Stubs - Moana (1926)

Moana. A Romance of the Golden Age (1926) starring Ta’avale Uni, Fa’amgase Súa-Filo, Pe’a Taulealea, Tu’ungaita. Directed by Robert J. Flaherty and Frances Hubbard Flaherty. Produced by Robert J. and Frances Hubbard Flaherty. Written by Robert J. and Frances Hubbard Flaherty. Black and White. Run time: 98 minutes. USA. Silent with sound, Documentary

If you ever wondered where the term "documentary" comes from, you need look no further than a contemporary review of this film. Scottish filmmaker, film theorist, and critic John Grierson, writing for The New York Sun under the name “The Moviegoer”, coined the term in his review on February 8, 1926, the day after Moana opened. Grierson is considered by many to be the father of British and Canadian documentary film. Despite that, many view the film as more docufiction.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Despite having influenced a number of major metal acts, among them Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Motörhead and Slash, the Canadian metal band Anvil has remained largely under the radar for most of their careers. Their dedication in spite of this would later inspire a rockumentary in 2008 called Anvil! The Story of Anvil (Anvil!), which documents the trials and tribulations the band faces around the recording of their thirteenth album, This Is Thirteen. While a previous viewing of this film inspired me to pick up a few Anvil albums myself, all of which I still own, I decided to give it another viewing shortly after watching the Spın̈al Tap duology, due to comparisons between the two bands, and found that it still holds up as a powerful story.

Megadeth: Behind the Mask

For the last 41 years, Megadeth have created a legacy as one of the “Big Four” of thrash metal, alongside Anthrax, Slayer and Metallica. Although Dave Mustaine, the band’s founder and only constant member, hasn’t created an empire on the same level as Metallica, the band who famously kicked him out, serving as the catalyst for the creation of Megadeth, he has still found great success in his own right, including sixteen albums and contributions to several film and video game soundtracks, plus tours that regularly sell out in the thousands. In that time, Mustaine has also been through a lot physically, including a successful battle against throat cancer and, most recently, Dupuytren's contracture, which has affected his ability to play guitar. Before closing the book on Megadeth, however, Mustaine has decided he’ll go out on his own terms, including a seventeenth and final studio album, Megadeth, and an extensive global farewell tour. Part of the buildup to the final album’s release included Megadeth: Behind the Mask, an immersive feature that’s both an extensive interview regarding the band’s 40-year history and a world premiere listening party for Megadeth, complete with Mustaine’s own track-by-track reflections. A unique film for sure, but one that did its job remarkably well.

Stubs - Beatles ' 64

Beatles ’64 (2024) starring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr. Directed by David Tedeschi, Produced by Martin Scorsese, Margaret Bodde Run time: 106 minutes. Black and White. U.S./United Kingdom. Documentary.

Every Beatles anniversary gets some sort of celebration, whether it’s the 50^th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper getting a box set and a remix, or as with 2024, the 60^th anniversary of The Beatles arrival in the U.S. To celebrate this occasion, there have been several releases during the year, including a Mega block set that re-enacted their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, two separate Record Store Day releases, including 3-inch singles of all the songs they sang on that first show, a collection of vinyl mono releases from 1964, and now Beatles ’64, a “new” documentary that premiered on November 29, 2024 on the Disney+ streaming platform.

Stubs - Second Look - Let It Be

Let it Be (1970, re-released 2024) starring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg Produced by Neil Aspinall Run time: 88 minutes (originally 80 minutes) Color, United Kingdom, Music, Documentary

Having waited nearly 50 years to rewatch Let It Be, your first reaction may very well be, what was all the fuss about? There is a mythology surrounding the film, perhaps more to do with what had happened soon before its release in May 1970, The Beatles' breakup, rather than what actually happens in the film itself.

Having more recently seen the longer, Peter Jackson version, Get Back, it is hard not to compare the two. The original film was intended to be a television documentary about The Beatles doing their first live concert since the Cow Palace on August 29, 1966. The film turned into a documentary of the group working, but still ended with a live performance, the unannounced, free, rooftop concert on January 30, 1969.

Stubs - The Real Charlie Chaplin

The Real Charlie Chaplin (2021) Narrated by Pearl Mackie. Starring Jeff Rawle, Paul Ryan, Anne Rosenfeld, Dominic Marsh. Directed by Peter Middleton, James Spinney. Written by Oliver Kindeberg, Peter Middleton, James Spinney. Produced by John Battsek, Mike Brett, Jo Jo Ellison, Steve Jamison, Ben Limberg. Run time: 114 minutes. Color/Black and White. USA. Documentary.

With few options for entertainment on a recent flight, I happened across this documentary. Being a fan of Charlie Chaplin, I was interested by the title. With someone like Charlie Chaplin, the real can and does, in this film, refer to different facets of the man’s life. Primarily, there is separating Chaplin from the Tramp character that he invented while working for Mack Sennet’s Keystone studio.Then, there’s Chaplin’s Tramp vs. the apparently many impersonators, including those who, in essence, made their own Tramp films. And then, there's really who is Charlie Chaplin, the man himself.

