Music DVDs
By Greg Beets, Fri., Dec. 22, 2006
Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Shows
(Image Entertainment)
Elvis Presley's 1956-1957 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show make you feel awfully sorry for the ventriloquist that followed him. Seeing E get dropped like an atom bomb into the larger context of Sullivan's something-for-everyone variety hour makes the resulting cultural sea change all the more resonant. Footage from this 3-DVD set (i.e., the "above-the-waist" version of "Don't Be Cruel") has been anthologized extensively, but superb kinescope restoration makes it look better than ever. Sullivan was in the hospital recovering from a car wreck the night Presley debuted, so honors fell to droll English thespian Charles Laughton.
