A Hard Day's Night

Rating:
Summary: We Love You Beatles!!!
Review: In the wake of Beatlemania, the Beatles could just have very well made a quickie rock film of little substance to cash in on their success before the bubble burst. The Beatles, smarter than that, did not want to make an "Elvis" movie. They were in it for the long run and were looking at their legacy. They contracted a top British playwright, Allen Owun, and hired a gifted director of comedies, Richard Lester, to craft what is probably the greatest rock 'n' roll movie and arguably one of the great screen comedies. In addition, contributions are made by a great cast of British comics (Wilfred Brambell, Norm Rossington, Victor Spinetti). With all these parts in place the question was whether could the Beatles themselves translate their lovable persona to the big screen. The answer is a resounding yes!!! Ostensibly, the story concerns the Beatles preparing for a television appearance in London while trying to simultaneously reign in Paul's mischievious grandfather. Really, the film is about the Beatles mocking their own persona and Beatlemania in particular. And what would the film be without great music. The Beatles crafted a great new set of classic songs specifically for this film. This film is still great forty years on so the Beatles obtained their objective. And I suspect that one-hundred years on people will still be viewing this film and not just as a time-capsule curiousity.

Rating:
Summary: Getting better all the time...
Review: Ahhhh...such memories. I first saw this film as a 10-year-old at a northern California drive-in theater. I sat in the front seat, while my older sister giggled in the back seat with her boyfriend. I don't think she caught much of the actual flick.

Anyway, it remains a great movie, but that's not news, as all the reviews here pretty much agree with that viewpoint. Actually though, I didn't like this version much the first time i watched it. I couldn't get past the horrible 5.1 sound. The songs sound muddy, and the only sound coming out of the rear speakers is a faint but annoying reverby mush. It sounds very sterile and fake. When the songs end the sound reverts to ONLY the center-channel speaker, making it sound like you're watching the movie on a 1964 television with a 6-inch speaker. This might not be bad if you have a great center-channel speaker, but my Yamahas are rather small. Luckily, there is a very easy fix, or at least a semi-fix. Simply switch your sound mode from surround to stereo. For me, this made all the difference in the world. The whole movie sounds much more natural and the big jolt when it goes from dialogue to music is lessened. I wouldn't say it's perfect, just a whole lot better. I'm not sure why the sound is like this, especially when I compared it to the sound coming from the DVD version of The Day The Earth Stood Still. That sounds great, and it was filmed more than a decade before A Hard Day's Night. Go figure...

Once I managed to get over the sound issue I was able to enjoy this movie a lot more. I love the widescreen look and, by the way, this is how the film was meant to be seen. The black and white is gorgeous and very clear, with excellent contrast and just a hint of film grain. Sweet. I have yet to get into the second disc with all the interviews, but I did watch the documentary on the first disc and enjoyed that tremendously. Apparently, it's kind of a preview of what's on the 2nd disc.

Rating:
Summary: I expected more
Review: I was looking forward to the release of one of my favorite films on DVD. I expected the picture and sound to be as I remembered them when I saw the film in the theater in 1964. Somebody just dubbed a video of the film onto DVD apparently with no remixing, or remastering. The soundtrack is at times inaudible, both dialog and songs. It was difficult enough to understand the Beatles' accents at times, and this version of a 40-year old film does nothing to clarify it. The included "Bonus Disk" would not play on my DVD player, so I have no idea what it contains. Still, it's a great movie, and nobody can take that away. The best Rock 'N Roll film ever made!