Stubs - The Automat

     

The Automat (2021) Starring Mel Brooks, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elliott Gould, Colin Powell, Carl Reiner, Howard Schultz. Directed by Lisa Hurwitz. Written by  Michael Levine. Produced by  Lisa Hurwitz. USA Run Time: 79 minutes. Color. Documentary.

In 1902, Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart founded the first automat in the United States in Philadelphia. An automat, for those who might not know, are fast food restaurants wherein food and drink were served via vending machines. Inspired by Max Sielaff's AUTOMAT Restaurants in Berlin, Horn and Hardart would open their first in Philadelphia before opening one in New York City in 1912. At their height there would be in excess of 100 restaurants, as well as a popular chain of retail outlets.

Footage, not from the film, showing life at the Automat.

Stubs - The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein

The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein (2018) Starring: Jean-Claude Carrière, Béatrice Chéramy, Christopher Frayling, Gwyneth Jones, Laurent Lantieri, Miranda Seymour, Fiona Stafford. Directed by Jean Froment. Writer: None Credited. Produced by Matthieu Belghiti, Thibaut de Corday. Run time: 55 minutes. France. Color. Documentary, Horror, Sci-Fi

Written when she was only 18, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is considered by many to be the first true science-fiction story. The documentary The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein examines not only the writing of the novel, but also how it relates to Shelley’s life, science, literature and the theme of Man's quest for the secret of Life.

Stubs - Nanook of the North

Nanook of the North (1922) Starring Allakariallak, Nyla, Cunayou. Directed by Robert J. Flaherty. Written by Robert J. Flaherty. Produced by Robert J. Flaherty. Run time: 79 minutes. USA. Black and White. Silent. Documentary.

The very earliest films, produced by the Lumière Brothers were what are known as "Actualités", short pictures of real people in real places. The first of these films was La sortie des usines Lumière (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory), (1895), was also the first film exhibited by the Lumières on December 28, 1895. These sorts of films were the precursors to what would become documentary films.

While not the first documentary, Nanook of the North by Robert J. Flaherty was the first full length documentary to achieve commercial success. As such, it would show the financial viability of the genre and would inspire other filmmakers and films to come.

Stubs: The Beatles: Get Back

The Beatles: Get Back (2021) Starring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr. Directed by Peter Jackson. Produced by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon, Olivia Harrison, Peter Jackson, Clare Olssen, Jonathan Clyde United Kingdom, New Zealand, United States Color Run time: 360 minutes Documentary.

On January 2, 1969, with loose plans to do a live concert, The Beatles, at Paul McCartney’s guidance, gathered together in Twickenham Studios to rehearse, write songs and record for what was planned to be a TV Special. An ambitious project to write, rehearse and perform new songs, The Beatles gave themselves less than a month to pull it together. While the Deluxe Edition of the album Let It Be will attest to, they not only came up with enough material for an album, they also worked on songs that would appear on their last album Abbey Road and also on solo records from McCartney, Lennon and Harrison. The live concert finally found a home, the rooftop at Apple Corps, and took place on January 30, 1969.

In between starting the project and the concert, the recordings moved from a film studio to their own company, George Harrison would briefly leave the group, and keyboardist Billy Preston would join the sessions.

The TV Special would become the film Let It Be, and was seen by many to be documenting the disintegration of the greatest rock and roll group of all time. It didn’t help matters that the film was released after the group’s official breakup and that no member of the band went to the premiere.

The Cartoonist

Whether you’re a longtime comic book reader or just exploring works that fall outside of the Big Two of Marvel and DC, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Bone, a highly-successful, award-winning 55-issue epic from the mind of Jeff Smith. During a quest from one of our contributors to devour every piece of Bone media, we obtained a copy of The Cartoonist (full title The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, Bone and the Changing Face of Comics), a 2009 documentary about Jeff Smith’s career and the creation and surprise success of Bone. With the success of Smith’s first Kickstarter, for two TUKI graphic novels, we finally watched the documentary, which proved insightful even for those who hadn’t read any of his works before.

Daft Punk Unchained

Of all the things to happen so far this year, the one thing I expected the least was the recent and sudden split of French house duo Daft Punk, whose music I discovered in high school and whose body of work I have been a fan of ever since. As a way to honor their legacy, I decided to watch the 2015 documentary Daft Punk Unchained, which I had heard about and didn’t actually watch until now, through a French import of a DVD/Blu-ray Steelbook set on a region-free player. Though I knew some stuff about the band already, this documentary taught me information about the duo that I didn’t know about before and gave me better insight into their musical ideology and impact.

Stubs - The Endless Summer

The Endless Summer (1966) Starring: Mike Hynson, Robert August. Narrated by Bruce Brown. Directed by Bruce Brown. Written by Bruce Brown. Produced by Bruce Brown.  Run Time: 95 minutes. United States. Color. Documentary

If you have ever eaten at an Island’s Restaurant, no doubt you’ve seen footage of snow skiers and surf riders that they used to show on an almost endless loop. They can be fascinating to watch. If you’re expecting The Endless Summer, Bruce Brown’s ode to traveling the globe looking for the perfect wave, to be more of the same, then you will be sadly mistaken. There is much more to The Endless Summer than simply footage of surfers and waves, though there is plenty of both.

