Rating: 
Summary: DVD Missed Several Important Items
Review: If you're a Beatles fans, you must buy this DVD: It has many new interviews and snippets never seen before. However, the producers missed the boat in several CRITICAL areas:1. The soundtrack is in MONO and at the wrong speed. Check out "And I Love Her" == it's one key too low. They should have taken advantage of DVD capabilities and offered the sound in MONO, STEREO, and 5.1 SURROUND. 2. Outtakes such as "You Can't Do That" were excluded -- inexcusable! 3. Just like the "Yellow Submarine" DVD, you should have the option of "Music Only." Nice try by the producers, but they overlooked several very key opportunities. This DVD will ultimately be replaced by a superior version -- it's just a question of when, not if.
Rating: 
Summary: highly reccomended
Review: I have been warned several times about getting a Hard Days night becuase of the "piss poor" music and such. But face it folks...those who are conspiring to buy this are not buying it *just* to hear the music. The point is to see the fab four in action, to hear their witty humor. Sure, the special features aren't really worth the dirt on your boot, but the movie itself is wonderful beyond beleif. For anyone who loves the beatles, I highly reccomend this. However, if you're getting it for the music....buy the album.
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Summary: A highly creative classic: the original music video
Review: "A Hard Day's Night" is one of those movies that never seems as dated as one would expect, primarily because the artistic vision and the social documentary behind it are so unique. The plot can only loosely be called a story: the Beatles are trying to get ready for a televised appearance, but distractions and obstacles abound. The running gag of Paul's grandfather is both humorous and absurd, tucked around the adventures of the Fab Four like a commercial break. Although the music may not be as crisp as one might like, you can always listen to the recordings on CD. The real reason for viewing this film is for the revolutionary cinematography and concept. (I had forgotten how avant-garde the field sequence was; it alone is worth watching this movie.) Part documentary, part musical, part comedy - "A Hard Day's Night" succeeds on levels no one at the time thought possible. Don't buy this for the special features; they are only mildly interesting. Buy it for the film itself.
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Summary: You know you love them.
Review: Lets face it: A Hard Day's Night may be the most flippantly creative, well-photographed and edited, and universally appealing of the Beatles films, but that's not why we watch it. We watch it to mooch some of that infectious, graced, joyous energy that the Four channeled into the world through their music and personalities, most especially in these early years. The Beatlemania setting and the imitative script make this the closest thing to an autobiography of the miracle they rode on that is out there; it's in the running jokes, the naturalness of their breaking into song, the boyish purity of their characters and the fact that these are the actual plot of the film. Most famously, it is in two improvised sequences: the scene where Ringo goes off for a stroll by himself, disguised, and mucks around; and the scene where they all escape their chaperones for a few precious minutes and, in aerial view, run around ecstatically on a playing field. Gaps as they are in the otherwise unending diatrabe of ego and battle with ego that is fame, these scenes become like an essence of the innocent souls that carried it all so well. In the end, you don't need commentators to say the obvious. While the chapter on people's memories of the boys is particularly entertaining, the rest of it is no better and no worse than the profusion of journalism on the Four that you can find anywhere else. As someone who tends to view all media as fictionalized, I can't think of a more satisfying capsule of fictionalized truth than this representation of the budding Beatles, or of a more appropriate way to frame them. As story and as art it is both distinctly historical and timeless.
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Summary: Inspired me to new heights of Beatlemania!!
Review: This is a phenominal movie. A Beatle classic!
