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Laramie Movie Scope:
A Hard Day's Night

At last, a DVD of the prototypical rock film

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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October 18, 2002 -- "A Hard Day's Night" set the standard for modern rock films and music videos, but as entertaining as it is, the remarkable thing is the unlikely way it came together. All is revealed in the two-DVD set of the movie, including interviews with a number of key people involved in the groundbreaking film. Following is a review of both the film and the DVD.

"A Hard Days Night" plays like a documentary of a day in the life of the Beatles, the most popular pop group ever. Filmed in London during the hysteria known as "Beatlemania," the film looks as if it was made up on the fly. There is no plot to speak of, but it is nevertheless quite entertaining. The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, were a sensation in England, but had not yet become well known in America at the time the film project got under way in 1963. That would soon change with the Beatles groundbreaking appearance on the Ed Sullivan TV show. Huge mobs of fans appeared on both sides of the Atlantic whenever the Beatles appeared. This is reflected in the mob scenes in the movie. Although the mobs in the movie are actors, they are also Beatles fans, and they are not really acting. They are caught up in Beatlemania. Their screams were so loud in one concert scene that one of the cameraman's fillings were vibrated loose.

The Beatles (they are not called the Beatles in the film) appear not to be acting on screen, a tribute to the perceptive script by fellow Liverpool talent Alun Owen. In fact, the Beatles learned their lines and delivered them. However, the Beatles were not able to do the same scene the same way twice, necessitating a second camera for tight shots. Innovative director Richard Lester was so pleased with the way the second camera saved time, he used the same strategy on his following films. The Beatles come across as very likeable, charming, witty fellows in the film, a fact affirmed by every interview on the DVD. Their performances are very natural. The camera crew, headed by veteran cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (who would go on to shoot such films as Star Wars, Frenzy and Flash Gordon), used a lot of hand-held shots which added to the documentary feel of the film. The multiple camera setups used for the concert footage is the way such scenes have been successfully filmed ever since.

One of the few veteran actors in the film, Wilfrid Brambell, who plays Paul McCartney's grandfather, was best known prior to the film for starring in a TV series called "Steptoe and Son," a role that would later be duplicated in America by Redd Foxx in the TV series "Sanford and Son." The numerous references to him being "clean" in the movie are an in-joke relating to his Steptoe role as a "dirty old man." Brambell plays an irascible troublemaker, who stirs up the action in the movie. He is a straight man for the comedy going on all around him in the film. He seems prototypical of the kind of British humor flourishing at the time. Director Richard Lester had been hired to do this film precisely because of his work with Peter Sellers on a Monty Python-like TV show called "Idiot Weekly," and a movie called "The Running Jumping and Standing Still Film." He would go on to make another wacky British comedy, "The Knack" (which won the Palm d'Or at Cannes) and "A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Forum." Lester's manic style of comedy was exactly suited to the Beatles.

The happy confluence of talent continued with a great film editor, John Jympson. Jympson would go on to edit such films as "Frenzy," "Kelly's Heroes," "A Fish Called Wanda," "Circle of Friends," "In and Out" and many others. It was Jympson that came up with the idea of starting the song on the soundtrack before the musicians started playing in the scene, a kind of musical foreshadowing. In a helter-skelter kind of movie like this, editing is very important, and Jympson's editing is masterful. It was not enough to have a talented editor, cinematographer, writer, director and actors. One more thing was needed to make a successful, groundbreaking movie like this. The studio executives had to stay out of the way. The people at United Artists did just that. They gave the creative people a budget and a deadline, approved the script, and let them go for it.

Unfortunately, the deadline was very tight for the film, only a few weeks for editing, dubbing and soundtrack work. The film's producers were afraid the Beatles were a passing fad and they wanted to cash in while the group was still popular. They needn't have rushed so much. Near the end of the project, the film still did not have a name. The studio needed one for publicity purposes. Ringo Starr came up with the name for the film. Even later in the process, the film's producers realized they needed a song called "A Hard Day's Night" to go with the film's title. Miraculously, Lennon and McCartney immediately wrote the song and had it ready to go the very next day. It turned out to be one of the group's biggest hits. Another interview on the DVD reveals that McCartney wrote his biggest hit, "Yesterday," while on the movie set during a studio dance number.

With that kind of amazing musical talent, the group quickly came up with six new songs for the movie to go with several other songs from their already impressive repertoire. Beatles music is not predominantly rock and roll, but rather represents a wide variety of musical styles. The group not only shows great creativity but great versatility as well. The music in the film is a real treat, and is as timeless as the film itself. It was filmed in black and white as a cost-saving measure. The film cost less to make than a record album. The fact that it is black and white makes it seem timeless. The film seems as fresh today as it did in 1964, a tribute to the creative team behind the film that was way ahead of its time. This film rates a B.

The film transfer to DVD is excellent. The digitally-restored soundtracks include Dolby (tm) Digital 5.1 English and French. The music sounds great. The soundtrack is mono, but the songs are in stereo. The sound doesn't always sync with the lips. The difficulties in synchronizing the sound are discussed in interviews with the film's sound editors as part of the DVD package. Part of the problem had to do with the film's tight schedule. The picture is in widescreen anamorphic format with a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The first disk has the movie and a documentary on the making of the film called "Things They Said Today..." which includes excerpts from many of the other interview features on the second DVD. The double-DVD set comes with very nice packaging, including an eight-page photo foldout, a slide-in box, and a band to hold it all together.

There are lots of interviews with actors and filmmakers on the second disk. Here are the features, which are comprised mainly of interviews and some film clips (there are no interviews with any of the Beatles on the DVD): "Their Production Will Be Second to None," "With the Beatles," "Working Like a Dog," "Busy Working Overtime," "Listen to the Music Playing in Your Head," (interview with Sir George Martin), "Such a Clean Old Man!" "I've Lost My Little Girl" (interview with Isla Blair about a deleted scene), "Taking Testimonial Pictures," (interview with photographer Robert Freeman), "Dressed to the Hilt," (interview with tailor Gordon Millings), "Dealing with 'The Men from the Press,'" (interview with publicist Tony Barrow), "They and I Have Memories," (interview with artist Klaus Voorman), "Hitting the Big Time in the USA," (interview with Sid Bernstein Interview). DVD-ROM features include the whole first draft of the screenplay, "A Hard Day's Night Scrapbook," "Roundtable Discussions," and web access. The interviews give a lot of insights into the film as well as the Beatles themselves. This is a top-quality DVD package with a lot of extras, it rates an A.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2002 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)