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Meet the Beatles (Again) - Beatles on film

Posted at 2:16 AM on September 9, 2009 by The Current
Filed under: Meet the Beatles (Again)

Beatles on film
By Euan Kerr

I had an unusual childhood growing up in Edinburgh, Scotland. Yet one moment which really sticks out for me was some time in 1964. One of my classmates in kindergarten came to tell me he had a lollipop with beetles in it.

At the time I didn't see the attraction or benefit of such a delicacy, but he insisted for several days in a row that it was a huge deal, and he was the envy of his entire street. Eventually I told him I didn't believe he had such a thing. He swore he would bring it in to school to show me, despite a tragic drop suffered by the lollipop, resulting in cracks and a possible ban on future confectionary travel from his mother.

Imagine my surprise (and frankly disappointment) when the lad pulled out the now plastic-wrapped sweet and I saw the images of four mop-topped men rather than bugs. Apparently these four fellows were a big deal and about to get much bigger, but as a five year old I had somehow missed The Beatles.

I bring this up because aside from a very lucky few who saw the Fab Four play live all those decades ago, most of us only experienced The Beatles through either listening to their music or seeing their images displayed in one way or another.

I had my first exposure through a lollipop, but while there were all those TV appearances and interviews, the majority of us saw The Beatles on film.

And what we saw was wondrous strange, (and usually fun.)

Films such as A Hard Day's Night, (which The Village Voice called "The Citizen Kane of Jukebox musicals"), Help Yellow Submarine and Let it Be were opportunities to fill in the blanks as to who these four musical magicians might actually be.

Of course with the exception of that last one, they were all fantasies. But what fantasies! Imagine a world where four laid-back guys chase around the world having adventures while providing their own soundtrack.

We get to spend time with the acerbic John, the nice guy Paul, the quiet yet strong George, and the goofy Ringo, all as lovable as can be. The movies are not great art, but they are a whole lot of fun and designed to be memorable.

The scene in Help where the Fab Four each walk into a separate row house front door to enter the massive Beatle House is pure genius. It's both a visual spectacle, and the commentary on post-war life and aspiration in Britain. Then John launches into "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," which is one of the great moments in musical film.

While musicians had made movies before, the combination with Beatlemania, huge record sales, the huge concerts, and TV appearances created something newâ€"a media saturation focused on a single band. It was unlike anything seen before and perhaps since.

The early Beatles films were also important because they focused attention on the British film industry, featuring a host of comedic talent and providing the funds for a ton of other films at a time when a host of talented young directors, actors, and writers were coming to the fore.

They also spawned a host of imitations. There were a lot more bands in Liverpool and elsewhere, and so a lot of film companies jumped on the bandwagon. The Gerry and the Pacemakers film "Ferry Cross the Mersey" is fun if you can see it (and is actually a portrait of Merseybeat.) The Freddie and the Dreamers films What a Crazy World with singer Joe Brown, Seaside Swingers, Just for You and The Cuckoo Patrol are more confections than anything else. You can see the influences all the way through the Monkees (including the awful 'Head' to the Spice Girls in Spice World, which was basically a Beatles movie with longer legs and a drum machine.

The Beatles other two films as a group broke other ground.

Yellow Submarine took animation for adults to a whole new audience. There was genuine confusion about the film when it came out as audiences who were stuck on the idea that cartoons were for kids tried to get their heads around the psychedelic terrors of the Blue Meanies. But there were many converts. While their music provides the vehicle literally and metaphorically for the movie, the Beatles actually had very little to do with the film other than the final scene where they appear in person.

Let it Be was the film that actually let the public in, but chronicled the break-up of the band. The documentary captured the attempt to save the band by recording a back-to-basics album, but things were too far gone. The doc allowed fans to share one of the great moments in modern music when the band gave its final live performance on a rooftop in London.

Of course there was much more of individual film making by the Beatles over the years (How I Won the War with John Lennon is worth a look if you have never seen it), but none of it captures the excitement fun and just plain silliness of the early films.

We all have our favorite scenes from the Beatles films. Let us know what yours are and why in the comments section below. We'll all get by with a little help from our friends

Euan Kerr is senior editor for MPR News and is a contributor to the x`"State of the Arts" blog on MPR NewsQ.

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