The Beatles Anthology 

An autobiographical documentary of the greatest of the rock bands.

Stars:

Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr

Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Paul McCartney	...	Himself / ... 8 episodes, 1995-1996
George Harrison	...	Himself / ... 8 episodes, 1995-1996
Ringo Starr	...	Himself / ... 8 episodes, 1995-1996
George Martin	...	Himself / ... 8 episodes, 1995-1996
Neil Aspinall	...	Himself / ... 6 episodes, 1995-1996
Derek Taylor	...	Himself 6 episodes, 1995-1996

Storyline

This series is a documentary on the life and times of the Beatles. It features clips from many of their songs as well as in-depth descriptions of their songs, tours, and lives.

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Plot Keywords:

the beatles | male protagonist | interracial relationship | interracial child | interracial marriage | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Music

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English French

Release Date:

11 November 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Anthology

Filming Locations:

Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Apple Corps, Capitol Records, Granada Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

600 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (DVD)

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

The idea for this retrospective first came up in 1970. Apple Corps collected as much archive footage of the band as they could from around the world. Neil Aspinall then assembled a 90 minute documentary tentatively titled "The Long and Winding Road". Plans for the completion of the project lay dormant until 1980 when all four of the former members of the Beatles agreed to a television special which was to have featured a mini-concert at its conclusion. The project was to have been broadcast sometime in the early 80's. However these plans where interrupted when John Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980.

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Quotes

George Harrison: [on The Beatles' second visit to Shea Stadium] Yeah, okay I don't remember ever going there twice...

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Alternate Versions

The performance of "All You Need Is Love" from the TV special Our World was originally in black and white but was colorized for the purpose of this documentary. Some other bits of black and white footage have been colorized, all of which use photos from the period as a reference for the colorization.

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Connections

Features Help! (1965)

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Soundtracks

Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Performed by The Beatles

User Reviews

A Long and Winding Road. . .

Having just finished watching this entire series I will keep this short as it is as close to speechless I think I will ever become:

It's been said to me countless times of films that are well over two hours long. It's always something to the effect that the time just flies by and before you know it. . .it's over. I've never known that to be quite as true as it was for The Beatles Anthology. Each episode is well over an hour long, and there are eight of them, but it never seemed like there was a wasted moment. It progressed as eloquently as the band did itself, with ever scene and interview being a logical step forward.

I am a huge Beatles fan, but really didn't expect to like this. I'm not sure why I thought I wouldn't, but something just didn't seem right about it. I'm glad I didn't go with that feeling. It is truly awesome and congers up every emotion I think I'm capable of. I know plenty of people who are not Beatles fans, but I would encourage them to still give this a chance since it really is so much more than just the story of a band.