Product Description

By 1966 the Beatles had played over 1400 gigs, released 15 Number 1 singles, made 7 albums, toured the world 4 times and sold the equivalent of 200 million records. At the height of their popularity, without warning, they pulled the plug. They would never tour again. Previously unseen archive footage, photographs, personal home movies and interviews with those who accompanied the Beatles on tour tell the inside story of Beatlemania, its rise and fall. Touching and intimate, it's a story of chaos and comedy, of death threats, plane crashes, diplomatic wrangles, and ultimately disillusionment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55685 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2007-10-02
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds
• Running time: 65 minutes

Amazon.com
There are a couple of surprises in store for amateur historians of Beatlemania on The Unseen Beatles, particularly home-movie footage by a fan who attended the band's famously final concert in San Francisco's Candlestick Park, 1966. The images seen here don't show the Beatles playing so much as they underscore how primitive the group's concert preparations were for such a sizable performance space. Received wisdom throughout many decades since the Beatles played live is that the disgruntled group couldn't hear itself over the screaming masses. The Unseen Beatles suggests, alternatively, that the band's management and general touring operation were well behind the demands of shows held in large arenas and stadiums.

Anyone with a passing knowledge of Beatles lore will recall that the group decided in 1966 to stop its many years of relentless touring with a final swing through America, focusing thereafter on increasingly experimental and accomplished work in the studio. The Unseen Beatles revisits the trail of life-threatening disasters that led them to give up the road for good, drawing on interviews with the Fab Four's associates (road manager Tony Bramwell, press officer Tony Barrow) and gathering a wealth of archival and personal film material. Various and familiar harrowing incidents--including stifling security measures in Japan to protect the Beatles from assassins and the group's nightmarish experience in the Philippines after enraging Imelda Marcos--are impressionistically recounted here. Perhaps more unique to Beatles fans is this BBC documentary's assertion that manager Brian Epstein could have handled touring resources better and been more creative about putting on safe, musically satisfying concerts attended by tens of thousands of people.

At times, the 50-minute The Unseen Beatles is too ambitious for its own good. Inadequate profiles of the personalities of John, Paul, George, and Ringo suggest how the Beatles grew apart as men. But in a show focused on the end of the band as a live act, The Unseen Beatles doesn't say enough about how the group's decision to end touring was fueled in part by individual needs for domestic life and to privately engage in intellectual, artistic, and religious pursuits. The program's musical score, including some of the most funereal sounds of Chopin and Mozart, is truly bizarre (occasional snatches of a generic Merseybeat sound are more appropriate). Famous faces from the Beatles' career--such as A Hard Day's Night director Richard Lester--linger on screen without even brief identification or acknowledgement. But despite these minor problems, The Unseen Beatles has a significant contribution to make toward understanding why the Beatles altered their priorities mid-career and freed themselves to make the likes of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

The Dark Side of Beatlemania
"The Unseen Beatles" is a fascinating look at the group's chaotic touring history during 1963-66. After viewing this BBC documentary, one understands why the Fab Four spent their remaining years as a studio band. Featuring several first-person accounts and some rare footage (including home movies from the final concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park), the overall film reveals a darker, more harrowing portrait of Beatlemania - the flip side of "A Hard Day's Night."

Only if You're an Obsessive Beatle Fan
If you simply must buy anything with the words "The Beatles" on it because you're an obsessive Beatle fan, then buy The Unseen Beatles. Otherwise, don't waste your time and money.

There is indeed some "rare and previously unseen footage" in this DVD, but it struck me that it was "previously unseen" because whoever took it or considered it for air time realized it didn't inform or entertain very much. It didn't add anything new to our knowledge of The Beatles, their history or artistic significance.

As one of the aforementioned obsessive Beatle fans, I didn't learn anything new or gain any further insights into them. "The Beatles Anthology" video would tell this story (plus the story of the rest of their career) just as well or better, and from The Beatles' perspective.

For a more objective, outsider's perspective, I recommend two excellent books: the very enjoyable "Shout" by Philip Norman, and "The Beatles: The Biography" by Bob Spitz, which is well-researched, unflaggingly honest, and thoroughly detailed.

Jaw droppingly great!
I have one word for this film: "Wow!" Yes, I happily admit to being an obsessive Beatles fan (as if there's anything wrong with that?) The footage in this movie is nothing short of amazing. None of it was included in the Anthology and much of it is clearly superior to what was included there. If you want rarities and clips you've never seen, this is your baby.

The highlight is several minutes of color footage of the boys in Jersey in the summer of 1963. There is Paul by the pool, shirtless and more adorable than possibly any other human to ever draw breath. John is lounging poolside as well, making his funny faces and charming the socks off you.

There is also amazing color footage of the bands entering Candlestick Park in August, 1966 for their last performance. No one has ever seen this footage before. There are also some black and white interviews and press conferences which are almost as good as the aforementioned stuff.

The only negative are the interviews with a few of their roadies, who maximize their contributions to Beatles lore. Let no one forget that Neil and Mal were the only two true roadies and neither of them are included in this film. I also wish the movie could have been longer, but they cram an awful lot of goodies into this fabulous hour. I watched it three times the first evening. For all Beatles-obsessed souls, this is an absolute must have!