Bruce Brown was no novice to filmmaking, having begun in 1957 after his discharge from the Navy with the film Slippery When Wet, a film he was paid $5000 to make to promote the Velzy surf team, sponsored by Dale Velzy, then the self-proclaimed “World’s Largest Manufacturer” of Surfboards. An avid surfer himself, Brown would document the rise of what was then a cult sport, as he continued to make movies: Surf Crazy (1959), Barefoot Adventure (1960) and Surfing Hollow Days (1961).

For five years, the pattern had been pretty much the same. Brown would shoot a film during the fall and winter months, edit during the spring and take the film on a four-wall tour during the summer. By 1962, he was thinking if he could spend longer making a film, but he knew he would need more money. To raise the $50,000 he figured he would need, he had made Water-Logged (1962) from what he thought was the best footage from his previous films.

The original intention may have been to make a film about surfing in South Africa, but during the planning stages that idea changed. When he approached a travel agent about tickets, Brown was informed that the price of a round-trip between Los Angeles and Cape Town would cost $50 more than just circumnavigating the globe. Suddenly, the film was expanded to the idea of following summer around the planet.

To make this film, Brown decided to take the first two surfers who could afford to pay their own ways. Those two, Mike Hynson and Robert August, portrayed as wholesome friends in the films, were anything but. Neither man knew the other before the filming.

August, the brown-haired one, was a recent high school graduate who put off going to college for a year at the suggestion of his parents and counselors to take advantage of this once in a lifetime adventure. Hynson, the blonde, was older and was already becoming a part of the “counter-culture” that was beginning to take hold in America at the time. He had also been arrested for stealing surf boards from Hobie Alter. Alter not only forgave Hynson, but lent him the money to make the trip. Hynson was also interested in getting out of the states to avoid the draft and a free ticket to Vietnam.

Robert August and Mike Hynson make their way to their plane at LAX.

At the beginning of the film, the two are seen dressed in business suits carrying their surfboards as they get on a plane headed to Senegal. There they not only have to stay at an expensive $30 a night government-run hotel, but they were the first to surf the waters off that country. Their next stop was Ghana, where they introduced surfing to several villagers by the sea. They were also taken on a guided-tour by a wily taxi-driver who did it for gas money. Gasoline at the time sold in Ghana for $1 a gallon, considered a gyp to the travelers, but would now be considered a bargain price.

Scenes of the first surfing off the coast of Ghana.

The surfing gets better when the boys reach South Africa, where there is a small but devoted group of surfers in Cape Town. On a surfing safari, they are taken to the beach where the local surfers crowd on the waves. Seeking more open spaces, the boys, including Brown, hitch a ride with Terence Bullen and his son, who were driving across the country to Durban off the Indian Ocean. It was at Cape St. Francis that Brown took some of his best footage and, rather than sending it back to the states to be processed and edited, he carried it with him for the rest of the trip.

On their way to the perfect waves at Cape St. Francis in South Africa, the boys and their guide surfed down the sand dunes.

Their trip took them to Bombay, India, where there was a layover. While not part of the film, they did have their own adventure. They had heard Indian customs was confiscating cameras to avoid filming at holy sites by tourists. To avoid detection, Hynson went through his screening with several 16mm film canisters strapped to him under his suit.

From there it was on to Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Hawaii, where Hynson and August continued to surf the waters, but they were no longer the oddities they had been in Africa.

There are the occasional shots of beach bunnies and women surfers in The Endless Summer.

When they returned to the states, Brown completed editing the footage and began showing it at some small venues like he had with his other films in 1964. But this time it was clear to him that he had a hit. The film showed for a week at the Santa Monica Auditorium. While August went off to college, Brown, Hynson and some other surfers took the film on a tour around the country.

Despite their success on the road, Brown still had not found a Hollywood distributor by 1966. When he was told that it wouldn’t play 10 minutes away from the beach, Brown rented out a theater in Wichita, Kansas for two weeks starting on February 9, 1966. With some good marketing, the film played to sold out crowds.

Next, Brown blew up the film from 16mm to 35mm and rented a theater in New York, Kips Bay Theater. There he received positive reviews and the film had a successful run. Finally, there was interest from the big distributors, but most wanted to change the poster, by adding bikini clad girls to it or change the movie by adding a love-interest. The only one who didn’t want to change anything was Don Rugoff of Cinema 5 distribution.

The film turned out to be a big success, eventually making about $30 million total, making Brown very wealthy. Hynson and August thought they were owed something for the success of the film and went to see Brown, then living in Santa Barbara. Brown tried to placate them with $5,000 cash, a new car and help with starting a business. While August took him up on the offer, Hynson didn’t. A drug dealer by then, Hynson didn’t need the money, having $15,000 in his trunk, but he would later try to sue Brown and August.

In 1994, Brown would release a sequel, The Endless Summer II, in which two younger surfers, Pat O'Connell and Robert "Wingnut" Weaver, retrace Hynson’s and August’s trip. Nine years later, Bruce’s son Dana would release his own surfing film, Step Into Liquid (2003), which follows the evolution of the sport.

Not only did this film inspire many to take up wave riding and for surfers to travel, but it also had an influence, good or bad, on Hollywood. The search for the endless summer, and affording it, drives surfers into bank robbery in Point Break (1991), a film starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Gary Busey and Lori Petty.

