Bigger Screen Stars Than Jesus

September 6, 2007 11:03 PM

The Beatles in film: A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help! (1965), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Yellow Submarine (1968) and, finally, Let It Be [Apple rooftop concert only] (1970)
posted by Poolio (57 comments total)

What a find! What a collection! I already have these on video and DVD but I thank you muchly for the links!
posted by McLir at 11:15 PM on September 6, 2007

I never heard of these guys til now, but, damn, they've got some catchy songs!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:16 PM on September 6, 2007 [3 favorites]

Here's a great clip of Ringo, John Cleese & Peter Sellers in The Magic Christian.
posted by Poolio at 11:20 PM on September 6, 2007

Here's Paul in a 1967 BBC interview, offering up pearls of wisdom as characteristically deep stoned as ever. And a chat with David Frost, from 1964.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:27 PM on September 6, 2007

Great movies, Yellow Submarine especially -- the "Eleanor Rigby" sequence is amazing! "Nowhere Man" is pretty great, as well... as is "Hey Bulldog", a sequence that many haven't seen because it got cut from the US theatrical release.
posted by vorfeed at 11:35 PM on September 6, 2007

.
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posted by ZachsMind at 11:47 PM on September 6, 2007

Self-link to my recent FPP about The Concert For Bangladesh.
posted by Poolio at 12:18 AM on September 7, 2007

I also recommend vronsky's recent FPP about John Lennon's jukebox.
posted by Poolio at 12:23 AM on September 7, 2007

I also recommend vronsky's recent FPP about John Lennon's jukebox.

And not my Beatles FPP?

You cut me, Poolio. You cut me real deep.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:43 AM on September 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

And not my Beatles FPP?

That FPP is so 2 months ago.
posted by Poolio at 12:50 AM on September 7, 2007

I think these kids could be big. Real big.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:58 AM on September 7, 2007

To be fair, they really didn't have much to do with Yellow Submarine, and originally abhorred the idea of being turned into cartoon characters. They had to find sound-alikes for each of them (the Beatles didn't even voice their roles).

A bunch of art students worked on that film 'round the clock to finish it on time... and bits of it are quite subversive.

"Are you Bluish? You don't LOOK Bluish."

Anyway, when it came out, everyone loved it.
posted by chuckdarwin at 2:26 AM on September 7, 2007

The Beatles themselves were not enthusiastic in participating in a motion picture at the time. They had not enjoyed the production of their second feature film Help!, and had just produced and starred in the disastrous TV special Magical Mystery Tour. They did, however, see an animated film as a favourable way to complete their commitment to United Artists for a third film. Voice actors were hired to imitate the Fab Four's voices in the film. However, The Beatles were impressed after seeing a rough cut of the film, and agreed to make a live-action cameo appearance in the final scene. The cameo was originally intended to feature a post-production psychedelic background, but due to time and budget constraints a blank background remained in the final film.

Voices

* John Clive - John
* Geoffrey Hughes - Paul
* Peter Batten - George (actor Peter Batten was arrested during voice recording because he had deserted the British army, so Paul Angelis finished recording his part.)
* Paul Angelis - Ringo, Chief Blue Meanie, George

posted by chuckdarwin at 2:34 AM on September 7, 2007

I've been looking for HELP! on DVD for some time now. Any idea when it may be re-released?
posted by Gungho at 4:16 AM on September 7, 2007

A comment on youtube may have answered my question
"HELP! is finally going to be officially released on DVD with extras on October 29th (30th) in the US. Finally they are going to do it, I thought I'd never see the day. This was offically announced today! Yay!"
posted by Gungho at 4:19 AM on September 7, 2007

I have a Help! DVD, but it's a pretty rough copy, IMO.
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:19 AM on September 7, 2007

Rarely credited enough for Yellow Submarine: Heinz Edelman. As art director on the project, he designed the characters and the backgrounds, and even invented the Blue Meanies. (Also: not originally credited at all: Roger McGough, poet, whose script, it appears, prevailed among the 20 working versions.)
posted by progosk at 4:39 AM on September 7, 2007

Speaking of Help!, when I first saw it as a kid (age 8) I thought that sunken bed that Lennon had in the movie was just the coolest thing I'd ever seen, and I thought: "when I grow up, I'm gonna have a bed like that". It didn't happen, BUT... as I sleep on a futon every night that we pull out of our typical Tokyo closet and lay out onto the tatami floor, in fact I guess I came pretty close! Never really thought about that til now...

