News & Notes — Review: A Hard Day’s Night Criterion Release

September 15, 2014

Beatlemania has come to Janus Films and The Criterion Collection and will make a local appearance with the Burlington Film Society and the Vermont International Film Foundation. To commemorate the 50^th anniversary of A Hard Day’s Night from director Richard Lester, Janus Films has released the film theatrically with the Criterion Collection producing a dual-format blu-ray and DVD edition and a single DVD edition of the 1964 film. Since 1984, the Criterion Collection, a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films, has been dedicated to gathering the greatest films from around the world and publishing them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. The Burlington Film Society and the Vermont International Film Foundation present a theatrical screening of this new 4K restoration from the original camera negative featuring a new 5.1 surround sound mix on Thursday, September 18^th, 2014, at 7:00pm at the Main Street Landing Film House in Burlington, Vermont.

The Film

A Hard Day’s Night stars the Fab Four of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, capturing Beatlemania as it is happening. There are six new Beatles songs featured in the film, including the title track, along with other Beatles favorites. The bands energy drives the action while the songs punctuate the film. A Hard Day’s Night’s would influence the movie musical and was a precursor to the music video that became so popular in the 1980’s.

The film is directed by Richard Letter who was known for his style of fast cutting and spontaneity. Lester identified his own influence from La Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave) and its experiment with the film form. Lester often worked without a script and had the film in formed in his head. He relied on improvisation rather than rehearsal. For A Hard Day’s Night, the script was a series of one-liners which Lester would prompt for his actors, turning the camera on them to repeat back to him.

The Disc

Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night comes back to The Criterion Collection (it was originally released as a laserdisc in the 1980’s) as a new dual-format blu-ray and DVD edition and DVD-only edition presenting the film in Richard Lester’s preferred aspect ratio of 1.75:1. The beautiful 4k restoration and digital transfer was scanned from the original camera negative. The new 1080p/24hz high-definition digital transfer is presented on a dual-layer Blu-ray disc while a standard-definition version is presented on the first dual-layer DVD.

Criterion offers the film with your choice of three audio tracks: a mono 1.0 track and newly created 2.0 stereo track and 5.1 surround track. The DVD offers all the mixes in Dolby Digital while the Blu-ray presents the mono and stereo tracks uncompressed and the 5.1 surround track in DTS-HD Master Audio.

The Special Features on the dual-format release

Criterion Collection releases offer extensive special features on the history and production of their releases that enhance the appreciation of the art of film. A Hard Day’s Night dual-format edition includes the following:

Audio commentary featuring cast and crew and created from material produced by Martin Lewis in 2002 and features actors John Junkin, David Janson, and Jeremy Lloyd; cinematographer Gilbert Taylor; associate producer Denis O’Dell; second assistant director Barrie Melrose; assistant editors Pamela Tomling and Roy Bens; and others.
In Their Own Voices – During their 1964 American tour, the Beatles were often interviewed about A Hard Day’s Night. This eighteen-minute piece, consisting of behind-the-scenes stills, footage from the making of the film, and audio recordings of the Beatles, offers their views on their first movie.
Anatomy of a Style – Story Editor and screenwriter Bobbie O’Steen and music editor Suzana Peric deconstruct five of the revolutionary music sequences from A Hard Day’s Night. The interviews were recorded in the Criterion Collection offices in New York, New York offices showing posters from their releases behind the interviewees.
“You Can’t Do That”: The Making of “A Hard Day’s Night,” – This hour-long documentary from 1994, produced by Walter Shenson and hosted by musician Phil Collins who was an extra in the film, was made to mark the thirtieth anniversary of A Hard Day’s Night and features an outtake performance. The documentary features an interview with Robert Ebert where he places the film in his top five musical films.
Things They Said Today – This thirty-six-minute documentary, produced by Martin Lewis in 2002, features interviews with director Richard Lester, music producer George Martin, and other members of the film’s cast and crew.
The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1960) – a short film directed by Richard Lester and shot over two Sundays in 1959 for a cost of about seventy pounds. Nominated for an Oscar for live-action short, it features Lester, Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Graham Stark, and Bruce Lacey.
Picturewise – a new piece written and produced by critic and filmmaker David Cairns for the Criterion Collection in 2014. Narrated by actor Rita Tushingham, it looks at the influences on and impact of the early work of director Richard Lester.
The Beatles: The Road To A Hard Day’s Night – In this interview, conducted by the Criterion Collection in February 2014, Mark Lewisohn, author of The Beatles: All These Years, Volume 1 – Tune In, discusses the Beatles career up to A Hard Day’s Night.
Trailers – The 2000 and 2014 rerelease trailers.
PLUS: An 80 page book that includes the essay “The Whole World is Watching” by critic Howard Hampton and excerpts from a 1970 interview with Richard Lester on “Making A Hard Day’s Night”.

The DVD-only release special features

The new 4K digital film restoration, approved by director Richard Lester, with two audio options, a monaural soundtrack and a new 5.1 surround soundtrack.
In Their Own Voices, a new piece combining interviews with the Beatles from 1964 with behind-the-scenes footage and photos.
You Can’t Do That: The Making of “A Hard Day’s Night,” a 1994 documentary program by producer Walter Shenson
Trailer
An essay by critic Howard Hampton

The Package

The Criterion Collection “spared no expense”, to quote John Hammond from Jurassic Park, in designing and packaging A Hard Day’s Night. In 2014 the Criterion Collection started releasing dual-format packages with a blu-ray and DVD included with each release. This gorgeously packaged release includes one blu-ray disc, two DVD discs, and an 80 page book housed in a cardboard slipcase. The blu-ray and DVD’s contain the same content including the film and the extra features.

Criterion made an announcement that starting in September, they would go back to releasing separate blu-ray and DVD releases. Fans of the dual-format may want to pick it up soon as eventually future releases will go back to separate format releases.

Review by Mark Hurne