During the reign of Beatlemania, The Beatles produced two motion pictures and a TV Movie.
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
"A Hard Day's Night" was the first big screen venture for the Beatles. Originally
to be titled Beatlemania, Ringo Starr came up with the idea of A Hard Day's Night for the film's moniker. That, of course, was obviously after a hard day's night. This black and white flick was a movie version of the Beatlemania craze. Much of the film consists of physical comedy and the old "I'm a rock star being chased by ruthless fans" routine. It is a great opportunity to see and hear the Beatles and it can be easily gotten a hold of at the nearest video store.
HELP
The Beatles second adventure in movie making was "Help". The song Help, was written
by John (the song was one of his favorites as well as mine) and illustrated his own anxiety over his life. The plot of the movie centers around Ringo and one of his many rings -which actually turns out to be the
sacrificial ring of a bizarre cult. As a result, the fab four are chased not only by the cult members, but also by two demented scientists. The movie is pretty much slapstick and overall a nice little flick. The golden moments of the film include the musical numbers and Paul's adventure on the floor.
MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR
Magical Mystery Tour was a TV film inspired by writer Tom Wolfe's (Wolfe is also author of Bonfire of the Vanities and, more recently, A Man In Full) book, The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test. This book was an account of an LSD loaded bus trip made in 1965 by a hippie clan called Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters. Paul idea, stemming from this, was to load up a bus, hire a film crew, and film whatever happened on the way.
Magical Mystery Tour was actually more disastrous than magical. Although the film had its good moments, it was mostly a flop. The film's failure was partially due to the fact that movie production was not the Beatles forte'. Still, Magical Mystery Tour is the only place (aside from the versions shown on the anthology) that a performance of The Fool On The Hill, I Am The Walrus, and John's peculiar stint as a spaghetti shoveling waiter, can be seen.
"A Hard Day's Night" was the first big screen venture for the Beatles. Originally
to be titled Beatlemania, Ringo Starr came up with the idea of A Hard Day's Night for the film's moniker. That, of course, was obviously after a hard day's night. This black and white flick was a movie version of the Beatlemania craze. Much of the film consists of physical comedy and the old "I'm a rock star being chased by ruthless fans" routine. It is a great opportunity to see and hear the Beatles and it can be easily gotten a hold of at the nearest video store.
The Beatles second adventure in movie making was "Help". The song Help, was written
by John (the song was one of his favorites as well as mine) and illustrated his own anxiety over his life. The plot of the movie centers around Ringo and one of his many rings -which actually turns out to be the
sacrificial ring of a bizarre cult. As a result, the fab four are chased not only by the cult members, but also by two demented scientists. The movie is pretty much slapstick and overall a nice little flick. The golden moments of the film include the musical numbers and Paul's adventure on the floor.
Magical Mystery Tour was a TV film inspired by writer Tom Wolfe's (Wolfe is also author of Bonfire of the Vanities and, more recently, A Man In Full) book, The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test. This book was an account of an LSD loaded bus trip made in 1965 by a hippie clan called Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters. Paul idea, stemming from this, was to load up a bus, hire a film crew, and film whatever happened on the way.