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A Hard Day's Night (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray + DVD]
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Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
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Return this item for free
Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
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Genre | Comedy, Musicals & Performing Arts/Musicals/General |
Format | Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Widescreen |
Contributor | George Harrison, John Lennon, Richard Lester, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney |
Language | English |
Runtime | 1 hour and 27 minutes |
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From the manufacturer
A Hard Day’s Night
Meet the Beatles! Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. A Hard Day’s Night, in which the bandmates play cheeky comic versions of themselves, captured the astonishing moment when they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation and changed music forever. Directed with raucous, anything-goes verve by Richard Lester and featuring a slew of iconic pop anthems, including the title track, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” and “If I Fell,” A Hard Day’s Night, which reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video, is one of the most deliriously entertaining movies of all time.
Product Description
Product Description
John, Paul, George and Ringo spend 36 wild hours in London.
Amazon.com
Beatlemania is sweeping the Criterion Collection! This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles’ beloved musical comedy A Hard Day’s Night,and to commemorate it we’re releasing a jam-packed special edition of the film, featuring a new 4K digital restoration, a newly remixed 5.1 surround soundtrack, and hours of incredible supplements. We’re also pleased to present two other gems of sixties cool: Georges Franju’s Judex, an inventive and elegant French kidnapping caper that’s ripe for rediscovery, and Michelangelo Antonioni’s quintessential modern-age romance L’eclisse, with the gorgeous duo of Monica Vitti and Alain Delon. Then go back to the fifties for Douglas Sirk’s stunning Technicolor tearjerker All That Heaven Allows,newly restored, and ahead to the seventies for Peter Davis’s Oscar-winning documentary about the Vietnam War, Hearts and Minds, and Australian auteur Peter Weir’s mysterious breakthrough masterpiece, Picnic at Hanging Rock. These are all essential and unforgettable works of cinema.
Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 4 ounces
- Item model number : 28934710
- Director : Richard Lester
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Widescreen
- Run time : 1 hour and 27 minutes
- Release date : June 24, 2014
- Actors : John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
- Studio : Criterion Collection (Direct)
- ASIN : B00J2PQZEY
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 3
- Best Sellers Rank: #26,862 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #83 in Musicals (Movies & TV)
- #1,826 in Comedy (Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
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A scene from A Hard Day's Night
The Criterion Collection
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Criterion has an excellent catalog, and the main event is usually presented from the best elements available, but packaging varies oddly from film to film.
This time around they include an extremely nice (and thick) companion booklet, and for some reason, they chose to include a DVD copies of the film and all the bonus features along with the Blu-ray. Personally, I don't need a DVD copy, and this is the first out of many Criterion titles I've owned that has included it. So just a head's up, if the inclusion of a DVD format along with the Blu-ray is important to you, they don't always do that. :)
The movie on both DVD and Bluray, and the special features also reproduced on both formats. The Special Features are one of the most consistent sets of Extras I've seen, with no less than 3 documentaries and other items plus a very informative and quite thick book. I got this used but in great condition and I am happy I was able to snatch it.
So I ordered it not for nostalgia value, but because Beatles' Catalog Audio Upgrades are the 'holy grail' for which I surely will search my entire current lifespan. I knew going in that many of the songs had to be slowed down to match the film for technical difficulties that are as lost to history as Close'n'Plays. OK, I wondered... how's that going to affect the PITCH of the music and singers? Will George Harrison sound like The Lurch Who Lunched On Liverpool?
I needn't have worried so much. Probably Giles Martin took a sledgehammer to EMI's remaining analogue deck the day before work started, then told the brass that he'd have to do it all in the digital domain. And that would save them money anyways... it's all good...
So to our collective delight (Charles & Di we are!) the songs ARE ever so slightly slowed, but the PITCH is correct! And the song mixes/film matches are, to at least the previously uninitiated, spot on and just what they seemingly should be. In other words for audio, calling it a must have is like saying you need silverware at a new restaurant. God the sound is Divine (if you'll pardon the irreverence).
I can think of no possible further improvement that's possible for these Beatle numbers, short of a complete, catalog remix to 5.1 from the session masters, with post production approval from George & John on the Other Side.
P.S. on 7/5/14:
Sorry I forgot to mention IF you were wondering... The stereo mixes on this version of AHDN are new, like the 5.1s. You don't get ping-pong 'Beatles Stereo' ripping your attention back and forth from one side of the screen to the other. It's a fairly modern (remember Giles Martin only had 2 or 4 tracks of information to use with any of these songs) immersive stereo field showing appropriate reverence for the original intent but 'drawing less attention to itself' than the crude 2-channel releases put out in the 60's.
another P.S. on 7/6/14:
VERY sorry but I must post a correction... These song remixes ARE in fact slowed in both PACE and PITCH. Giles Martin has said it himself. He did not use digital audio editing to restore the pitch. He stated that such can be DONE, but it is problematic. He didn't SAY this in so many words, but my guess is that he preferred to leave the 'finished product' with imperfections that it already HAD, rather than fix those and introduce new ones that fans might have less patience for. I deem that a wise choice on his part, though clearly, what I deem, is irrelevant. And while you couldn't prove it with MY ears, I'm informed that the pace/pitch issue only applies to the songs the Beatles are rehearsing or performing in the 'theatre' with the 'control room monitors' on them. Songs elsewhere in the film are at normal speed.