Oh, and here's the latest on that re-release of Help on DVD. I reckon I'll buy it, and relive some childhood memories.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:05 AM on September 7, 2007

(I saw "Help" a dozen times when it came out... I was crazy about The Beatles then)
posted by growabrain at 5:40 AM on September 7, 2007

Apple just announced that Help is coming out on DVD on Oct 30th.

The DVD will be a 2-disc set. Disc 1 will feature the original film digitally restored with a newly created 5.1 soundtrack, while Disc 2 contains an hour of extra features, including:

•The Beatles in Help! – 30 minute documentary about the making of the film with Richard Lester, the cast and crew. Includes exclusive behind the scenes footage of The Beatles on set.
•A Missing Scene – Featuring Wendy Richard
•The Restoration of Help! – An in depth look at the restoration process.
•Memories of Help! – The cast and crew reminisce
•Theatrical Trailers – 2 US trailers and 1 Spanish trailer.
•1965 US Radio Spots - Hidden in disc menus.
posted by gfrobe at 5:47 AM on September 7, 2007

Why isn't Let It Be out on DVD yet? I know it was released on VHS and I think laserdisc in the 80s, but disappeared after that.
posted by zorro astor at 5:56 AM on September 7, 2007

Why isn't Let It Be out on DVD yet?

I was surprised right from the start that the Beatles ever sanctioned the release of that movie in the first place. It's such a cold and unforgiving look at four guys who are obviously disintegrating as a unit, and who (right up until that rooftop concert where they miraculously pull it off) can hardly get through a few bars of any tune without said tune falling apart or stumbling down some sorry path of bum notes and incoherent mumbling. Or grumbling. Or taking thinly veiled sarcastic swipes at each other. Maybe surviving members Paul and Ringo just don't want it officialy re-released.

Or, hell, maybe it's just waiting its turn in line, official release in the pipeline but still a few years down the road, behind 4 or 5 other Beatles products...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:37 AM on September 7, 2007

A Hard Day's Night is simply a masterpiece, a post modern pop cultural staple. I could watch it again and again.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger Fab Four fan than I, but Help! kind of represented the beginning of the end to me. Seeing the Beatles too stoned, too blase and too boring didn't do much for me. What's astonishing to me is that the two films were only separated by a year.

I'm not sure what gfrobe is talking about above, because my wife bought me the 4 DVD Help set about 4-5 years ago, if memory serves. While the feature is a meh-fest, it contains some truly outstanding candid documentary footage of the Beatles on their American tour (the stint on Sullivan, a show in DC, private moments of them in their hotel and in the limo). It's tremendous and very much worth the cost if you can find it.
posted by psmealey at 7:29 AM on September 7, 2007

A Hard Day's Night is simply a masterpiece, a post modern pop cultural staple. I could watch it again and again.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger Fab Four fan than I, but Help! kind of represented the beginning of the end to me. Seeing the Beatles too stoned, too blase and too boring didn't do much for me. What's astonishing to me is that the two films were only separated by a year.
posted by psmealey at 7:32 AM on September 7, 2007

well.... that was wierd. I must be stoned
posted by psmealey at 7:33 AM on September 7, 2007

Yeah, it's the beginning of the end for you, psmealey!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:40 AM on September 7, 2007 [2 favorites]

Yellow Submarine was the first film my parents ever took me to. I saw it in Santiago Chile. I can't recall if it had the bulldog sequence. I do recall not being surprised by it when I most recently watched the film a few years ago, so I think it probably was in the version I saw.

Steve Jobs can't get the records for iTunes in a year and change of teases, come ons, and pleading while Google and YouTube have volunteer instances of the films? Dude must be shredding his mock turtleneck.
posted by mwhybark at 7:45 AM on September 7, 2007

Heh, everyone I know considers the Beatles to have really begun when they started getting stoned.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:47 AM on September 7, 2007

Everyone you know's favorite band's later period sucked.
posted by psmealey at 7:57 AM on September 7, 2007

Although I can't verify it, I've always believed that Sir Paul put the kaybosh on re-releasing Let it Be. The movie is mostly him, anyway - and almost NO Lennon. And while none of them come off in a particularly good light, it's particularly damning to Paul, I think.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 8:11 AM on September 7, 2007

(and besides, everyone knows that guitar groups are on the way out...)
posted by fingers_of_fire at 8:12 AM on September 7, 2007

If they had just stopped after Help, they'd be considered "that really good pop band that teenage girls went crazy for in the early 60s."
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 8:22 AM on September 7, 2007

The movie is mostly him, anyway - and almost NO Lennon.