Watching The Endless Summer is a bit of a nostalgic ride back into a much simpler time. The film avoids the politics of the day, from the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas, which happened while they were on the road, nor does it mention the Vietnam War, which was ramping up at the time.

The Endless Summer is not the stodgy documentary that we may think of when hear the word. The film was as much about entertainment as it was about education. Not only is Brown’s narration oftentimes comical, but he sort of fudges some of the details. The most extreme example is one scene that was shot later in Orange County, that makes it look like August and Hynson were surprised in the bush by a local chieftain, who was actually promoter R. Paul Allen in blackface.

Visual joke from the film shows the name of the gas station in Ghana with the high-priced petrol.

Rather than just being a linear tale of Hynson and August, which could get sometimes tedious, Brown intersperses footage from Hawaii and Malibu involving other surfers. While it breaks up the flow of the story, it does illustrate the informal approach Brown has towards the genre.

While we have come to an almost invasive approach to sports camera work, most of the film is shot from the vantage point of the beach. Instead of a microscopic view, we see full rides, even if they might have been two edited into one, which Brown has admitted to doing.

If you look at The Endless Summer as a documentary of surfing around the world in the early 1960s, you are going to be partially disappointed. While there is some of that, especially when it comes to Africa, that really isn’t the focus of the film. If you think of it as documenting two friends on an epic voyage searching for the best waves, then you’ll be disappointed there as well. Hynson and August were not only strangers thrown together, but they didn’t, as the film suggests, actually plan their trip; Brown did. The two boys were really just players in Brown’s film. In some ways, this is a precursor to "reality" shows on television, in which players react to situations they are put in and any drama is created through editing.

The Endless Summer may not be a great documentary, but it is a great surf film. A lot of fun to watch, The Endless Summer is a nostalgic look back on an era that never really existed through the eyes of two total strangers pretending to be friends. But bottom line, it is really quite enjoyable to watch, even for those of us that have never been on a longboard.

Stubs - Good Ol' Freda

Good Ol’ Freda (2013) Starring Freda Kelly. Director: Ryan White. Written by Jessica Lawson, Ryan White.Produced by Kathy McCabe Ryan White, Jessica Lawson. Run Time: 86 minutes. United Kingdom/USA Documentary

Loyalty thy name is Freda Kelly. As the personal secretary to Brian Epstein and as the head of the Beatles fan club, Freda knows a lot of dirt about the Fab Four, but she is not one to spill it. Rather, one of the few close associates not to have written a book, Freda gives away no real secrets in this crowd-funded documentary.

The title is taken from the 1963 fan club Christmas recording The Beatles recorded annually. Over the years, these recordings became more elaborate, but on the first one, they were much more casual and low key with the group sitting around a microphone speaking off-the-cuff and singing traditional carols like "Good King Wenceslas" and not so traditional ones like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Ringo." When it was George’s turn to speak, he wanted to thank the Beatles Fan Club and Freda Kelly in particular, to which the other three yell “Good Ol’ Freda!”

A native of Dublin Ireland, Freda moved to Liverpool with her family in the early 1960s. After quitting school at the age of 16, Freda worked as a typist in a corporate typing pool. One lunch, two men took her to the Cavern Club, where she heard The Beatles, then a local band, play for the first time. She became a fan and continued to make the lunchtime trek to the Cavern, where she admits to having seen the group play nearly 200 times.

The Beatles were still in leather jackets and still had
 Pete Best as their drummer when  Freda first saw them play.

Due to the casualness of the environs, Kelly was able to get to know the band on a friendly basis, even spending time in the band’s room at the club along with other fans. On occasion, members of the band might give her a ride home, much to her father’s displeasure. He didn’t like the scruffy looks of the band, then still attired in leather jackets. Kelly got involved early in the group’s fan club, taking over running it when its founder lost interest.

At these lunchtime concerts, she also made the acquaintance of Brian Epstein, the son of the owner of the NEMS department store and a fellow fan of the band. Seeing their potential, Epstein would sign the band to manage and hired Kelly to be his secretary but never quit running the Fan Club.

With the group’s growing popularity, Kelly put some organization to the Club, even using her own home address as the club’s. Letters began to flow in, quickly becoming sacks of mail, which Freda attempted to not only answer but fan’s requests come true. As an example, she once had Ringo sleep on a pillowcase sent in by a fan.

Freda with Ringo.

Not only was she close to the band members, she also became close to their families, becoming like a daughter to Ringo’s mother, Elsie Starkey. So close in fact that when there was a reception at Liverpool City Hall for the band, the Starkeys had her invited as if she was one of their own. Angie McCartney, Paul’s stepmother, also appears in the film, speaking highly of Freda.

Freda also began to write a column in The Beatles Monthly, a fan magazine, a publication that would outlast the group by a couple of years, before it was decided to shut down the fan club in 1972 when Freda left on her own to spend more time with her husband and children.

While some of what she wrote in her Beatles Monthly column was gossip, Freda is very mum about the boys’ personal lives and, as an example, if she ever dated one of them in the early days. This is not a tell-all documentary.

