| | |
Features: DVD, Special Edition, Black & White, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Dolby Digital Stereo, Audio Commentary, Featurettes, Interviews, Deleted Scenes, French, Dubbed
In 1964, The Beatles had just recently exploded onto the American scene with their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. The group's first feature film, A Hard Day's Night, offered fans their first peek into a day in the life of The Beatles and served to establish The Fab Four on the silver screen, as well as to inspire the music video format that has become a standard for musicians today. Now, decades later, the band's legendary popularity endures and continues to grow, and A Hard Day's Night joyfully resurrects the excitement of the group's early days.
"It's the 'Citizen Kane' of jukebox movies" Village Voice
"One of the great life-affirming landmarks of the movies." Roger Ebert
"...[a] pop masterpiece..." TV Guide
Editor's Note
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT presents a fictionalized day in the life of the Beatles as they give a performance on a live television show. Filmed just a month after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964, this film--the Beatles' first--introduces us to the unique personalities of each member of the band. The film opens with the Fab Four boarding a train mobbed with adoring young fans (mostly women) as they attempt to travel to the television studio in London. The antics of the band during rehearsals and makeup application provide a large part of the comic material in this feature, though there are other moments of pure hilarity. The unscripted vignette featuring a hangover-suffering Ringo is especially funny, particularly when he is arrested and risks having to miss the broadcast. None of this goes unnoticed by the director of the show, played by Victor Spinetti, who went on to become a recurring cast member in Beatles movies. As the clock ticks away dramatically, our heroes manage to free Ringo from jail and sneak onto the stage in the nick of time, delighted in the knowledge that they have nearly driven the director mad in the process. Arguably the first music video ever made, this faux documentary and its shooting style have been a tremendous influence on nearly every rock and roll feature since.
| Features | "Busy Working Overtime"--Post Production Crew | | "Dealing With 'The Men From The Press'"--Tony Barrow Interview | | "Dressed To The Hilt"--Gordon Millings Interview | | "Hitting The Big Time In The USA"--Sid Bernstein Interview | | "I've Lost My Little Girl"--Isla Blair Interview | | "Listen To The Music Playing In Your Head"--Sir George Martin On The HDN Songs | | "Remember All The Little Things"--"A Hard Day's Night" Scrapbook | | "Such A Clean Old Man!"--Memories Of Wilfrid Brambell | | "Taking Testimonial Pictures"--Robert Freeman Interview | | "Their Production Will Be Second To None": Interviews With The Filmmakers | | "They And I Have Memories"--Klaus Voorman Interview | | "With The Beatles"--Cast | | "Working Like A Dog"--The Production Crew | | Access To The DVD Destination Site | | Audio: English, French Dolby Digital Stereo | | Award-Winning "A Hard Day's Night" Website Archive | | DVD-ROM Features: Screenplay Viewer--Reproduction Of The Entire First Draft Of The Screenplay | | Interactive Menus | | Roundtable Discussions--Cast, Production Crew, And Post Production Crew | | Scene Selection | | A Hard Day's Night Scrap Book: Original Behind The Scenes Photos, Original Posters and Lobby Cards, Articles, Reviews and Memorabilia | | A Hard Day's Night Music Retrospective | | More Than 20 Interviews with the Filmmakers, Cast, and Crew Including Director Richard Lester and Musical Director Sir George Martin! | | An Original Documentary -- Things They Said Today... More than 30 Never-Before-Seen Minutes! | | 3 Commentary Tracks: Production, Cast, And Post Production | | More Than 20 Minutes Of Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Footage |
| Technical Info
|
Release Information
| | Studio: Buena Vista |
| Release Date: 6/6/2006 |
| Running Time: 108 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1964 | | Catalog ID: 18301 | | UPC: 00717951004864 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.66:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1965) | | | George Martin, Nominee, Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment | | | Alun Owen, Nominee, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen | |
Golden Laurel (1965) | | | John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, 5th Place, Musical Performance, Male | | | 3rd Place, Musical | |
BAFTA Film Award (1965) | | | John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Nominee, Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles |
| Memorable Quotes| "Are you a mod or a rocker?"----Reporter to Ringo|"Um, no. I'm a mocker."----Ringo (Ringo Starr) | | "What would you call that hairstyle you're wearing?"----Reporter to George|"Arthur."----George (George Harrison) to Reporter |
|
| | Professional Reviews | Premiere
"...Helter-skelter glee..." - Recommended 12/01/1995 pp.123-4Entertainment Weekly
"...[A] rapid-fire screenplay and the...Beatles' charismatic acting....Irresistible..." -- Rating: A 10/20/1995 p.75 Total Film
"...As a vehicle for the mop-tops' schoolboy humour and all-smiles-and-screams gig, it's infectious stuff..." 05/01/2001 p.100 Hollywood Reporter
"...The film is mad, mad and crazy....Imaginative..." 12/01/2000 p.13-52 Los Angeles Times
"...A HARD DAY'S NIGHT creates pure, infectious joy. Larking about is what these Beatles do best, pleasure is what they convey..." 12/01/2000 p.C4 Chicago Sun-Times
"...It was smart, it was irreverent, it didn't take itself seriously, and it was shot and edited by Richard Lester in an electrifying back-and-white, semi-documentary style..." 10/27/1996 p.5 USA Today
"...Groundbreaking..." 09/27/2002 p.16D Rolling Stone
"...Fabness itself....They look prettier than Audrey Hepburn, talk funnier than the Marx Brothers and strut sassier than Brando..." 11/27/2003 p.72 |
| |
|
|
|
