The Beatles appeared in several films, most of which were very well received. The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960 The exception was the (mostly unscripted) television movie Magical Mystery Tour which was panned by critics and the public alike. Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long television film starring The Beatles ( John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison All of their films had the same name as their associated soundtrack albums and a song on that album.
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Films starring The Beatles
A Hard Day's Night
The Beatles had a successful film career, beginning with A Hard Day's Night (1964), a loosely scripted comic farce, sometimes compared to the Marx Brothers in style. A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British Comedy film written by Alun Owen starring The Beatles — John Lennon, Paul McCartney The Marx Brothers were a popular team of sibling Comedians who appeared in Vaudeville, stage plays film and television It focused on Beatlemania and their hectic touring lifestyle, the movie was directed in a quasi-documentary style in black-and-white by the up-and-coming Richard Lester, who was known for having directed a television version of the successful BBC radio series The Goon Show as well as the off-beat short film The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film, with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. Richard Lester (born January 19, 1932) is a British -based Film director famous for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s The Goon Show was a British Radio comedy programme originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960 The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film is a short (eleven minute Film directed by Richard Lester and Peter Sellers, and starring Spike Richard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers ( 8 September 1925 &ndash 24 July 1980) was a British Terence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan KBE ( 16 April, 1918 &ndash 27 February 2002) known as Spike Milligan, was an Anglo
Help!
In 1965 came Help!; an Eastmancolour extravaganza, which was also directed by Lester. Help! is a 1965 film starring The Beatles and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy The film was shot in exotic locations (such as Salisbury Plain, with Stonehenge visible in the background; the Bahamas; and Salzburg and the Tyrol region of the Austrian Alps) in the style of a James Bond spoof along with even more Marx Brothers-style zaniness: For example, the film is dedicated "to Elias Howe, who, in 1846, invented the sewing machine. Salisbury Plain is a Chalk Plateau in central southern England covering. Stonehenge is a Prehistoric Monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent sovereign English -speaking country consisting of two thousand Cays and is the fourth-largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg. Tyrol is a region in Western Central Europe, which included the present day Austrian state of Tyrol (consisting of North Tyrol and East James Bond 007 is a Fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve Novels and two Short story Elias Howe ( July 9, 1819 &ndash October 3, 1867) was an American Inventor and Sewing machine pioneer A sewing machine is a textile machine used to stitch Fabric or other material together with Thread. " It was the first Beatles film filmed in colour.
Magical Mystery Tour
The Magical Mystery Tour film was essentially McCartney's idea, which was thought up as he returned from a trip to the U. Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long television film starring The Beatles ( John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison S. in the late spring of 1967, and was loosely inspired by press coverage McCartney had read about Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters' LSD-fuelled American bus odyssey. Kenneth Elton Kesey ( September 17, 1935 &ndash November 10, 2001) was an American Author, best known for his major novels The Merry Pranksters are a group of people who originally formed around American Author Ken Kesey in 1964 and sometimes lived communally at his [1] McCartney felt inspired to take this idea and blend it with the peculiarly English working class tradition of charabanc mystery tours, in which children took chaperoned bus rides through the English countryside, destination unknown. Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types A charabanc (pronounced sha-ra-bang) spelt "char-à-banc" is a type of Horse-drawn vehicle or motor coach, usually open-topped common in Britain The film was critically dismissed when it was aired on the BBC's premier television network, BBC-1, on Boxing Day — a day primarily for traditional "cosy, family entertainment". Boxing Day is a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, as well as many other members of the Commonwealth While the film has historical importance as an early advance into the music video age, at the time many viewers found it plotless and confusing. A music video is a Short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music most commonly a Song with lyrics Compounding this culture clash was the fact that the film was made in colour and made use of colour filters for some of the scenes - particularly in a sequence for "Blue Jay Way". " Blue Jay Way " is a song written by George Harrison; it was first recorded and released by The Beatles on their Magical Mystery Tour In December 1967 practically no-one in the UK owned a colour receiver, the service only having started a few months earlier.
Yellow Submarine
The animated Yellow Submarine followed in 1968, but had little direct input from The Beatles, save for a live-action epilogue and the contribution of five new songs (including "Only a Northern Song", an unreleased track from the Sgt. Yellow Submarine is a 1968 animated Feature film based on the music of The Beatles. " Only a Northern Song " is a song written by George Harrison and performed by English Rock band The Beatles. Pepper sessions). It was acclaimed for its boldly innovative graphic style and especially stinging pangs of heartbreak, along with the soundtrack. The Beatles are said to have been pleased with the result and attended its highly publicised London premiere, every one of The Beatles thought their own voices (narrated by actors) were not quite right, whilst saying that the other three were perfect.
Let It Be
Let It Be was an ill-fated documentary of the band that was shot over a four-week period in January 1969. Let It Be is a 1970 film about The Beatles rehearsing and recording songs for the album Let It Be in January 1969 The documentary — which was originally intended to be simply a chronicle of the evolution of an album and the band's possible return to live performances — captured the prevailing tensions between the band members, and in this respect it unwittingly became a document of the beginning of their break-up.
The band initially rejected both the film and the album, instead recording and issuing the Abbey Road album. Abbey Road is the eleventh official album released by The Beatles. But with so much money having been spent on the project, it was decided to finish, and release, the film and album (the latter with considerable post-production by Phil Spector) in the spring of 1970. Harvey Philip Spector (born December 26 1940) is an American Record producer and Songwriter. When the film finally appeared, it was after the break-up had been announced.