Freda with Paul. There were once false rumors that they had wed.

The focus is squarely on Freda, who since leaving the Beatles’ employ has continued to work as a secretary, never talking openly about her previous position. She only agreed to the documentary after the birth of her grandson, wanting him to know that Grandma once did something extraordinary. There are interviews in her home as well as field trips to some of the famous locations around Liverpool where the Beatles performed or were honored.

As far as time-frame is concerned, like most Beatles documentaries, the emphasis is on the early days. Freda recounts how the members of the band would frequently come into Epstein’s offices at NEMS and how she would get them to sign autographs on the spot or backstage at shows.

When Epstein moved Beatles operations to London, Freda was not able to go, since her father forbade it. They kept her on in Liverpool and she would make frequent trips to London, but her daily contact would end. After Epstein’s death in 1967, she would continue on with the group, even appearing as one of the passengers in their first post-Epstein project, Magical Mystery Tour.

Freda between John and George during the filming of Magical Mystery Tour.

There is very little information discussed regarding the Apple years, but she apparently carried on with the fan club until 1972, when it was dissolved. She would continue to answer mail for the next three years on her own time. Also, there is no mention of the other bands that Epstein managed, even though none were ever as big. There are interviews with members of The Merseybeats, a band that played in the Cavern when the Beatles did and apparently still performs today, but no mention if they were also represented by NEMS or not.

Freda with George near the end of her 11-year employment.

For someone who spent 11 years with The Beatles, she has very little memorabilia, just four boxes that she keeps in the attic, having, she said, given the rest away to Beatles fans. She admits to always having been one herself so she could empathize with other fans' wants and desires. Freda never seemed to forget that she was in a special position. When she discovered one member of her then staff was trying to pass off someone else's hair as Paul's, she fired everyone since she didn't know who she could still trust.

Even as the Beatles were breaking up, Freda was still working for them.

While of the two surviving members only Ringo appears in the documentary, and even then only during the credits sequence, the Beatles are apparently squarely behind it, allowing archival footage as well as several of their own songs to be used; quite a feat for a documentary with a budget of about $60,000.

Freda Kelly, as she was when the documentary was
made; one of the unsung heroes of  Beatlemania.

Good Ol’ Freda shines the light on one of the unsung heroes of Beatlemania. No doubt there were other typists infatuated by the group when it played lunchtime concerts at the Cavern, but things might have been very different if it weren’t for dedicated people like Freda Kelly helping to shape their image. One more ingredient in the formula that made The Beatles the biggest act in the world.

For other Beatles films, see our Beatles Film Review Hub: http://trophyunlocked.blogspot.com/2014/02/review-hub-beatles-on-film.html

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (2016) Starring: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr Directed by Ron Howard. Written by Mark Monroe. Produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Scott Pascucci, and Nigel Sinclair. Black and White and Color. UK/USA Runtime: 138 minutes (95 minutes + Additional footage of the Beatles at Shea Stadium). Documentary

During the 1960s, The Beatles were the biggest act on the planet, so big in fact that Variety magazine named them the top entertainment icons of the 20^th century. Pretty good considering they were only recording and releasing music for a little less than 9 years; from late 1962 to early 1970.

While many today don’t think of The Beatles as a live act, since their most celebrated work came after they stopped touring in 1966, seeing them live was a memorable experience for those who were able to afford the $2 to $4 for a ticket to see them and who had a ride to the concert, since many were too young to drive. Trying to capture that magical moment is the idea behind Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years which had a short theatrical release before ending up on Hulu and eventually on DVD and Blu-Ray.

In the early 2000s, a film archivist company, One Voice, One World, approached Apple Corps., the Beatles’ company, looking for a commission to gather fan-made footage of the group performing. During the rise of Beatlemania, there was also an increase in the home use of movie cameras (think of your cell phone but much larger and with film reels). The project stalled for a few years, until Jeff Jones, the head of Apple Corps., brought in the producer of the Bob Dylan documentary “No Direction Home" and the George Harrison documentary “Living in the Material World,” Nigel Sinclair.

Sinclair was working with director Ron Howard on the film Rush (2013) and asked him if he would be interested in working on the project. Howard, in turn, brought in his long-time producing partner, Brian Glazer. In addition to Howard, Glazer, and Sinclair, Scott Pascucci, the CEO of Bicycle Music, also serves as producer.

To enhance the sound quality, Giles Martin, the son of the Beatles’ music producer, George Martin, was brought in. Giles had worked on the music for the Beatles’ Cirque du Soleil Vegas show Love. Some of the sounds were originally recorded by the Beatles but never previously released.

While part of the hook for the film is that it includes crowd-sourced footage, a lot of the footage is really from pre-existing news sources, like press conferences and previously released footage from the Beatles’ first appearance on Ed Sullivan, their Budokan concert in Tokyo and their Shea Stadium concert, though there is some fan footage involved as well. A lot of it is hand-held, sometimes out of focus and sometimes blurry, but it was certainly as heartfelt as selfies are supposed to be. There was a shared experience for those who saw them live and it is their telling of that experience that can be very interesting and they get screen time as long as they are celebrities.

The Beatles perform in England when America was just a goal.