Lennon's there, it's just that he's obscured in most shots by Yoko's hair.

And while none of them come off in a particularly good light, it's particularly damning to Paul, I think.

You know, it's interesting you should say that. I've seen the movie maybe 3 or 4 times, even fairly recently, and I thought Paul was pretty much the only one making any real attempt to move things along, make something happen. And to really try to work out the music. Lennon is just... elsewhere, Harrison is basically kind of pissed off, and Ringo, well, he was playing the drums, as usual, but didn't seem to be bringing a whole lot of enthusiasm to the proceedings.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:30 AM on September 7, 2007

What flapjax said. That's my impression as well, though it's been a number of years since I'd seen it.
posted by psmealey at 8:45 AM on September 7, 2007

A Hard Day's Night is one of the best movies ever made, in my opinion, and it is a true shame that Richard Lester no longer makes movies.
posted by shmegegge at 9:00 AM on September 7, 2007

A Hard Day's Night is one of the best movies ever made, in my opinion, and it is a true shame that Richard Lester no longer makes movies.
posted by shmegegge at 9:00 AM on September 7, 2007

GOD DAMN FUCKING JRUNS!
posted by shmegegge at 9:00 AM on September 7, 2007

A Hard Day's Night is one of the best movies ever made, in my opinion, and it is a true shame that Richard Lester no longer makes movies.

You can say that again.
posted by beagle at 9:11 AM on September 7, 2007 [2 favorites]

How topical--I'm seeing Taymor's Across the Universe tonight! Can't wait.
posted by rmless at 9:13 AM on September 7, 2007

If they had just stopped after Help, they'd be considered "that really good pop band that teenage girls went crazy for in the early 60s."

Oooh, good "what if" scenario, TheOnlyCoolTim! I would have to agree: they'd probably be recalled as "the best pop-rock band of the Sixties", ranked somewhere below the Stones, Who, and Zeppelin, but above the Kinks, the Faces, and Hollies.
posted by Lord Kinbote at 9:41 AM on September 7, 2007

Yes, but if they had broken up just after Revolver, they'd be known as the greatest band of all time.
posted by psmealey at 9:45 AM on September 7, 2007

Also a huge fan of A Hard Day's Night.

It does an amazing job of taking you to a specific time and place without feeling dated, more as if a modern documentary maker had been able to travel back in time. It also has this crazy, infectious enthusiasm unlike anything I've felt in any other film, not forced but simply presented as a fact.
posted by vacapinta at 10:05 AM on September 7, 2007

Well, they broke up after Abbey Road / Let It Be depending on how you look at it, and they're still known as the greatest band of all time, unless you can name some serious contenders?
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:15 AM on September 7, 2007

it is a true shame that Richard Lester no longer makes movies
True, but The Return of the Musketeers sucked pretty bad.
Further proof that, no matter what the problem, C. Thomas Howell is not the solution.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:18 AM on September 7, 2007

The thing to remember about The Return of The Musketeers is that that's the movie that sent him into retirement. When Roy Kinnear died during filming, it changed Lester. The man who started making that movie was not the man who finished it.
posted by shmegegge at 10:22 AM on September 7, 2007

"A Hard Day's Night" is awesome, but I've always had a soft spot for "Help!" Of course it's totally goofy; it was three decades ahead of "Austin Powers" in terms of spoofing mid-'60s British spy films. But the Beatles' humor and individual personalities still come through, and it's really just a fun, loose movie with some great music sequences.

And oh, Eleanor Bron. How many movies today would feature a sassy and sexy "foreign" heroine like her? (I'll admit the movie's geopolitics are dated, but Ahme comes through as the smartest character.)

