- Format: NTSC
- Language: English
- Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Alliance Films
- Release Date: Sep 9 2009
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B002JI94J4
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#1,212 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
- #28 in DVD > Music Video & Concerts
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Product Description
From Amazon.co.uk
A Hard Day's Night may have been The Beatles' first big-screen experience but, as they had become the biggest band in the world by the time of its production, the Moptops were able to ensure it was a bit different from the band-movie norm. "We'd made it clear that we weren't interested in being stuck in one of those nobody-understands-our-music plots," John Lennon would later recall. "The kind of thing where we'd just pop up a couple of times between the action, all smiles and clean shirts, to sing our latest record. Never mind all your pals, how could we have faced each other if we had allowed ourselves to be involved in that kind of movie?"
Instead the quartet recruited a young director named Richard Lester--who had previously worked with the Fab Four's beloved Goons--to make a movie that followed them as they enjoyed and endured the phenomenon that was Beatlemania. "The film wrote itself right in front of our eyes," says Lester. "We just took the dirty bits and cut them out." The result is a frenetic hour and a half inside The Beatles' personal space as they engage in all manner of surreal hi-jinks--more often than not involving Paul's "grandfather" (played by Steptoe and Son's Wilfrid Brambell) while dodging the ever-present horde of screaming fans. Although the result now seems a little dated, there remains an almost heart-breakingly good-natured aura around the foursome's naïve performances while few could argue about the quality of a soundtrack that includes "Can't Buy Me Love", "And I Love Her" and "A Hard Day's Night" itself, to name but a few. Whether the film would have been quite so successful if Lester had followed McCartney's suggestion and called it "Oh, What A Lovely Wart!" will, sadly, never be known. --Clark Collis
Amazon.com essential video
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
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Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great movie, lousy DVD,
By
This review is from: A Hard Day's Night (2 Discs) (DVD)
I have to agree that A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is the Citizen Kane of rock movies. It's funny, charming, cleverly-directed, well-scripted and beautifully shot. Most rock movies are exploitation pieces that showcase a band on the big screen with little regard to story or design. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT stands as a Film in its own right.What I don't like is the DVD. It's a lousy package. Most unforgiveable is the horrible, muddy, bass-heavy mono mix that sounds like it was produced at the bottom of a swamp. What the hell is this? My old MPI VHS tape sounds much better than this. The songs were in bright, beautiful stereo. This DVD is an abomination. Does anyone at Miramax or Apple have ears? Does anybody care, or are these corporations just interested in ripping off Beatles fans? Is there no respect for a great film and great music? Aside from that rant, I have mixed feelings about the extras. We have loads of recollections from supporting actors and bit players. These are entertaining as a whole, but the special features depend on them too much. Where's the director's commentary -- or anybody's? Where's the 50-minute documentary (narrated by Phil Collins) that came out on DVD in the mid-90s, called THE MAKING OF A HARD DAY'S NIGHT? I would rate this package 5 stars if it offered its customers something intelligent, but sadly this DVD smells of greed. Sure, you need to see A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. I just wish this release did it with class.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hard Day's Night,
By
This review is from: A Hard Day's Night [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
The picture is a slight improvement over the SD version, however the DTS Master Audio is a giant leap over the standard DTS version!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a clean old movie?,
By Steven Bussell (Roselle, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: NEW Hard Day's Night (DVD) (DVD)
When I was in high school my mom bought a record by this new group The Beatles. I wasn't impressed, give me my 409 and Shutdown. But when A Hard Days Night came out I saw it, not that many rock movies except Elvis back then. After 2 or so times through I left the theater, jwalked accross the street to the music store, bought the sheet music and retired to my guitar. I was hooked! Now ask me who's that little old man and I'll ask back What little old man. I think I have the whole thing memorized. I bought the videotape, my wife gave me the computer CD ( There are some interesting cut scenes), and later she bought me the DVD. I quess I didn't know all the script after all, The DVD version adds the clarity to really follow a great movie. The acting, these aren't actors, but you have to remind yourself of that. Compare it to say the Monkees, argh. The Writing/Directing, an English friend turned me on to the Goon Show and I thought of the movie, then discovered the Goon Show-Lester-Beatle connection and saw where the great scripting and scenes came from. A must see if you were there or want to know what it was like then.
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