Sigourney Weaver, who saw them at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964, recounts her own adolescent fantasy of being noticed out in the crowd.

Whoopi Goldberg was someone I would never have associated with the Beatles, but apparently, their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show had a real impact on her and her getting to see them at Shea Stadium was a true highlight for her. Her telling of that story is very moving. Surprisingly, the footage of the show looks really horrible on the big screen. Not sure why, but that has no impact on Goldberg’s story.

Elvis Costello, a fellow Liverpudlian and a musician, can speak of them on two levels, fan and contemporary. His insights as a fan growing up provide some great commentary about how fans reacted to their musical maturation.

Larry Kane, a Miami-based journalist who accompanied them on their 1964 tour, provides some very insightful recollections of his time with the group. It is from him that we see that they made an effort to be kind to their opening acts, that were largely ignored by the crowds. It is also through him that we learn the Beatles refused to perform in front of segregated audiences, which forced the Gator Bowl to allow blacks and whites to buy tickets and sit together.

Also interesting, but really unrelated to their live performance was the comments of Howard Goodall, a composer, some of whose work you might or not be familiar with. He speaks in wonderment of the Beatles’ accomplishment with melodies in terms of the work of Mozart.

The film loosely chronicles the Beatles' rise from their roots in the Cavern Club in Liverpool to super-stardom, occasionally stepping back from the progress to delve into other details, like their songwriting skills and their relationship with manager Brian Epstein, who doesn’t get mentioned until the Shea Stadium concert footage when he’s shown watching like a protective father from the sidelines. While Epstein may have failed to make them all the money they could have, he certainly succeeded in making them famous.

The Beatles perform in Washington D.C. during their first visit to the U.S.

Some time is also given over to their accomplishments in the studio, both in having number one albums, but also the maturation of their songs and the complexities that they couldn’t perform live on stage. George Martin, their producer and the most likely candidate for Fifth Beatle determination, helped shepherd them through this process and gets some of the credit he deserves.

The Beatles are also interviewed, providing the kind of insight that only one of them could provide. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were interviewed specifically for the film, while file footage of the late George Harrison and John Lennon were scoured for their insights.

The Beatles sound didn't come together until Ringo Starr joined the band.

The film hits certain highlights of the Beatles’ tours, though overall it seems a little American-centric. We see them in certain cities, but the predominant amount seems to be in the States, not England. That is not to say there aren’t performances in the UK, Japan, and Denmark, but their residence in Paris at the beginning of 1964 is shown in only as it relates to their coming to America.

Candlestick Park was the last concert The Beatles would play in front of a paying crowd.

One of my sons had a Popular Culture class in college and the professor made the asinine observation that A Hard Day’s Night (1964) was made to show audiences how they should react when they saw the Beatles. That declaration overlooked the fact that audiences were screaming for them long before United Artists had the bright idea to try and capitalize on what they thought was a fast-moving trend that would have worn itself out by mid-1964. This film is a testament that predominantly female audiences were screaming for them when they were still playing the Cavern Club and did not need to be instructed to do so.

It didn't take more than a couple of years before the Beatles tired of the "freak show" they were becoming. After the breakthrough year of 1964, 1965 seemed like a repeat. They toured and recorded extensively and made another film, Help! 1966 promised more of the same, but touring was getting to be too much of a grind and all four decided after Candlestick Park to stop touring altogether.

The film ends with the Beatles final performance on the rooftop of Apple Corp. in London. Even though the group was on the verge of breaking up in 1969, they were still a tight band and it really appears they still enjoyed playing with each other. Seeing this footage, in particular, is a reminder that there is still a viable Beatles documentary waiting for a new public release. Let It Be (1970) has not been seen for years and would be a welcomed release should the Beatles’ Apple Corps. decide to finally release it for consumption again.

The Beatles perform at Shea Stadium.

In the theaters, the film is accompanied by 30 minutes of a 50-minute concert film of the Beatles’ Shea Stadium show. Among their firsts were stadium shows. While not the first, Shea was the most famous. Originally shot by Ed Sullivan’s production company, this shorter version eliminates the opening acts but contains all of their performance. Remastered in 4K, the show doesn’t really look all that enhanced.

One of the predominant questions the Beatles were asked during their 1964 tour is what were they going to do when the bubble burst. The applause at the end of the film during the showing I attended proves that the bubble never did. The Beatles may have broken up but their legacy lives on as their songs, and the screaming fans still resonate in our ears.


For other Beatles films, see our Beatles Film Review Hub: http://trophyunlocked.blogspot.com/2014/02/review-hub-beatles-on-film.html

Stubs – Charlie Is My Darling

Charlie Is My Darling (2012) Starring: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, Andrew Loog Oldham Directed by Peter Whitehead, Mick Gochanour. Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham, Robin Klein Run Time: 64 minutes. U.K. Black and White. Documentary

In 1965, the Rolling Stones were finally making a major international act. Their then new single, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, their fourth number one single in the UK, finally found them atop the charts in America, the first time they would accomplish this. At that time, a number one hit was a prerequisite for a British band to star in a movie. The Beatles had starred in A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965); Gerry and The Pacemakers starred in Ferry Cross the Mersey (1965) and The Dave Clark Five in Having A Wild Weekend (1965); so why not the Rolling Stones? At least Andrew Loog Oldham, the Stones then manager/producer, anticipated that possibility.

