ken Films Inc. They distributed Super 8 films from 1968 to 1982. They really made Elvis accessible on 8mm. The features released by others were out of the price range of many*, so Ken Films released cut/downs/digests which were much more affordable. Their colourful packaging, with plenty of selections from songs, gave us a taste of the film that many had not seen since their theatrical release.

Introducing cutdowns with about 18 minutes to squeeze in the plot, these abridged versions are like an extended trailer.

Throughout 8mm Elvis we learn a lot about the old days of cinema presentations, such as Viacom's edition of King Creole came on 7 x 400' reels.

The images support all of the narrative elements mentioned above and include reel photos, card boxes, a range of archival material (business correspondence, advertising material, etc) and a table, It's A Matter of Time - A guide to spool size.

The visuals are predominately in full colour and many draw the reader's attention as their design is very different to what most of us are familiar with. 

I also found the cover of the promotional film, Derann Movie Magazine No. 1 (p68) interesting, in that it juxtaposed Elvis with British comedy legend, Norman Wisdom, Richard Burton, and horror film legend, Christopher Lee. The Elvis footage featured in that magazine film is the Return to Sender scene from Girls! Girls! Girls!

Several of the many intriguing photos are the covers for Elvis Paradise Hawaiian Style (p25), its Spanish counterpart, Paraiso Al Estilo Hawaiano (p100), a jazzy looking King Creole, and an in-your- face image of Elvis scaling the cliff (Fun in Acapulco) (p95)

An undated (but likely at least mid-1970's) newspaper ad for 8mm films (p37) may shock when you notice the prices being asked (and obtained) for, admittedly commercially released, individual films. This mid-seventies price of US$175 would now be worth around US$970 in today's value.         The book design is strong with plenty of white space to allow the text and images to be very effective.

Verdict:  8mm Elvis - The Forgotten Format is unique in its narrative and visual content and is an important inclusion in the complex jigsaw puzzle that forms a complete record of the multi-varied story of Elvis Presley. Part-film history, part-Elvis history, it will please both film enthusiasts and casual fans.

*a parallel can be drawn in 2023 to the many Elvis coffee-table books which are out of the financial reach of many fans

Buy '8mm Elvis - The Story of Elvis on 8mm' (exclusive to Elvis4sale.com)  

Visit the author’s 8mm website

Click to comment on this Review

Book Review by Nigel Patterson.
-Copyright EIN April 2023
EIN Website content © Copyright the Elvis Information Network.

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