A Hard Day's Night

What began as a low-budget attempt to milk a little extra money off a momentarily fashionable pop rock group is today recognized as one of the best rock films ever made (not to mention one of the best films, period), and its subject--four Liverpool lads who called themselves the Beatles--would ultimately enter the music history annals as the 20th century's greatest rock band. Director Lester's cinema vérité, occasionally surreal, semi-biography of a day in the life of a band on the run--from throngs of screaming schoolgirls and the paparazzi as they prepare for a major TV appearance--integrates songs and natural wit with a deceptively simple script by Alun Owen. Wilfrid Brambell (who rose to fame on the Britcom Steptoe and Son, later Americanized as Sanford and Son) steals every scene he's in as Paul's salty grandfather, the "clean old man." Songs include "I Should Have Known Better," "And I Love Her," "Tell Me Why," "Can't Buy Me Love," and the title song. Although previously released by MPI Media (no longer available, the MPI version sports a cleaner if not quite as sharp image, but only a Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack), the new "collector's series" edition from Miramax, with it's fuller sounding Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack--will surely be the de facto standard for years to come (especially since the MPI version is no longer available). In addition to the film, the first disc also includes a 36-minute original documentary "Things We Said Today," interviewing the principals (but not, unfortunately, either of the surviving Beatles), which looks back at the making of the film (though again, this is not as good as MPI's no-longer-available 60-minute The Beatles: The Making of a Hard Day's Night). Disc two features 25 segments arranged in 12 subject areas: mostly interviews with filmmakers (Lester, Sir George Martin), cast (all minor parts), production crew, publicist, etc., as well as a tribute to Brambell, a song-by-song soundtrack perspective by Martin, and a look at a cut scene featuring Paul and Isla Blair (represented with stills). To be honest, much of the material here will be of interest to Beatles fanatics only; most will be happy with the film itself and the retrospective documentary on the first disc. A landmark film, available once again on DVD, this is highly recommended. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray/DVD Combo Review—June 17, 2014—Criterion, 87 min., not rated, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and first on Blu-ray, 1964's A Hard Day's Night boasts a stunning transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition. Extras include cast and crew audio commentary, the 1994 “making-of” documentary “You Can't Do That” (63 min.), the 2002 “making-of” featurette “Things They Said Today” with director Richard Lester, music producer George Martin, writer Alun Owen, and cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (37 min.), an interview with author Mark Lewisohn (28 min.), a “Picturewise” segment on Lester's early work featuring a new audio interview with the director (28 min.), an “Anatomy of a Style” segment on Lester's methods (18 min.), an “In Their Own Voices” behind-the-scenes featurette with interviews of the Beatles (18 min.), Lester's Oscar-nominated 1960 short “The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film” (12 min.), trailers, and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Howard Hampton and excerpts from a 1970 interview with Lester. Bottom line: this Beatles classic makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]