With the band getting ready for a quick second tour of Ireland, Oldham hired Peter Whitehead, a relatively new filmmaker, who would go on to document the counter culture in London and New York, to film the band on their two day tour, September 3 and 4, 1965. He didn’t intend for the footage to be shown, but instead wanted the band to become comfortable with having a camera around recording them. Whitehead was given complete access to the band, literally following them on their car trip to Heathrow all the way through to their return flight back to London.

Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones sleep on the plane back to London.

While no feature film deal came to pass for the Stones, what we are left with is a documentary that is sort of like the Rolling Stones starring in A Hard Day’s Night. We not only see the band before the show, in concert and relaxing afterward, we also see them writing songs, playing The Beatles’, I’ve Just Seen a Face and Eight Days a Week, as well as taking stabs at Elvis Presley and Fats Domino standards.

Keith Richards and Jagger playing and singing in their hotel room

There are snippets of interviews with the individual members of the band, as well as them in what appear to be impromptu press conferences. Like other British musicians, the Stones come across as thoughtful and well-spoken young men. Like most people in their early-twenties, they don’t seem to be thinking much about the future, unsure how long the ride on the Rolling Stones train would last. (They had no way of knowing that they would still be playing together nearly fifty years later.) Guitarist Brian Jones, who would be kicked out of the band and die in 1969, even speaks about his uncertainty of the band’s as well as his own future.

Guitarist Jones would be kicked out of the group four years later.

During this tour, the Stones played two concerts in Dublin at the Adelphi Theatre and two the following night at the ABC Theatre in Belfast. During the second Dublin concert, the band is only about three songs into their set when fans, mostly boys, run on stage and grab at the members of the band, thus ending the show. Later, Bill Wyman, bassist, who seemed no worse for the wear, would say that the fans were just looking for contact with the band.

Jones and  Jagger performing just before the stage is rushed.

The film would see a premiere at the Mannheim Film Festival in October 1966, but otherwise would not get an official release until 2012, when Whitehead’s film was restored with the help of Mick Gochanour and Robin Klein, the producers on previous Stones restored documentaries, such as The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1996) and Get Your Ya Ya’s Out (2009). Klein, the Director of Film at ABKCO, is the daughter of Allen Klein, the group’s former manager and owner of their early recordings, including this film. Klein bought out Oldham’s interest in the group in 1966, though the latter continued to produce the group until 1967.

Footage that was shelved for years was painstakingly restored as each frame was scanned into 2K and cleaned up. The sound went through a similar process, so we’re left with not only the best possible picture, but audio as well. Additionally, found footage of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards writing together was added to pad out the film to its current run time.

According to Oldham, who was interviewed separately by Dave Grohl, a rocker and documentarian in his own right, Sound City (2013), the film got its name from the fact the camera seemed to love drummer Charlie Watts, the same way, according to him, the camera did Ringo Starr in the Beatles films. Watts is a shy star, stating quite honestly that he’s only really happy when he’s at home.

Stones drummer Charlie Watts.

There is a presence around the edges of the Beatles throughout the film. Not only do they come up in the interviews with the bandmates and the Stones goof around with a couple of their rival's lesser songs, but the whole film seems to be a reality film in the vein of A Hard Day’s Night. Rather than competition, Oldham would also say The Dave Clark Five and Herman’s Hermits were the Beatles' closest chart competitors; the Stones seem to pay tribute to them with the same mocking respect they give to earlier rock and roll legends like Presley and Domino.

Bassist Bill Wyman, Jones, Jagger and Richards on stage.

But the Stones are the true stars of this film. They come across as smart and well-spoken young men who are consciously not the same on stage as off. But on stage then, and now, is where the group shines. We get to witness the group play some very raw live renditions of their early hits, The Last Time (which opens one of the shows), Time Is On My Side and Satisfaction. But the real treat are the behind the scenes footage, whether it’s Richards having his hair pulled by fans while they wait to board the plane at Heathrow or the group asleep on the flight back after the tour. This is a very nice insight into a band at the brink of superstardom. No one at the time could have predicted that the group would still be viable 50 years later, but that’s what makes this such a great and enjoyable find.

Stubs - Let It Be

LET IT BE (1970) Starring: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Mal Evans, Yoko Ono, and George Martin. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Produced by Neil Aspinall. Songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Run Time: 81 minutes. Color. UK. Documentary

It all comes down to this. The penultimate project of the Beatles as a group before breaking up, Let It Be documents the disintegration of the band that defined music in the 1960s. What the documentary set out to do was something very different. After the unpleasant recording sessions for the previous album, The Beatles aka The White Album, the group wasn’t sure how to proceed. Despite the album’s title, the recording sessions had been less a cooperative effort, with Paul and John oftentimes recording in different studios. George Martin, the Beatles longtime producer, left for a holiday in the middle of the sessions and even Ringo quit the group for a couple of weeks, tired he was of how things were going.

