Product Description

The Beatles star in this film about a \""typical\"" day in the life of the Beatles.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: G
Release Date: 6-JUL-2004
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #671 in DVD
• Brand: Beatles
• Released on: 2002-09-24
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .50 pounds
• Running time: 92 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
The Fab Four from Liverpool--John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr--in their first movie. Nobody expected A Hard Day's Night to be much more than a quick exploitation of a passing musical fad, but when the film opened it immediately seduced the world--even the stuffiest critics fell over themselves in praise (highbrow Dwight Macdonald called it "not only a gay, spontaneous, inventive comedy but it is also as good cinema as I have seen for a long time"). Wisely, screenwriter Alun Owen based his script on the Beatles' actual celebrity at the time, catching them in the delirious early rush of Beatlemania: eluding rampaging fans, killing time on trains and in hotels, appearing on a TV broadcast. American director Richard Lester, influenced by the freestyle French New Wave and British Goon Show humor, whips up a delightfully upbeat circus of perpetual motion. From the opening scene of the mop tops rushing through a train station mobbed by fans, the movie rarely stops for air. Some of the songs are straightforwardly presented, but others ("Can't Buy Me Love," set to the foursome gamboling around an empty field) soar with ingenuity. Above all, the Beatles express their irresistible personalities: droll, deadpan, infectiously cheeky. Better examples of pure cinematic joy are few and far between. --Robert Horton

DVD features
None of the remaining Beatles participated in the DVD supplements for A Hard Day's Night, but you get an abundance of the next best thing. The film's surviving cast and crew members were assembled for an extensive series of retrospective interviews, resulting in a totally fab tapestry of detailed reminiscence. Virtually all of the major and minor players are included, from director Richard Lester and musical director George Martin, to publicists, Beatles' friends, and key offscreen personnel. The result is a vivid portrait of British film production in the early '60s, placing A Hard Day's Night in rich context to further appreciate its groundbreaking audacity. Particularly amusing are vintage clips from the Brit-com Steptoe and Son in a tribute to character actor Wilfrid Brambell (a.k.a. Paul's "very clean" grandfather), and a Ringo remembrance by actor David Janson (from the film's memorable "Ringo's Theme" sequence). Best of all is an interview with Klaus Voorman, whose connection with the Beatles goes back to Hamburg in the early '60s (pre-Beatlemania), and whose affectionate, still-vivid memories add a wonderful touch of intimate nostalgia. Arguably, these and other interviews create a more fan-friendly portrait than the Beatles could've provided. With extensive DVD-ROM features including Alun Owen's original first-draft screenplay and an extensive Web site archive, the Hard Day's Night DVD is definitely not grotty! --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Movie Good / DVD Bad.
I've had this Miramax DVD in my collection since it was released in 2002 but have only just got around to watching it on a decent TV with a 5.1 surround system.

Like many others here I love the movie but am hugely disappointed by this DVD....particularly compared to the job that was done with the recent Help! DVD.

The letterboxing is obviously annoying to some people and it is noticable that things have been cropped however it is not the main problem I have with this release.

The biggest crime is what they have done with the MUSIC. How they were allowed to mangle these songs is this way I will never know. The mix presented here is just awful: flat/muddy/bassy/echo-ey and lacks any kind of punch or excitement. Also the way the songs are presented mean that there is a noticable volume increase when the music starts and then a decrease when the song finishes. This mean that the flow of the film is lost as it is painfully obvious that the soundtrack isn't "real", it just sounds so separate from the visuals. It also means that it's hard to hear any subsequent dialogue for a few minutes while your ears adjust to the volume drop.

And worst of all is the fact that the songs run slower than the original versions. Did they think we wouldn't notice this!? These are songs than many of us have listened to for years and they have treated us with contempt thinking they could get away with doing this. Very poor.

The extras are a bit boring as well, I can take them or leave them.

I hope that one day this great film gets a proper treatment: decent sound mix (with a stereo track option) with better extras (some Beatles interviews would be good).

The Beatle's best movie!
I think this is the boys best movie ever! The storyline is basically what a day in the life of a Beatle is (during Beatlemania). Great songs, they look great (still young and without the long hair) and hilarious! You really get to see each of their personalities. Anyone who loves The Beatles would enjoy this film, young and old.

Don't Buy It !!!
I can't agree more with the past two reviewers. As a 'Beatle Nut', I've always looked (& listened) with intent to find something new with each new release on The Beatles, whether it's audio or video. This GARBAGE that MIRAMAX put out should be taken off the shelves. They've totally ripped their customers off (including me)! With today's technology, it seems they could have sped the audio tracks up to match the 'standard pitch' of the audio cds. Why the audio tracks 'dragged' from the onset of this movie's release in '64 is beyond me. Don't give me the excuse that it was to match the video - people are smarter than that! It's just as easy (and more appealing) to speed video images up to the audio track than vice-versa. And to rip us all off by not offering at least a nice digital, stereo track - let alone 5.1 surround / 5.1 DTS??? The mono (digitally enhanced??) track they do offer is worse than Capitol Record's version of 'Duophonic Stereo' on some of The Beatles' early cuts. Shame on MIRAMAX. Let's all start calling them MIRALAX...at least MIRALAX (an effective laxative) 'gets you moving' LOL! Seriously, people - rent it if you must see for yourself, but don't buy this piece of s*%#! You'd be better off holding the money out the window @ 70 mph on the freeway - at least somebody worthwhile might profit from you. These morons should be forced out of business!