A Hard Day's Night

This movie is not only the quintessential portrait of the Beatles and Beatlemania (as we would like to remember them), but is a true period piece, capturing the flavor of the early Sixties. Insightful, brimming over with wit and charm (and pathos!), this film is a must. And let's not forget all the GREAT music. Don't underestimate this film: it's about more than just the Beatles.

This classic is a "must" for any DVD collection. END

One of the greatest rock 'n' roll movies ever made. This was the best film the Beatles ever made, having both an excellent script and terrific music. The film shows an exaggerated day in the life of Beatlemania, with all the hilarious hijinks and superb music that entailed. END

I saw the 1982 re-issue of this film at CARNEGIE HALL's cinema in NYC--the sound on that presentation was HORRENDOUS--screechy and tinny--like a bad DRIVE-IN theatre speaker! This DVD is just a shambles too--similar poor dynamic range,flat,compressed,lifeless sound. THE BEATLES sounding like THIS? I'll take other reviewers words regarding chopped-off cropping of the picture as well (I don't own the previous AHDN video editions to do my own A/B comparison). I'm shocked this was allowed to happen on such a high profile project.

I can't agree more with the past two reviewers. As a 'Beatle Nut', I've always looked (& listened) with intent to find something new with each new release on The Beatles, whether it's audio or video. This GARBAGE that MIRAMAX put out should be taken off the shelves. They've totally ripped their customers off (including me)! With today's technology, it seems they could have sped the audio tracks up to match the 'standard pitch' of the audio cds. Why the audio tracks 'dragged' from the onset of this movie's release in '64 is beyond me. Don't give me the excuse that it was to match the video - people are smarter than that! It's just as easy (and more appealing) to speed video images up to the audio track than vice-versa. And to rip us all off by not offering at least a nice digital, stereo track - let alone 5.1 surround / 5.1 DTS??? The mono (digitally enhanced??) track they do offer is worse than Capitol Record's version of 'Duophonic Stereo' on some of The Beatles' early cuts. Shame on MIRAMAX. Let's all start calling them MIRALAX...at least MIRALAX (an effective laxative) 'gets you moving' LOL! Seriously, people - rent it if you must see for yourself, but don't buy this piece of s*%#! You'd be better off holding the money out the window @ 70 mph on the freeway - at least somebody worthwhile might profit from you. These morons should be forced out of business!

Was looking forward to the DVD release - and low and behold a huge step backward compared to the MPI release. Maybe they did clean up the sound a bit - but that 'plus' is completely ruined by the poor print they used for this DVD. The MPI release was MUCH better, and I'm certainly holding on to mine. Thus learneth the lesson on marketing that promotes "new and improved" - especially from Miramax.

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, the Academy Award-nominated "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. Songs: I'll Cry Instead, A Hard Day's Night, I Should've Known Better, Can't Buy Me Love, If I Fell, And I Love Her, I'm Happy Just to Dance with You, Ringo's Theme (This Boy), Tell Me Why, Don't Bother Me, I Wanna Be Your Man, All My Lovin', She Loves You.

The Fab Four from Liverpool--John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr--in their first movie. Nobody expected A Hard Day's Night to be much more than a quick exploitation of a passing musical fad, but when the film opened it immediately seduced the world--even the stuffiest critics fell over themselves in praise (highbrow Dwight Macdonald called it "not only a gay, spontaneous, inventive comedy but it is also as good cinema as I have seen for a long time"). Wisely, screenwriter Alun Owen based his script on the Beatles' actual celebrity at the time, catching them in the delirious early rush of Beatlemania: eluding rampaging fans, killing time on trains and in hotels, appearing on a TV broadcast. American director Richard Lester, influenced by the freestyle French New Wave and British Goon Show humor, whips up a delightfully upbeat circus of perpetual motion. From the opening scene of the mop tops rushing through a train station mobbed by fans, the movie rarely stops for air. Some of the songs are straightforwardly presented, but others ("Can't Buy Me Love," set to the foursome gamboling around an empty field) soar with ingenuity. Above all, the Beatles express their irresistible personalities: droll, deadpan, infectiously cheeky. Better examples of pure cinematic joy are few and far between. --Robert Horton