A Hard Day's Night
November 2002 Reviewed by: Wes Marshall Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

A Hard Day’s Night could be subtitled "A Day in the Life." Shot like a documentary, it follows the Beatles through a difficult day of running from adoring fans, disturbing the Establishment, baby-sitting Paul’s lecherous and seditious Grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell), and throughout, making stunning music. The whole time, the fellows are wise-ass, sarcastic, and cheeky. Whenever they rub up against anyone with a modicum of authority, the wit goes into warp drive. Some of it goes by so fast that you have to listen several times (my fave: 15:57 in when the manager comes in, warning about the mob scene outside the train. He says, "The place is surging with girls." John’s reply: "Please sir, sir, can I have one to surge me sir, please sir?").

But no matter how good the Beatles were at humor, music was the deal. As recently as 2001, they had the number-one album in the world. And if you want to hear the best available masterings of "A Hard Day's Night," "I Should Have Known Better," "I Wanna Be Your Man," "Don't Bother Me," "All My Loving," "If I Fell," "Can't Buy Me Love," "And I Love Her," "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You," "Tell Me Why," and "She Loves You," this is the place. Each song comes alive in a way I’ve never heard from any other source, and that includes British and Japanese LPs and the MFSL LP set. Though it remains a 2.0 mix, through my system the whole room lit up with sound.

Miramax has given us a glutton’s feast of extras. Foremost is "Listen to the Music Playing in Your Head," a current recollection by Sir George Martin on each of the film’s songs. Film buffs will love Richard Lester’s reminiscence "Look at My Direction" which is filled with delectable minutiae. (A great example: The big shots at Music Television sent Lester a parchment scroll proclaiming he was the father of MTV. He shot back a letter demanding a blood test.) Another new production, "Things They Said Today," is filled with great trivia, including one that will hit home with folks who grew up in the '60s and '70s.

During the "Things We Said Today" section, the video shows a leggy and beautiful blonde leaning against a car. I recognized her from the film during the train scene, but didn’t know who she was and there was no listing in the film’s credits. She appears first in chapter 2, 9:16 into the film when the "talent," as John calls them, walks in. Later, in chapter 3, 16:20 in, take a look and enjoy that beauty. George did. He fell in love and married her. He wrote "Something" for her. Later, his close friend, Eric Clapton, besotted with the girl, wrote a song of anguish crying for her love. That was called "Layla." When he won her away from George (good friend, eh?) he wrote "Wonderful Tonight" for her. Thanks to this extra, we get a chance to see what all the singing was about. The muse in question was Pattie Boyd. And she is gorgeous.

So, by the way, is the mastering. The black-and-white picture (color was too expensive for this $500,000 film) shows beautiful textures. There are no visible age-related problems like scratches or bubbles. As mentioned earlier, the sound is likely the best you will hear until the Beatles catalog is re-released on SACD or DVD-A. As a nice cherry on the cake, the packaging even looks good.

A Hard Day’s Night is a must for any Beatles fan.

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