Over the last 20 some years since The Beatles Anthology in the mid 90's, I've consumed every Beatles documentary I could get my hands on, as well as books including biographies of individual members. So when I discovered this series many years after it was produced, I found it to be absolutely fascinating. To a non-Beatle fan, I would be somewhat boring because it is basically a series of interviews... but for anyone who thought they knew everything there was to know about the band, I loved it. I learned a lot of insider details I'd never heard before.
3 Reviews
a long and fairly boring series
vincent-2716 September 2003
This is a documentary on the Beatles, done completely with interviews from various family members, friends and aquaintances of the bands. The interviews go into excruciating detail, giving you insight into such things as how Stuart Sutcliffe got his first bass guitar and how on the Beatles first record they were named the Beat Brothers because Tony Sheridan didn't like their name. Most of it is pretty boring stuff although you do learn a few genuine tidbits of information amongst the endless blabber of people like Allan Williams. Quite bit of the information is repeated however, and there is far more talk about trivial little things than actual important things like their recordings. Check out the documentary "The Compleat Beatles", a far better (and shorter) history of this remarkable band.
Has minimal surprises but is pretty much mainstream news.
desertskies24 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
If one grew up with the Beatles influence, then one already knows of their history and troubles of touring and performing.
Did they sing at Candlestick? No.
They mouthed the words. They couldn't hear themselves due to the screaming from the fans. This had an effect that turned them off to touring. There may have been more to the story (other than the Jesus comment or threats on their lives), but it was never explained.
The clips used were stock footage. There is no on-cam interview of any Beatle. Any comment from John, Paul, George or Ringo comes from sound bites with a "Voice of" disclaimer.
I viewed it on broadcast TV and the placement of the commercials and other interruptions (Lower third crawls telling me to visit a website) added to the disappointment of wasting time watching such trivial information.
No mention at all of their roof top performance above Apple. NONE!
If you would like some great Beatles entertainment, cue up "Hard Days Night" in the DVD or the "White Album" in the CD player. Pour a nice glass of wine (red or white, your choice) and maybe twist a nice smoke. Plug in the headphones and put them on, hit play and escape to your own thoughts, beliefs, desires and memories of the Beatles and your youth.
I give this release a 3/10 rating. It wasn't compelling. Maybe a lesson in Beatles 101. As I mentioned, it came across as prefabricated, due to stock footage and no personal interviews from any of the original players. It get's a "3" since there was nothing better on TV at the time. The information used brings it to a "2" (common knowledge).
Your own memories from the days of "Paperback Writer", "I'm a Loser", "Blackbird" and early music "video" of "Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane" (runored to be the basis for the music videos we know today), will carry you to the days of the British Invasion.
The Beatles lead the pack. The memory of John deserves much better.
Did they sing at Candlestick? No.
They mouthed the words. They couldn't hear themselves due to the screaming from the fans. This had an effect that turned them off to touring. There may have been more to the story (other than the Jesus comment or threats on their lives), but it was never explained.
The clips used were stock footage. There is no on-cam interview of any Beatle. Any comment from John, Paul, George or Ringo comes from sound bites with a "Voice of" disclaimer.
I viewed it on broadcast TV and the placement of the commercials and other interruptions (Lower third crawls telling me to visit a website) added to the disappointment of wasting time watching such trivial information.
No mention at all of their roof top performance above Apple. NONE!
If you would like some great Beatles entertainment, cue up "Hard Days Night" in the DVD or the "White Album" in the CD player. Pour a nice glass of wine (red or white, your choice) and maybe twist a nice smoke. Plug in the headphones and put them on, hit play and escape to your own thoughts, beliefs, desires and memories of the Beatles and your youth.
I give this release a 3/10 rating. It wasn't compelling. Maybe a lesson in Beatles 101. As I mentioned, it came across as prefabricated, due to stock footage and no personal interviews from any of the original players. It get's a "3" since there was nothing better on TV at the time. The information used brings it to a "2" (common knowledge).
Your own memories from the days of "Paperback Writer", "I'm a Loser", "Blackbird" and early music "video" of "Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane" (runored to be the basis for the music videos we know today), will carry you to the days of the British Invasion.
The Beatles lead the pack. The memory of John deserves much better.
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