New Documentary on the Beatles' First US Visit Out on 29 November!

[StephenLofty]

I enjoyed the upgraded Washington sound and visuals and some of the unseen footage is great. Sadly, there isn’t much else here for the diehards.

[Lord Reith]

I guess the biggest problem this thing has faced is that it has come out 10 months late. If it had popped up in February on Disney, it would have made a neat little commemoration along with the box of lps. But I think we all thought, "Wow, this thing must be MASSIVE if it's been held up for ten months! A three part series with a box set of MAL live recordings to go with it!" So it's a pretty big letdown to hear that it's just a run of the mill documentary of the type you'd see on BBC4 on a slow night. In fact, it's pretty hard to fathom it took two years just to make this.

[IFeelFine]

What I enjoyed: Some of the goofing in the hotel seemed new. Raising John's voice on Twist & Shout and guitar on Long Tally Sally. Using the Maysles footage for Roll Over Beethoven and She Loves you and that's about it.
I thought the video for Ed Sullivan was worse than I've seen before.
If there exists any Ed Sullivan rehearsal footage, the bit where Ringo re-told the tale of the cleaner wiping away the sound levels from the mixing desk was the ideal opportunity to use it.
I found myself fast forwarding through bits of it.
We all know The Beatles had a profound and moving effect on individuals as, no doubt we all feel it, being members of this forum.
Another missed opportunity.
Having said that, if they were to release a double CD of the complete Washington Concert and Ed Sullivan shows with levels adjusted as best as possible, I would buy it.

[Lord Reith]

There is an unseen video of the rehearsal for the first Sullivan show so the rumours go. I had dared to dream that they might have managed to sneak a bit of that in. No dice.

[fabwill]

My thoughts:

- I loved it.
- It absolutely is not the Maysles redux we thought we were getting. And that is made clear from the very start. Perhaps, given the Maysles had _4_ attempts at making the best film they could (Yeah Yeah Yeah, What's Happening, First US Visit and Making of First...), there is no real improvement to be made.
- The footage comes from all over the place. Yes, the Maysles stuff is centre stage, but we also have material from the Anthology era, today, John in 1975, Ringo and George from 1988. We have Sid Bernstein talking about Carnegie Hall (where was that from?)
- The footage all looks and sounds great (although the Sullivan material was noticeably quieter than the rest of the film). But the editing was much snappier. This release really should be followed up by re-releases of all the relevant material.
- Paul in the Brooklyn Museum was very good, and there wasn't enough of it. I would happily pay to be shown round that exhibit by him for an hour or so.
- Nearly all the talking heads have something relevant to say, and none of them are on screen too long. I did not find them intrusive.
- A lot of what I didn't recognise was footage of the girls in the streets of NY. Personally, I could watch that all day. It's a shame they only found one to interview now. We owe those girls and millions like them a huge debt - they discovered the Beatles. What lasting impact did that have on them?
- Maybe I blinked and missed it, but those 6 seconds shot by the boy running with the car did not make the film.

But I also have complaints
- I'm not entirely sure what the film was trying to say. I think it was saying 'this is the impact the Beatles had on the US' and I think the target market were the boomers who were there, but it also tried to suggest those changes would have happened anyway (John saying the Beatles were in the crow's nest, rather than steering, Paul saying it wasn't culture, something entirely disproved by his 2024 footage being filmed in a museum)
- It insults all of us when films like this are almost entirely US centric. I understand that the US is the major market, but am I really to believe that Americans will only watch footage of the Beatles playing to other Americans?
- The Kennedy replacement theory of Beatle popularity in the US is patently absurd, because the rest of the world went mad for the Beatles long before JFK was shot.

[fabwill]

Reading the reviews on here and SHF... I'm not sure I even want to see it now. I had hoped it has some new footage but everything people have described as "new" I've already seen. I suspect Apple may have meant "new to casual fans". Incomplete songs, the pointless Kennedy angle, performances from other people... and Smokey saying he saw The Beatles at The Cavern? Is he a mate of Whoopee or something? That is such a transparent falsehood. There is no way in hell Smokey could have gotten into the Cavern without the Beatles completely flipping out and being all over him. If it were true, there would be many anecdotes.

It clearly didn't happen (the first time Smokey played Liverpool was in April 1965, and the Beatles were filming Help! at the time), but I am prepared to believe that he went to the Cavern or somewhere like it and he almost certainly met them at some point, so perhaps, 60 years later, it's all got conflated in his mind. George couldn't remember playing Shea twice, not even 30 years later.

[fabwill]

Warning: my hunch is that Disney employs loads of lawyers who will not be happy if anyone offers or suggests on a public forum where to find pirated copies of their shows.

Honestly, what does a one-month Disney+ subscription cost? Ten dollars? Consider signing up for a month-- watch BEATLES '64, the LET IT BE movie, and the Peter Jackson/Get Back shows. After you've watched them all, just cancel your subscription.

Don't cancel your subscription before watching McCartney 3,2,1 too. If you have time in the month, If These Walls Could Sing also features members of your favourite beat combo.

[MarkRJones1970]

- Maybe I blinked and missed it, but those 6 seconds shot by the boy running with the car did not make the film.

You blinked!

[harrylime]

- I'm not entirely sure what the film was trying to say. I think it was saying 'this is the impact the Beatles had on the US' and I think the target market were the boomers who were there, but it also tried to suggest those changes would have happened anyway (John saying the Beatles were in the crow's nest, rather than steering, Paul saying it wasn't culture, something entirely disproved by his 2024 footage being filmed in a museum)

I agree, if it was portraying the Beatles being a massive cultural hit or even a shock to the US as a whole, I don't get what it helps to feature fan girls in a hallway and cringy exploitation like them being constantly photographed and having to give their regards on live radio. That's not just US centric, it's weirdly centric of a few very particular moments during their first stay. It feels like I was watching a supplement disc or some bonus feature.

- It insults all of us when films like this are almost entirely US centric. I understand that the US is the major market, but am I really to believe that Americans will only watch footage of the Beatles playing to other Americans?

Not only, but rather. Say they would have featured their European tour, or Asia, or even UK (like Charlie Is My Darling), Americans probably wouldn't be interested as much that it would get the funding and/or streaming deal.

- The Kennedy replacement theory of Beatle popularity in the US is patently absurd, because the rest of the world went mad for the Beatles long before JFK was shot.

It could partly explain why their success was as massive as it was. But I agree that it's one of those typical 'narrative' things in the Beatles Legend, same like the story that they didn't/couldn't go to the US before having their no 1 hit, while obviously it was already planned before Hand reached that position. But now reading my sentence, it's even weirder they didn't include that history of how and why their US visit ultimately came about in the documentary! And instead featured details like Paul's father "yes, yes, yes" and the steamer trip to Liverpool where I can't understand from what relevance it has to the story.

[MrMurphMcgee]

I watched half of it and decided to save the rest for the weekend. It’s a decent introductory documentary, but I was very disappointed. Too many talking heads. It’s always disappointing to me when the vault gets opened and only a trickle comes out because we all know that thing slams shut afterwards. A missed opportunity.