By 1969, Paul had taken over leadership of the band. He was filling the hole left when John, who was more fascinated with Yoko Ono than the Beatles, abdicated his position as leader of the group. Paul wanted very much for the band to continue and looked for ways of creating harmony. His first idea was to tour again, but the others were not open to it. Then the idea was to play a live concert, but once again, despite throwing around a lot of ideas, they couldn’t decide on one. They finally decided on a TV special of the band performing new songs and it was suggested that they film their rehearsals as part of perhaps a companion special. To this end, the Beatles hired Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the director of some of their earlier promotional films for "Paperback Writer", "Rain", "Hey Jude" and "Revolution".

Filming began on January 2, 1969, at Twickenham Film Studios in London. Since the group was working with a film crew, they had to work more during the day rather than at night, which had become their preferred work time. The film studio, unlike Abbey Road Studios, where the group had done most of their recordings, was cold and austere. This combined with being followed around constantly by a camera crew and it is easy to see that tension within the group did not get better. 

Twickenham Studios was not conducive to recording and harmony. 

On January 10^th, Harrison announced he was leaving the band (in a scene omitted from the film). While rehearsals and filming continued in his absence, Harrison did agree to return on the 15^th. However, he had conditions, including moving the recording sessions to Apple Records and abandoning the idea of an elaborate live concert. 

George also wanted Billy Preston (l) to be in on the sessions.

However, filming was to continue for a feature film to complete the group’s obligation to UA for a third film. (UA did not accept their brief live appearance in Yellow Submarine as a Beatles film.)

On January 21^st, filming began again. In order to improve the vibe, George invited Billy Preston, a keyboardist the Beatles had known since 1962 to join them. During these sessions, the Beatles apparently played many songs that were not featured in the film or would appear on a Beatles record. During the film, we do see the band run through McCartney’s "Teddy Boy", which appeared on this first solo album the next year. They also work on some songs that would appear on the next and last studio album, Abbey Road; "Maxwell Silver’s Hammer", "Oh! Darling" and "Octopus’s Garden".

In an effort to complete the film, the Beatles agreed on January 30^th, to do a lunchtime rooftop concert. From those sessions, the next Beatles single "Get Back" and its B-side; "Don’t Let Me Down" would be culled.

The last Beatles live appearance was the lunchtime rooftop concert that ends Let It Be.

The final film shows the Beatles falling apart, but still managing to make some pretty good music along the way. One of the original concepts of the album was to just have the Beatles play, and the film retains some of that with Paul singing "Besame Mucho", a standard they no doubt covered in Hamburg and used in their Decca audition. The group also plays covers of "You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me", "Rip It Up", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Kansas City", and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and others from their Hamburg days, some which they had previously released.

Despite the bickering, which the film manages to document, including a famous exchange between George and Paul prior to the former’s departure, there is a feeling of nostalgia. Paul can be seen talking about footage of them he had recently seen of images of them following after the Maharishi Yogi looking like they were in a trance (if memory serves me.) The group also rerecords one of their earliest songs "One After 909", the original recording of which dates back to March 1963 and can be found on the Beatles Anthology 1 album.

And despite the discord one can sense while watching, the Beatles still manage to make some great songs, including "Get Back", "Don’t Let Me Down", "Two of Us" and "I’ve Got A Feeling", all of which seem to show the Beatles enjoying playing together. "I’ve Got A Feeling" is a throwback of sorts, as it seems to be a combination of snippets that John and Paul had written individually, a la "A Day In The Life" from the Pepper album.

John and Paul could make great music together. Here they're singing "Two of Us".

Overall, the quality of the film is not helped by the fact that the original footage was shot in 16mm, blown up to 35 mm and then edited from full-frame to a wider aspect ratio by cropping off the top and bottom of every frame. So the resulting film is grainy and the composition within the frames differs from what was originally shot.

There are two problems with writing a review of the film Let It Be. First is that the soundtrack album, produced by the infamous Phil Spector, features versions of songs not found in the film, leaves out "Don't Let Me Down" entirely and, of course, the songs are overdubbed, in some cases adding strings and a choir. An attempt to correct that, Let It Be…Naked, really isn’t much better. McCartney’s 2003 attempt to strip away Spector’s Wall of Sound, sometimes uses different takes than what appeared on the 1970 soundtrack. Naked also changes the running order and eliminates the ambient talking. So one can’t listen to either and remember how it was shown in the film.

The album Let It Be isn't a true soundtrack to the movie of the same name.

The second problem is that this final Beatles film has never been released on DVD, though it was briefly released on VHS in the 1980s. It is reported that the surviving Beatles, Paul, and Ringo, don’t want it released since it shows the group in a bad light. And that is true. 

This is not the happy go lucky Beatles of A Hard Day’s Night. This is the real group at the precipice of its own dissolution. But by now, everyone knows the story and no one would be shocked to watch them bicker their way through another project. The Beatles themselves discussed the end of the group in their own Anthology documentary series.

But for a group that wanted to give their fans the best they could, it is time to once again let the fans see the men behind the curtain. Let It Be should be released so that the fans of the group can see the reality of what happened and not rely on the memories of those who managed to see it before the Beatles withdrew it from the public.

For other Beatles films, see our Beatles Film Review Hub: http://trophyunlocked.blogspot.com/2014/02/review-hub-beatles-on-film.html