Distributor: Second Sight
BD Release Date: 21st July 2014 (UK)
Rating: PG
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Director: Richard Lester
Cast: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Buy: A Hard Day's Night (1964) Blu-Ray
A Hard Day’s Night is the debut film featuring the mop top haired lads from Liverpool known as The Beatles. It came out in 1964, which was the height of “Beatlemania” and was directed by Richard Lester who became a very interesting director in his own right.
The “plot” of A Hard Day’s Night is basically an absurdist take on a day in the life of the fab four. The film starts with John, Paul, George and Ringo being mobbed by fans as they catch a train down to London so they can get to a show there. The rest of the film is a string of absurdist skits strung together not dissimilar to what Monty Python did later in the decade.
The film subverts the whole idea of The Beatles, which makes something much more than a “British pop film”. The Beatles knew that were hopeless as actors and they play along with that throughout. It influenced The Monkees (who I will always prefer to The Beatles) TV Show and Slade in Flame among countless others.
The film’s greatest strength and arguably what has made it last the test of time is the editing. Lester took as much influence from his time making TV adverts as from the French New Wave, so it is has the vibrant feel that the early Godard and Truffaut stuff has. It seems fresh even 50 years after its release. The “Can’t Buy Me Love” sequence is a textbook example of how to edit music and image together and has often been called the first example of music video style editing.
The restoration is exceptional; it’s from the same master as the recent Criterion release. It also includes the majority of the same special features as the Criterion release, which makes it a vital purchase for anyone interested in film.
★★★★
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