{"id":13356,"date":"2014-07-01T14:12:27","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T18:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/?p=13356"},"modified":"2014-07-16T16:52:16","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T20:52:16","slug":"richard-lester-a-hard-days-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/2014\/07\/01\/richard-lester-a-hard-days-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Lester: A Hard Day’s Night<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was fifty years ago. I wasn’t around for it, but as a fan of The Beatles the significance of 1964 is not lost on me; nor, I imagine, is it lost on many who are not fans. That was the year the British band officially invaded the United States, landing\u00a0amidst a screaming crowd at John F. Kennedy Airport on February 7 and famously appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em> on February 9. Seeking to capitalize on their success — thinking\u00a0the group’s popularity\u00a0was about to peak and die out — United Artists approached\u00a0The Beatles\u00a0and offered a movie deal, primarily because the soundtrack would be a hit and United Artists Records (who released the soundtracks of UA films)\u00a0would\u00a0be able to distribute music from The Beatles in the United States before Capitol Records could (“Hear the Beatles on the one, the only, the original sound track album from United Artists Records!” the original trailer says at its end). The film was made in the spring of 1964 and released on July 6.<\/p>\n

This background stuff is endlessly fascinating to me, but I need to step back a bit: the film, the end result itself, beyond any background trivia, is a\u00a0delightful, stylish, and revolutionary music film. I was thrilled when a few months ago\u00a0rumors were confirmed that\u00a0The Criterion Collection was working on a\u00a0new dual-format edition of that film,\u00a0A Hard Day’s Night<\/em> (1964). What a way to celebrate the\u00a050th Anniversary!<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This\u00a0frenetic film has always been a favorite, and this is the best I’ve ever seen it look and sound. It is crisp and clear from the moment the first chord strikes and George (while\u00a0he,\u00a0John, and Ringo are being pursued by a legion of screaming fans)\u00a0trips and falls, taking out Ringo,\u00a0to the film’s finale performance and the group’s final bow . . . in front of\u00a0screaming\u00a0of fans.<\/p>\n

Above I mentioned why Universal wanted to do the film, but\u00a0it’s more interesting and more fun to see how the creative team came together. The Beatles\u00a0themselves were interested in doing a film, but they\u00a0did not want to do\u00a0the typical “juke-box musical” that studios were doing at the time — you know, the ones where\u00a0some stupid plot is interrupted by random musical acts, filmed shabbily. Consequently, they denied the opportunity to many directors. It wasn’t until Richard Lester, whose early work is explored in this edition,\u00a0was presented to them that they jumped at the chance. This is why there is such affinity among The Goon Show<\/em> (which Lester had a hand in), A Hard Day’s Night<\/em>,\u00a0and, say,\u00a0Monty Python (which notes inspiration from The Goon Show<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Another key member of the creative team was screenwriter Alun Owen. When Owen was brought on board he was simply told the film was meant to be a kind of fictional documentary about The Beatles, a kind of day-in-the-live-of. But, he says, he\u00a0had\u00a0no idea\u00a0what The Beatles’ life was like. After a bit of research, though, travelling with the band from hotel to venue to hotel, often amidst the screaming fans, Owen came back and said The Beatles were prisoners of their own success, essentially locked up in hotels and trains and stages — but, importantly,\u00a0that through it all they seemed upbeat and high spirited.<\/p>\n

So the basic plot of the film is simple: it’s that fictional documentary, that day-in-the-life,\u00a0about travelling by train to do a live show in Liverpool. In the mix, though, is a mad mixture of slap-stick humor and wonderfully established and filmed set-pieces.<\/p>\n

After all, The Beatles are cooped up. Which brings to mind one of my favorite scenes, in which The Beatles are mingling with reporters and other dignitaries at a rather stuffy cocktail party (and they’re not even allowed a drink). They are bored with these events, bored of the questions they get asked (“Has success changed your life?” one asks George; he responds, “Yes.”). So they entertain themselves, taking full advantage of any space they find — and the space swells with life!<\/p>\n

_______________<\/p>\n

This edition of the film is filled with great supplemental material, though perhaps not the kind you expect. Rather than focus on The Beatles, most of the supplements are focused on Richard Lester’s career and filmmaking — a pleasant surprise to me! There may be reasons for this other than a desire to focus on the film’s production and Lester’s work (such as the potentially enormous costs for licensing something like, say, their famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em>), but it worked great as so much of the film’s energy comes from the man behind the camera.<\/p>\n

There is a great audio commentary from a variety of cast and crew members, recorded in 2002.\u00a0Again, they don’t talk a lot about The Beatles (though it seems everyone liked working with them)\u00a0but focus instead on the production, on getting things together with a small budget, and on Lester’s style. The film itself is filled with energy; this commentary track is on the same level, adding a new dimension to the fun.<\/p>\n