Rating:
Summary: A classic, but deserved better DVD treatment
Review: I can't bring myself to give this any less than 5 stars. The movie is a timeless classic that hasn't lost anything in the nearly 40 years since its release. I don't think I have much to add to what's already been said time and time again. But this was not what I expected when I heard there was to be a deluxe DVD special edition. I have read that since Miramax was handling this release, not the Beatles' company Apple, they simply were not given access to all the material that could have been included. I've also read that there exists no outtakes or deleted scenes (except for the "You Can't Do That" sequence). Whatever the reasons, the second disc of interviews is frankly kind of boring. I would have far preferred more extensive interviews with George Martin, Richard Lester, and the screenwriter (his name escapes me at the moment) rather than people who were hardly involved at all. The primary creative personel interviews are great to have, but could have been more in-depth. Maybe an "highlights" reel could have been edited together featuring brief comments from all the bit players, and less-involved tech crew. The half-hour featurette on Disc One is pretty well done, and compliments the film nicely. But there was another Making Of DVD release, now out of print, that was far better and twice as long (worth tracking down). The MOST aggravating aspect: the DVD-ROM features. I want to read the first draft of the screenplay, but I don't have a DVD-ROM drive. I want access to all the other interesting looking features that are DVD-ROM only. I've seen far better supplemented discs that didn't need to relegate a bunch of cool stuff to DVD-ROM. C'mon! All of the second disc's regular features are talking-head interviews! But when all is said and done, this is the only in-print edition of the dvd and well worth owning for the movie itself.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful direction and photography
Review: But this film left me cold. What was cutting edge in the 60s seems so naive now. I can see the joy and wonder experienced by the Beatles, but the film is unsatisfying as I simply failed to become engaged in the plot or the [real life] characters. I'm sure anything less than a 5 star review will be voted down by other reviewers (am I off the island), but I just don't get this. And I do like the Beatles.
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Summary: Fab Four gets Five!
Review: Wonderful cinema and timeless music make this a must for any Beatles fan, my teenagers even love it!
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Summary: A fun movie with early examples of "the music video"
Review: The new edition of A Hard Day's Night is great fun. I enjoyed the black and white footage of John, Paul, George and Ringo during their "days in the life" adventures. Whether being chased by screaming fans, running around a field, or trying to curb the antics of Paul's puckish "grandfather" this film is full of energy. There's not much of a plot, so to speak, really just the Beatles preparing for a television appearance, but the skits strung together form a cohesive whole. The camera loves them, and they exude great chemistry together. There are some individual bits as well, such as John talking with the woman in the hallway, George in the marketing execs office and especially Ringo's camera adventure, that work very effectively.
The song performances are slightly different from the released versions, with a live feel, although the track is sometimes not quite in sync with the actors.
The opener features the title song, and the Beatles running all around London trying to escape legions of female funs, an echo to the Beatlemania of the day. The "I Should Have Known Better" performance on the train features a young Patti Boyd, later George's wife. My favorite is "Can't Buy Me Love" with the Beatles escaping the studio for a romp in a huge open space. The camera work in this sequence, from the aerial shots to the slow motion/speed up served as the basis for the music video art form that become popular in the 1980s.
There's also a making of featurette after than with some interesting background.
Great buy. Watchable film. Fab Four in action.
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Summary: Vic's AHDN Review
Review: First off, as mentioned in another review, I was also disappointed with the packaging. Although the gatefold photo is attractive, it is awkward to handle. I also agree that more familiar original artwork similar to the original movie lobby posters would have been much better. The design of the lettering and packaging is rather bland. I was sorry to see that the footage John Lennon called "the best stuff on the cutting room floor" i.e., outtakes and bloopers were not part of the extras. In their place where numerous interviews with bit part actors which were intriguing but a little overdone. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but as far as the video itself, it appears to be formatted to slightly "anamorphic widescreen". If that's the case, shame on Miramax for messing with the original dimensions. Lastly and most importantly, I was surprised that in the 21st century we still have to put up with "stereo roulette". The impression was given that the musical soundtrack was in stereo when it is in fact mono. To add injury to insult, in the early 90's, Criterion released a laserdisc version of this movie with a true stereo musical soundtrack, and the tunes mastered at the right speed. For all the hype of this release, it's somewhat of a disappointment in this reviewer's eyes. I hope they do a much better job with "Let It Be" and give us the rooftop concert in surround sound stereo. Cheers !
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