Orion – The Man Who Would Be King
Director: Jeanie Finlay
Starring: Anne Ratte-Polle
89 mins

On August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died, casting a world into mourning. In 1979, a masked singer named Orion appeared on the scene, spawning screaming headlines on the lines of “Who is Orion? Who is that masked man?”

That Orion looked like Elvis and sounded like Elvis only fuelled the hysteria… could Orion really be Elvis?

Orion – The Man Who Would Be King, from British documentary film-maker Jeanie Finlay, narrates the fascinating story of American singer Jimmy Ellis, a talented performer blessed with a remarkable singing voice yet cursed by the fact that he sounded exactly like Elvis.

The only way Ellis could have a career was to build a mysterious persona, his handlers exploiting the myth that Elvis faked his own death.

Finlay’s focus is pretty singular – to highlight Ellis’s undisputed talent while overstating the fact he could never make a career on his own merits or terms.

Throughout the documentary Ellis is featured in recorded interviews, where he is at pains to point out he was not merely an Elvis impersonator and that he could not control the fact he sounded like Elvis, even acknowledging that he was being exploited.

He cuts a sad figure, a man who never obtained the recognition he so clearly craved.

That the film never quite moves away from its premise makes it a little one-note; while an obvious omission is the lack of reaction to Orion’s rising star from Presley’s family or management.

Yet this fascinating slice of American music history engages the interest with the plethora of interviews with people who came into Ellis’s life, both personally and professionally.

Orion – The Man Who Would Be King should appeal to anyone interested in a fascinating and often poignant account of a character borne of Elvis’s enduring legacy; a character who, judging by the many recordings of his that underscore the documentary, clearly had what it took to be a star… but Elvis got there before him.