Individual projects
In late 1966, John Lennon took time off to play a supporting character, Gripweed, in a film called How I Won the War, also directed by Lester. John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (born How I Won the War is a Black comedy film directed by Richard Lester, released in 1967. It was a satire of World War II films, and its dry, ironic British humour was not well received by American audiences. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including British humour is a somewhat general term applied to certain comedic Motifs that are often prevalent in comedic acts originating in the United Kingdom and its He would later produce avant garde films with his second wife Yoko Ono, such as "Rape" which was produced for the Austrian television network ORF.
In 1969, Ringo Starr took second billing to Peter Sellers in the satirical comedy The Magic Christian, in a part which had been written especially for him. Ringo Starr, MBE (born Richard Starkey on 7 July 1940 is an English Musician, Singer, Songwriter and Actor Richard Henry Sellers, CBE, commonly known as Peter Sellers ( 8 September 1925 &ndash 24 July 1980) was a British The Magic Christian is a 1969 film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. In 1971, Starr played the part of Frank Zappa in Zappa's epic cult film about a rock and roll band touring, entitled 200 Motels. Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21 1940 – December 4 1993 was an American Composer, Electric guitarist Record producer and Film director 200 Motels is a 1971 movie featuring Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, produced at Pinewood Studios, England Starr later embarked on an irregular career in comedy films through the early 1980s, and his interest in the subject led him to be the most active of the group in the film division of Apple Corps, although it was Harrison who would achieve the most success as a film producer ( The Life of Brian, Mona Lisa, Time Bandits, Shanghai Surprise, Withnail and I ) and even made a few cameos in some as well (including a reporter in All You Need Is Cash). Apple Corps Ltd is a multi-armed multimedia Corporation founded in January 1968 by British Rock band The Beatles to replace their Apple Corps Ltd is a multi-armed multimedia Corporation founded in January 1968 by British Rock band The Beatles to replace their George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001 was an English rock Guitarist Singer - Songwriter, Author Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as The Life of Brian, is a 1979 Comedy film written directed and largely performed by the Mona Lisa is a 1986 British film about a petty criminal who becomes entangled in the dangerous life of a high-class Call girl. Time Bandits is a 1981 Fantasy film, produced and directed by Terry Gilliam. Shanghai Surprise is a 1986 film starring then-newlyweds Madonna and Sean Penn, produced by George Harrison 's Handmade Films Withnail and I is a British film made in 1986 by Handmade Films. All You Need Is Cash (also known as The Rutles) is a 1978 television film that traces (in Mockumentary style the career of
Paul McCartney did a cameo in Peter Richardson's 1987 film Eat the rich and realised his own film Give My Regards to Broad Street in 1984 in which Ringo Starr can be seen as well. Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942 is an English rock Singer, Bass guitarist songwriter Composer, Eat the Rich is Peter Richardson 's 1987 British comedy from the team behind the popular television series The Comic Strip Presents Give My Regards to Broad Street is the name of a film and soundtrack album masterminded by Paul McCartney.
Documentaries
The Compleat Beatles
- see main article The Compleat Beatles
The Beatles: The First U. The Compleat Beatles, released in 1984 is a two-hour documentary chronicling the career of the " Fab Four " S. Visit
- see main article The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit
The Beatles Anthology
- see main article The Beatles Anthology (film)
Fictionalized Beatles
- Backbeat (1994), the Stuart Sutcliffe story
Inspired by The Beatles
Several fictional films not depicting The Beatles have been entirely based on Beatles themes and songs. The Beatles The First US Visit is a 2003 archive footage documentary of The Beatles ' first visit to America in February of 1964. The Beatles Anthology is a 1995 documentary series which was released as an eight volume VHS set on September 5 1996 and was transmitted on television in six abridged parts Backbeat is a 1994 film that chronicles the early days of The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany. Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 &ndash 10 April 1962 was an Artist, and the original bassist of The Beatles for two years
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), a musical
- I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), a coming of age film about Beatlemania
- All You Need Is Cash (1978), TV mockumentary featuring The Rutles
- Across the Universe (2007), a musical
Other
In The 2007 Mockumentary Film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story Dewey Cox and his bandmates go to india to pray with the Maharishi and there they encounter The Beatles with Jack Black as Paul, Paul Rudd as John, Justin Long as George, and Jason Schwartzman as Ringo. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is an American Musical film released in 1978. The musical film is a Film genre in which several Songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative I Wanna Hold Your Hand is a Comedy Film directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis that takes its name from the 1963 Beatles Beatlemania is a term that was used during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy (particularly demonstrated by young teen girls directed toward The Beatles, particularly All You Need Is Cash (also known as The Rutles) is a 1978 television film that traces (in Mockumentary style the career of Mockumentary (also known as a pseudo-documentary) a Portmanteau of Mock and documentary, is a film and TV Genre, or a single work The Rutles was a fictional band created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes as a Pastiche of The Beatles. Across the Universe is a 2007 Musical film directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures Walk Hard The Dewey Cox Story is a 2007 American Comedy film, directed by Jake Kasdan and starring John C Thomas Jack Black Jr (born August 28 1969 is an American Actor, Comedian and Musician. Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American Actor of stage, screen and Television. Justin Jacob Long (born June 2 1978) is an American Actor, known for his performances in the Films Jeepers Creepers Jason Francesco Schwartzman (born June 26, 1980) is an American Actor and Musician.
Originally the Beatles would have voiced the vultures in The Jungle Book (1967 film), but dropped out at the last minute. The Jungle Book is a 1967 animated Feature Film, released on October 18 1967.
References
- ^ http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/mmt.htm Magical Mystery Tour on Television Heaven website
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