Anatomy of a Style<\/em> is a 17-minute conversation with Bobbie O’Steen and screenwriter Suzana Peric, in which they break down the film’s fantastic editing techniques. I particularly enjoyed their insights into the film’s first musical number, how it gradually pulls us into the scene before bursting with life — and instruments!<\/p>\n

You Can’t Do That: The Making of A Hard Day’s Night<\/em> is a 62-minute documentary, originally put together for the 30th Anniversary in 1994. It’s\u00a0hosted by a poorly dressed\u00a0Phil Collins (who, as a member\u00a0of the screaming live audience,\u00a0was an extra in the film).\u00a0Roger Ebert also makes a welcome appearance, saying that\u00a0A\u00a0Hard Day’s Night<\/em> is\u00a0right up there with Singing in the Rain<\/em> in his rankings of movie musicals. While no supplement is focused on the extensive restoration process the film recently underwent,\u00a0this documentary plays excerpts of several scenes as they used to appear, and you can see just how wonderful\u00a0the film\u00a0now looks by comparison.<\/p>\n

The 36-minute Things They Said Today<\/em> is another making-of documentary. While it covers some of the\u00a0same ground,\u00a0this one from 2002 and includes Richard Lester and producer Walter Shenson.<\/p>\n

There are also two supplements that are particularly focused on Richard Lester. First, The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film<\/em>, an 11-minute short Lester made in 1960 with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan (who worked with Lester on transitioning\u00a0The Goon Show<\/em> from radio to television). The strange film\u00a0was made\u00a0for only\u00a0\u00a370 and showcases the antics that will continue in A Hard Day’s Night<\/em> (and\u00a0Monty Python). Second, there’s Picturewise<\/em>, a 27-minute video essay on Lester’s career, from before A Hard Day’s Night<\/em> and beyond.<\/p>\n

Two features a more Beatles-centric. First, In Their Own Voices<\/em> is an 18-minute audio conversation, placed over film excerpts and photographs, by The Beatles, talking about how they came to make the film, why they chose Lester, their own disdain for what was passing as a musical film. They had a creative vision, and they wanted to have fun. Second, is The Beatles: The Road to <\/em>A Hard Day’s Night,\u00a0a 28-minute interview with Marc Lewinsohn, author of The Beatles: All These Years, Volume 1 — Tune In<\/em>. This starts with the band’s inception, a simple question from John to Paul, “You want to join me band?” It continues, with interesting insights on the sacking of their original drummer, Pete Best, and the recruitment of Ringo Starr, up to 1964.<\/p>\n

Last, the edition comes with a 78-page booklet. The booklet\u00a0includes an essay from Howard Hampton on many of the topics already covered above, but with a spin (it’s a great essay). After the essay is a variety of excerpts from interviews with Richard Lester.<\/p>\n

Yes, it’s a great film, and this is\u00a0a grade-A Criterion-standard edition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost exactly fifty years ago, on July 6, 1964, The Beatles made their big screen debut with Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night<\/em>. Last week The Criterion Collection released a remastered dual-format edition of this revolutionary film. Trevor reviews the film and discusses the new Criterion edition. Read the full post<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"libsyn-item-id":0,"libsyn-show-id":0,"libsyn-post-error":"","libsyn-post-error_post-type":"","libsyn-post-error_post-permissions":"","libsyn-post-error_api":"","playlist-podcast-url":"","libsyn-episode-thumbnail":"","libsyn-episode-widescreen_image":"","libsyn-episode-blog_image":"","libsyn-episode-background_image":"","libsyn-post-episode-category-selection":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_use_thumbnail":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_use_theme":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_height":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_width":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_placement":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_use_download_link":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_use_download_link_text":"","libsyn-post-episode-player_custom_color":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-explicit":"","libsyn-post-episode":"","libsyn-post-episode-update-id3":"","libsyn-post-episode-release-date":"","libsyn-post-episode-simple-download":"","libsyn-release-date":"","libsyn-post-update-release-date":"","libsyn-is_draft":"","libsyn-new-media-media":"","libsyn-post-episode-subtitle":"","libsyn-new-media-image":"","libsyn-post-episode-keywords":"","libsyn-post-itunes":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-episode-number":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-season-number":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-episode-type":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-episode-title":"","libsyn-post-episode-itunes-episode-author":"","libsyn-destination-releases":"","libsyn-post-episode-advanced-destination-form-data":"","libsyn-post-episode-advanced-destination-form-data-enabled":"","libsyn-post-episode-advanced-destination-form-data-input-enabled":false,"libsyn-post-episode-premium_state":"","libsyn-episode-shortcode":"","libsyn-episode-embedurl":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[629],"tags":[642],"coauthors":[505],"class_list":["post-13356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-richard-lester","tag-criterion-collection"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/A-Hard-Days-Night-Cover.jpg?fit=348%2C490&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pqqvZ-3tq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13356"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13557,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13356\/revisions\/13557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13356"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mookseandgripes.com\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=13356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}