In 2002, Beatles "expert" Martin Lewis released a new version on VHS/DVD, through Miramax, and preceded to ruin it, with a muddy soundtrack and washed-out picture. I paid big bucks for an out-of-print copy of the MPI DVD, and always watched AHDN that way. Until now.
The Criterion Collection - a collector's film label - who had released a short-lived LaserDisc version of AHDN in the early '90s - has now reissued the film, just in time for its 50th Anniversary, in both a single-disc DVD edition , and this three-disc set (two DVDs and one Blu-ray disc, both with the same content). The picture is crystal-clear, and the sound quality - stereo, 5.1, and mono - is superb. Some of the movie song mixes are noticeably different, particularly "And I Love Her," which appears for the first time in a complete true-stereo version with a single-tracked Paul McCartney vocal. The stereo album version is double-tracked, as is the U.K. mono version; original U.S. releases have the single-tracked mono version and the double-tracked stereo version.
The collection includes a nice collector's book with an appreciative essay by Howard Hampton (though I did not appreciate his cheap shot at The Monkees), and a lengthy 1977 interview with director Dick Lester. Most, but not all, of the bonus features from the previous reissues are included in this new version, including Lester's 1959 Oscar-nominated short, THE RUNNING, JUMPING, AND STANDING STILL FILM, which appeared on the MPI DVD; THINGS THEY SAID TODAY, a 2002 documentary that was on the Miramax release (the supplemental material on the second disc of the Miramax release, GIVE ME EVERYTHING!, was not included); The Making of A Hard Day's Night , a 1994 documentary with Phil Collins; and several new documentaries - one about Lester's style and influence, another one featuring The Beatles in their own words (set to archival footage), some of which also appeared as "Fab Four On Film," the original unreleased B-side to the 1982 single "The Beatles' Movie Medley" (Capitol B-5100, replaced on the commercial release by the mono mix of "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" [Capitol B-5107 and Parlophone R 6055]), and new 2014 interviews with Lester and Mark Lewisohn. There is also a commentary track with members of the film crew, assembled by Martin Lewis in 2002.
Initially, I was disappointed that the "I'll Cry Instead" prologue from the MPI DVD was not included, but then I read online that Universal Pictures added that prologue to the 1982 Dolby Stereo theatrical re-release without the consent of Dick Lester, producer Walter Shenson, or The Beatles themselves. Lester - who rejected "I'll Cry Instead" as a song selection for the original film - insisted that the prologue be deleted from all future video releases.
Interestingly, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT is the only Beatle film not owned by Apple Corps. Bruce and Martha Karsh - the managers of Walter Shenson's estate - own the film, and licensed the rights to Janus Films, who will distribute the film in limited theatrical re-release; Criterion Collection has the home-video rights. On July 5, 2014, I saw the theatrical version of the film at the West End Cinema in Washington, D.C. It was fantastic.
Since 2007, there have been restored reissues of Help! (Deluxe Edition) , Magical Mystery Tour Deluxe Box Set (Blu-ray/DVD/double-vinyl EP) , and Yellow Submarine ( previously reissued in 1999 ). Now it's time for Apple Corps to finally upgrade LET IT BE to a proper DVD/Blu-ray release - and I don't want to hear excuses about "damaging the brand" from Paul, Ringo, or anyone else in The Beatles' camp.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in Brazil on December 16, 2023
Richard Lester, who had previously worked on British radio and television, made his feature film directing debut with this picture, and he doesn't disappoint. He fares equally well with both the acting sequences and the musical numbers. The raucous style with which he directs is perfectly suited to the zany lives of the Fab Four themselves. Screenwriter Alun Owen based his script on what he and Lester observed from hanging out with the boys. And the editing by John Jympson, with Lester of course, is sensational.
The shots contain much detail, with repeated viewings revealing something new each time. Just as memorable as The Beatles characterizations are the delightful supporting cast, particularly Wilfrid Brambell as Paul's dotty grandfather. Also quite memorable are Norman Rossington and John Junkin as manager and assistant to the Fab Four, Victor Spinetti as the television director, and Kenneth Haigh as an ad-man.
Of course, the highlights of the picture are The Beatles performing many of the tracks from their third album A Hard Day's Night. All of the songs were written by John and Paul and were their best work to date. Even today, they are still among The Beatles best. My only quibble is with the filmed performance of "I Should Have Known Better", which is on record a solo vocal by John but which on film has Paul singing as well, which he didn't do. All of the other tracks, however, are musically accurate. Beatles producer George Martin composed and recorded several instrumental versions of Beatles songs, which are heard throughout the film and are also worth listening to.