The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit

The Beatles' First U.S. Visit is, behind "The Compleat Beatles" and their self-produced "Anthology", the most entertaining and revealing about this musical group of four doing what they were born to do, on the way to the crest of their musical creativity. The performances on the American "Ed Sullivan Show" are entertaining for fans and interesting as historical documents, but the true gems are the sequences of non-performance documentary footage of all four members of the group, Brian Epstein, and (briefly, hush-hush ;)) Cynthia Lennon. This footage provides a window into The Beatles' emotional state during this life-altering point in their career. They balance organized professionalism (largely achieved by Brian Epstein, often under-appreciated in that he was managing a musical act achieving unprecedented popularity with no precedented business or professional model) with their excitement of their success in America. Then and now, largely the Holy Grail of success in entertainment. It is interesting to compare their reaction to fame with, on one hand, more impressionable, and on the other hand, more stoic celebrities. Paul, as would seem to be his role in their entire career together, acts as a conduit between George, John, Ringo and their handlers, like gently encouraging Ringo to pack his suitcase thoroughly in a "mother hen" voice. Funny. Watching them listen to themselves on the radio in America, seeing footage of car-mobbing people from the INSIDE of their car, seeing John tease instrumental DJ Murray The K (none the wiser) with pervy English slang, and The "Ed Sullivan" performances themselves are priceless. Though by February 1964 they were well versed in Hotel Room culture, their upbeat moods reveal their happiness (and reported surprise) at their reception from the moment they stepped off the trans-Atlantic airplane. Seeing this week of pivotal events in rock n' roll history from is a wonderful peek behind the Beatles' curtain on par with their "Anthology" and not to be missed by any casual or greater fan. Probably, if purchased, one of the Beatles-related home media films you will find yourself repeat watching more than others. Well shot by the Maysles brothers, directed and edited. Highly recommended.

It was madness, a frenzy, a pop-music explosion that still has barely been topped in the US for sheer virtuosity and awareness. After holding off on an official US mini-tour until they got some top 10 hits- and then suddenly getting THREE that were simultaneously number 1- 72 million people, more or less depending on who's reporting, watched the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show when they finally played in New York city on his nightly program (the filmmakers, Al and David Maysles, couldn't get permission to film in the CBS studio, so they just went across the street and found an apartment with a family watching it instead). In short, Hard Day's Night wasn't quite as zany fiction but a skewed documentary.

For The First US Visit, on the fly and almost by total luck, the Maysles capture the Beatles in all their personal humor, affability, and knack with dealing with the press or the common fan (or just a little girl at one down-to-earth moment). It was the start of their particular, wonderful style of "cinema truth", where there are barely any interviews, the camera and sound is so technologically simple that they can film practically anywhere, and it verged on being a home movie. There are moments when it does become a home movie, which might be a flaw not really either the Beatles or the Maysles' fault. The approach is so new that the Beatles themselves- according to Al on the extras on the DVD- were utterly curious about how the equipment worked, and would sometimes, as would be the case during the first thrust of "Beatlemania", be self-conscious and look at the camera.

But the feeling for the most part is so natural and cool that we get to just see what the Beatles were like... which, of course, are the Beatles in all their fun, their minor moments of seriousness, their whole bewilderment at how MAMMOTH their coming to America had become. The Maysles can capture that and little details (i.e. a woman in the background of a radio station playing a song and grooving along), which is great since the documentary is inter-cut with footage from the two Sullivan appearances (NYC and Miami) and a concert at Washington DC, shot live at times like a boxing match from afar. It's the 'early' period, and it's loaded with the crying and screaming girls, and those wonderful hits "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", "Twist and Shout." It's all very sweet nostalgia and fun for the Beatles fan. 9.5/10

I thought the movie was absolutely marvelous (an inside joke to anyone who has seen the movie). This one is definitely a keeper. The footage captures the innocence of the Beatles during the begining of their career. It is full of laughs and great fun. Any beatle fan would enjoy this one and I personally would go to any lengths to get a hold of it.

This is essentially a re-edit of the Maysles brothers' documentary about the Beatles' first visit to the US. About 20 minutes from the TV movie version ("What's Happening! The Beatles in the U. S. A.") have been dropped and live footage from their Ed Sullivan Show appearances and their concert at the Washington Coliseum have been inserted.

So, here's the thing. This isn't like most Maysles projects in that they only had a small window to film the band, so the Beatles are constantly aware of and playing to the camera. To be frank, their incessant capering started to get on my nerves, and coupled with the nearly constant sound of young women shrieking at them made this a pretty tough watch. It's an invaluable document, but not one I really enjoyed.

Beatles: First U.S. Visit (1994)

*** (out of 4)

Very entertaining documentary taking a look at The Beatles as they head to the U.S. for the first time to do three Ed Sullivan shows as well as a concert in Washington, D.C.. I had seen all of the concert/Sullivan stuff in other forms but the documentary still kept me entertained with everything that was happening behind the scenes. It was fun seeing the four men off the stage, although I'm not quite sure what they were going for with all their cigarette humor. It seemed like the boys liked playing with their cigarettes with the scene where Ringo is blowing the smoke into Paul's face. The Washington, D.C. show is one I've seen and listened to before via a bootleg tape i had back in the day. I never really liked this show because it was hard understanding the band due to all the screaming girls but the audio here was a lot better. Even with that said, I can't blame the band for quitting the tours due to this type of stuff. Of the four Sullivan shows I'd say I enjoyed the last one the best as I think their version of Twist and Shout was the best performance from anything here. This documentary certainly can't be compared to The Beatles Anthology but it's still fun.