(Yeah, yeah, yeah [de])
UK 1964
d: Richard Lester
Kinowelt Home Entertainment / Arthaus (Region 2 de)
sc: Alun Owen
c: Gilbert Taylor (b/w)
e: John Jympson
pd: Ray Simm
m: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
p: Walter Shenson (Proscenium Films)
w: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, Victor Spinetti, Anna Quayle, Deryck Guyler, Richard Vernon, Edward Malin, Robin Ray, Lionel Blair, Alison Seebohm
pr: 06 Jul 1964
aw: Academy Awards 1965 Nominated Oscar Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen
rt: 84:12 (+4%PAL= 87) min
dvd-rl: 10 Jun 2001
ar: 1.78:1 (16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen)
sd: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround • English PCM 2.0 Stereo • German Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
st: German
supp: • Theatrical Trailer (1:46 min) engl./german
• Interview with Richard Lester (8:17 min)
• Short Biographies The Beatles
• Production Notes
• 'The Beatles in Film' Text Tables
• Original Quotations (text tables)
• Photo Gallery
A sanitised semi-documentary version of life on the road with John, Paul, George and Ringo, with a paper-thin storyline about difficulties with their manager and Paul's Grandpa (Brambell) serving as a linking device to connect scenes of the Fab Four in the studio, in concert, and in flight from frantic fans. Lester's gimmicky camera-trickery - jump-cuts, fast and slow motion, etc, etc - is so much icing on the cake, and has dated badly; but the mop-tops are likeably relaxed, with Lennon offering a few welcome moments of his dry, acerbic wit.
— GA, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
This is a lot more than just a funny film with the Beatles. It changed the way films were shot-and particularly the way they were edited. Bringing together influences ranging from the BBC's Goon Show to the Marx Brothers, Olsen and Johnson, and the razzle-dazzle cutting of TV commercials, Richard Lester invented a filmic form capable of expressing the consciousness that was just emerging from the culture that made (and then embraced) the Beatles. A Hard Day's Night captures that time and spirit perfectly; it's one of the most exciting movies ever made. And the music is fantastic!
— PFA
•••••
Director Richard Lester's pop masterpiece is back and better than ever, thanks to a sparkling new 35mm print and a Dolby stereo soundtrack. Refreshing, innovative and immensely funny, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT tells the story of 36 hours in the lives of the Beatles in a quirky fashion that will have you laughing from the first moment. ...
Producer Walt Shenson thought he would rush this into production and take advantage of the Beatles' immense popularity before their celebrity waned. Made in only seven weeks for just over half a million dollars, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT returned many times its cost. Its sequel, HELP (also directed by Richard Lester), cost almost three times as much, wasn't as good, and won't be remembered as long as this anarchistic, Marx Brothers-like romp. Combining surrealistic imagery and cinema verite techniques, borrowing from Fellini, Godard, Keaton, and even Busby Berkeley, Lester arrives at his own dazzling style and creates one of the most inventive pictures of the era. Alun Owen's wonderful screenplay is full of witty surprises, delivered as only the Beatles could, and a number of their classics are well integrated into the narrative.
— TV MovieGuide
