DEC4 Podcast Companion: Elvis That's The Way It Is, Director Denis Sanders and the Fan Interviews (Clip) - Podcast News
Featuring Gary Wells
In this second clip from our two-part podcast taking a deep dive into the concert documentary movie, Elvis That’s The Way It Is (MGM 1970), featuring our leading contributor, Gary Wells (soulrideblog.com), we look at some of the featured interviews conducted by director Denis Sanders.
The complete episodes, along with additional background, links and suggestions for further reading, viewing and listening, can be found at the dedicated page at our podcast website.
Director Denis Sanders (1929-1987) was a double Oscar winner, (short subject and documentary), and later film academic. Colonel Parker was very complimentary about him, although did raise objections to some aspects of the movie’s final cut and forced some changes, more details of which we’ll explore in our next post.
Some of the quirkier aspects of Elvis That’s The Way It Is are the segments featuring interviews with selected fans, one of whom The Village Voice, in their review, rather unkindly described as ‘possibly the creepiest young man ever to appear on film’, although in fairness, his contribution was articulate and relevant. The Voice described Denis Sanders as a ‘sociological sharpshooter zeroing in on every conceivable variant of American Gothic’.
The movie also introduces us to Cricket Coulter and Sue Wiegert. Their presence takes on greater significance with a little additional context which, as Gary points out in our podcast, is not provided within the film. In this clip we also look at the contribution from RCA foreman Lionel Hudson.
Another contributor to the movie is Ann Moses, at that time editor of teen fan magazine Tiger Beat and also correspondent for New Musical Express. She had also been an invitee for the intimate performance segments of Elvis’ 1968 ‘comeback’ television special. As of this edition (2024), she is active on social media and has provided some fascinating insights into the making of Elvis That’s the Way It Is on her official website. (A link to that article can be found on this episode’s complete webpage)
Next on Substack: Colonel Parker’s Objections
A Message for our Subscribers - Format and Schedule Change
When this feed began, it was intended as a platform to provide our podcast listeners with additional background on our subjects, details of our research sources, and suggestions for further reading, viewing and listening. We’ve since created a dedicated website for our main episodes, and where much of our Substack archive has been adapted and expanded upon. There you can also find news about upcoming episodes and what our friends and supporters are up to, as well as curated playlists.
We’ve also been expanding our reach by posting clips and shorts on selected social media and across all the major podcast platforms, including YouTube Podcasts. Our principal archive for complete episodes will remain on Soundcloud.
We remain committed to our Substack feed, but have decided to tweak (and hopefully improve) the schedule and content . Each month (or thereabouts) we’ll be posting a podcast clip, with a brief summary, and links to the main episodes. Any new episodes featuring our leading contributor Gary Wells, (main topics include Elvis, the Beach Boys, Memphis, Las Vegas, rock and roll and mid-century American culture), will also be featured here, while our our supporting material on classic British television will be available on our website only.
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News
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