(As Yo La Tengo said: "I spent so much time dreaming about Eleanor Bron
In my room with the curtains drawn
Seeing her in the arms of Paul
Saying, "I can say no more")
posted by Sterling Hoyt at 10:29 AM on September 7, 2007

A friend of mine had Let It Be on laser disk. I love that movie. I know it's not the happy go lucky stuff of their earlier movies, but that's a good thing. I remember reading that during those sessions when things would grind to a halt, George would play different Bob Dylan tunes on his guitar to pass the time.
posted by Sailormom at 10:41 AM on September 7, 2007

(And ladies, who can resist tiny Paul clad only in a Wrigley's gum wrapper?)
posted by Sterling Hoyt at 10:46 AM on September 7, 2007

TheOnlyCoolTim, recommend you get your tongue-in-cheek detector fixed. Current model not properly functioning.
posted by psmealey at 10:52 AM on September 7, 2007

f@m, I agree that Paul is the only one SEEN making any kind of effort, but a few things come to mind: first, he just comes across as a control-freak to me. I mean, in a cringe-inducing way. Other reports I've read (I'm thinking of Revolution in the Head) further this notion that he was really running the show, and the other Beatles were perhaps not so happy about it. Does anyone know how involved he was in the actual making of the film? Did he offer input as to editing? There's footage in the Anthology of him making very specific suggestions about camera angles - makes me think that, even if he didn't play a hand in the actual shooting and editing, at the very least he had the most developed relationship with the film makers, and perhaps that led to a more Paul-centric cut. I may have my timing off here, but I think John was a junkie at the time, George was over it, and (as we know now from Patty Boyd), Ringo was probably more than a little pissed to learn that George had been sleeping with Maureen. (Boggles my mind to think about how much I know about these people's lives...)

There's also Anthology footage of Paul, Ringo, and George discussing the ill-fated notion of an actual concert - and even in that little sequence, you see so much more of Ringo and George than in virtually any other scene from the movie. It's really ALL about Paul. Now, I'm not suggesting that that's inaccurate as far as their relative involvements, but it does suggest to me that he has the most to lose in terms of reputation by the release of that film. In the New Yorker article from earlier this years, he talks about how, after the break-up, he was drinking alot and feeling very lost. I think we see the seeds of that crisis of confidence in this movie.

Also, let's not forget that John contributed some great tunes - "Dig A Pony", "Don't Let Me Down", "Across the Universe", for example. No doubt these were rehearsed quite a bit - yet as I recall, so much of the film features rehearsal footage of "Two of Us" and "I've Got a Feeling". I posit that this was an editrial choice.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 10:58 AM on September 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

TheOnlyCoolTim, I have more than a few musician friends who think that the Beatles' best period was up to (and including) A Hard Day's Night. They rightly point out that the deepest grooves that Ringo ever recorded were on A Hard Day's Night (Tell Me Why, anyone?). I know that John Lennon himself agreed, for what it's worth. I don't agree, myself - can't really overlook the accomplishments of the later 60s - but that early stuff is absolutely kick-ass rock and roll. Both Lennon and McCartney's vocals are among the fiercest ever recorded. The writing is great, the arranging is great... sure, it's all way more SIMPLE than the latter stuff, but that doesn't make it less EFFECTIVE. If anything, the opposite is the case. IMHO.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 11:03 AM on September 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

You know, I maybe going off on a tangent here but I think this is what's great with the Internet.

I remember when I was 10 years ago, just before the Internet really took off, how difficult it was to watch movies like this. For example, when I first learned about Yellow Submarine, I was able to find a copy at the local video store but when the store got bought out by Blockbuster, they got rid of Yellow Submarine. A year or so later, when I got Internet access, I ocassionally would see bootleg copies of Yellow Submarine for $40 or so on eBay.

I was finally able to get a copy on tape when it got rereleased in 2000.

Now? I could just watch the thing on Google with no problem. Amazing.

I still need to see "Let It Be" though.

Good link, by the way.
posted by champthom at 12:08 PM on September 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

Poolio, I watched Help! before bed last night and woke up in a good mood. Thank you.
posted by Superfrankenstein at 1:08 PM on September 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

A bit off-topic, but Eleanor Bron fans should note that she's at The Old Vic in the stage adaptation of "All About My Mother" (with Diana Rigg and Mark Gatiss) and is getting good reviews.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 4:03 PM on September 7, 2007

didn't joe orton do the the original screenplay for hard days night ?
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:05 PM on September 7, 2007

sgt. serenity: are you thinking of Up Against It?
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 4:42 PM on September 7, 2007

they're still known as the greatest band of all time, unless you can name some serious contenders?

The Shaggs, man, the Shaggs. Better than the Beatles.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:00 PM on September 7, 2007