The Beatles On Film

This book provides the production history and a contextual interpretation of The Beatles' movies (A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Yellow Submarine, Let It Be) and describes their ability to project the group's image at different stages in their career. It also includes a discussion of all of The Beatles' promotional films and videos, as well as their television cartoon series and the self-produced television special Magical Mystery Tour. Along with The Beatles' feature movies and promos, this analysis also contains documentaries, such as The Compleat Beatles and Anthology, as well as dramatizations of the band's history, such as Backbeat, The Hours and Times, and Two of Us.

It's Been A Hard Day's Night, Help , Yellow Submarine, Magical Mystery Tour, Let It Be.... These were the five films made by the Beatles, films that, like the band itself, broke new ground, set new trends and became cult favorites that continue to fascinate fans a quarter of a century later. Beatles at the Movies provides detailed behind-the-scene takes on the making of these films. It describes each movie location, the antics of the Fab Four in front of -- and behind -- the camera, the day-to-day events and the sometimes unusual problems the crew encountered. It also provides in-depth information on the recordings of the songs used in each movie. Featuring a foreword by Richard Lester, director of the first two Beatles films, it gives an insider's point of view on these films that no other book has ever offered. Beatlemania has experienced a major resurgence. ABC's documentary on the band (which was re-broadcast in the fall of 1996), and the release of their two "new" singles generated tremendous fanfare. Two more double-CD sets of Beatles recordings have been released, and the Beatles are crawling all over the World Wide Web. Beatles at the Movies taps into this continuing interest, and will have tremendous appeal for movie fans and fans of the greatest rock 'n' roll band in history.

This concise yet comprehensive study explores the emblematic journey by four young men from Liverpool from the epicentre of teen-led youth culture to the experimentation of the counterculture and beyond. Beginning with the celebration of Britain’s own ‘youthquake’ in the joyous and genre-shifting A Hard Day’s Night (1964), the author delves into how the Beatles’ film work allows us to chart their subsequent musical maturation and retreat from the tribulations of stardom in Help!, their tentative attempts at improvised filming in the televised Magical Mystery Tour (1967), their acceptance of cartoon representations as leaders of the hippie counterculture in Yellow Submarine (1968), and the final implosion of their musical dynamic in the recording studios of Let It Be (1970). The book analyses how, as they grew with their fanbase, the Beatles’ films alternate stylistically between mimetic representation and allegorical interpretation, and switch narratively between fan-filled and welcoming worlds, to films relaying introspection and isolation. Offering an in-depth case study of the successes and failures of British youth culture in a volatile decade, The Beatles and Film is an engaging text for both scholars and general readers alike.

This book is meant as a companion volume to The Beatles Film & TV Chronicle 1961-1970 and covers the first ten years of the solo careers of the individual Beatles from 1971 to 1980. It is the indispensable reference book for every serious Beatles video collector, with several years worth of research and investigation into the massive amount of film material held in archives around the world. The book includes details on over 100 hours worth of solo material, with many items covered for the very first time, and is fully illustrated with over one hundred and eighty thumbnail images (b/w) taken from a variety of film sources. As a bonus, the book also includes a chapter of updates regarding recently discovered and new information about films of The Beatles as a group during the years from 1961 to 1970. Through the years the author has been consulted for several Beatles film and book projects, including the 2011 Martin Scorsese documentary: George Harrison - Living in the Material World.

In March of 1964 director Richard Lester began shooting A Hard Day's Night, a black-and-white feature film starring the Beatles. With slapstick humor and a fantastic soundtrack, the movie imagines the excitement and chaos of thirty-six hours in the life of the Fab Four, and stars John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with Wilfrid Brambell portraying McCartney's grandfather. The Making of A Hard Day's Night is a collection of photographs and rare ephemera that documents the band on set and behind the scenes. This private archive captures the infectious energy and anarchic spirit of this groundbreaking film. An authoritative essay and lively captions by Beatles’ historian Mark Lewisohn provide context and explores its impact and enduring legacy.

The definitive, critical history of the Beatles on film Throughout the sixties, the Beatles were at the heart of the British pop explosion. They have been heralded as the most fundamental cultural force of the decade and as the central innovators of sixties music, fashion, style and social change. Much has been written about the Beatles' contribution to music and pop culture, but until now, one aspect of the group's history has been largely overlooked -- their movies. Between 1964 and 1970, film was central to the Beatles' career, as a means of promoting and disseminating their music, as a source of revenue, and as a way of projecting the group's ever-changing images, attitudes and musical styles. The Beatles Movies is the first critical history of the Beatles' films, and the first to place them within the wider context of British film history. Extensively researched using historical and contemporary sources including original interviews and previously unseen footage, the book also includes rare pictures from the Apple archive and a full filmography and soundtrack discography. This is a book no fan or student of British cinema should miss. -- The first ever comprehensive study of the Beatles' five feature films -- Includes stunning exclusive photos from the Apple archive

A legendary record producer and performer takes readers on an alphabetical journey of insights into the music of the Beatles and individual reminiscences of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Peter Asher met the Beatles in the spring of 1963, the start of a lifelong association with the band and its members. He had a front-row seat as they elevated pop music into an art form, and he was present at the creation of some of the most iconic music of our times. Asher is also a talented musician in his own right, with a great ear for what was new and fresh. Once, when Paul McCartney wrote a song that John Lennon didn’t think was right for the Beatles, Asher asked if he could record it. “A World Without Love” became a global No. 1 hit for his duo, Peter & Gordon. A few years later Asher was asked by Paul McCartney to help start Apple Records; the first artist Asher discovered and signed up was a young American singer-songwriter named James Taylor. Before long he would be not only managing and producing Taylor but also (having left Apple and moved to Los Angeles) working with Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond, Robin Williams, Joni Mitchell, and Cher, among others. The Beatles from A to Zed grows out of his popular radio program “From Me to You” on SiriusXM's The Beatles Channel, where he shares memories and insights about the Fab Four and their music. Here he weaves his reflections into a whimsical alphabetical journey that focuses not only on songs whose titles start with each letter, but also on recurrent themes in the Beatles’ music, the instruments they played, the innovations they pioneered, the artists who influenced them, the key people in their lives, and the cultural events of the time. Few can match Peter Asher for his fresh and personal perspective on the Beatles. And no one is a more congenial and entertaining guide to their music.