From Liverpool to the Silver Screen: Rediscovering the Beatles Through Film, Vol. 1 of ??

 "So, ferry cross the Mersey
cause this land's the place I love,

and here I'll stay..."

--Gerry and the Pacemakers, 1965

Those who follow me on social media know that January gave me the gift of my first visit to Liverpool, U.K., a little over a year after I had to abort a trip there due to train issues. This time, the train, while forcing me on an unscheduled detour, at last succeeded in getting me to the city that perhaps is best known today, from a U.S. perspective, for being the cradle of rock and roll's "British Invasion." 

With the Beatles at Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool

Before I became a classic movie buff I was an early rock fan; The Beatles were in my top five favorites (along with Buddy Holly, Jan and Dean, The Beach Boys, and The Everly Brothers). The opportunity to visit Liverpool on the back end of a London business trip rekindled the giddiness of those adolescent days, and as quite the fangirl, I relished walking the streets of downtown, touring the suburbs with the "Magical Mystery" bus tour, visiting childhood homes and other places made famous in so many songs.

Bringing the topic back to movies, of course I found myself excited to explore the wealth of films about the Beatles, including those in which they appeared. So far, I've only scratched the surface of what promises to be an extensive adventure.

Here are my thoughts about four (fab!) films I recently watched, in order of their release date:

1) A Hard Day's Night (1964): This may be the quintessential Beatles film, with the lads playing more or less themselves, through a loose script about a rock group in 1964 London trying to make it safely to a television gig despite obstacles of crazed teens and clueless adults. If you only can watch one movie to get the feel of Beatlemania in the U.K., this one is it. The boys come off as believably cheeky, Richard Lester's direction is inventive and energetic, and there is enough of that fabulous early Beatles' sound that you'll be dancing or tapping your foot at the very least, if not screaming and swaying with abandon.

TCM.com gif of the film's opening

Exhibit at the Beatles' Story Museum in
Liverpool had a interpretive piece on Richard Lester,
the director of A Hard Day's Night.

2) BackBeat (1994): I left the actual Beatles playing themselves to arrive at a narrative film that focuses on the group's early years. Before they were John, Paul, George, and Ringo, they were John, Paul, George, Stuart, and Pete, working-class Liverpudlian youths trying to earn a living playing beer halls in Hamburg, Germany's red light district. The sometimes wince-inducing grittiness (a fair amount of violence, sex and -some- drugs) makes for a tough watch, but the central relationship between John Lennon and his roommate and best friend Stuart Sutcliffe, the art prodigy whom John persuaded to take up the bass guitar in the band, is well drawn. Beatles' fans know Stuart's sad ending, but not before his commitment to Astrid Kirchherr in Hamburg laid the foundation for the band's long-lasting connection to their German friends. Stephen Dorff as Sutcliffe and Ian Hart as Lennon are terrific. Sheryl Lee (Laura Palmer in the Twin Peaks franchise) is strong and sympathetic as Astrid.

John Lennon's childhood home on Menlove Ave. in Liverpool

3. Beatles '64 (2024): Here is a new documentary produced by Martin Scorcese to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the group's historic first visit Stateside, streaming on Disney+. Director David Tedeschi relies heavily on restored footage (some never aired before) by acclaimed documentarians Albert and David Maysles to provide the backdrop, but interweaves current and archival interviews with people who were there, including Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, Jamie Bernstein (Leonard's daughter), Ronnie Spector, and many former teenage fans. I've heard some critiques of the film arguing that it tried to say too much and ended up without a clear focus, but I found the film's touching on the JFK assassination and race relations fascinating as parts of the story. I had not seen much of the Maysles' original footage, so to me what I was seeing was fresh and new. Recommended for casual Beatles' fans or anyone who is interested in 20th-century cultural history.

The Fab Four land in New York, at the recently renamed
JFK International Airport.

A nostalgic stop on the Magical
Mystery Bus Tour

4.  Midas Man (2024). This Brian Epstein biopic was many years in the making, and apparently had a troubled production history. As it screened publicly only at a few film festivals in the U.S., I had to stream it here on Olyn.com). Fans of the Beatles know that Epstein pulled the Beatles out of obscurity in Liverpool (post-Hamburg), got them a record contract against tall odds, and managed them into the stratosphere of superstardom. He then built a music management behemoth in the U.K. and U.S., but dealing with severe emotional turmoil being gay and Jewish in a less-than-accepting society, he became addicted to prescription drugs and sadly succumbed to an accidental overdose in 1967 while trying to hold together the bands he managed. Having read Ray Coleman's competent biography, The Man Who Made the Beatles, I can say the film does a reasonable job with accuracy and empathy, leaning on the skills of lead Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The Queen's Gambit). Supporting him were veterans Emily Watson and Eddie Marsan as Epstein's parents. With the exception of Eddie Izzard and Jay Leno (in a cameo as Ed Sullivan), the actors playing the Beatles were unknown to me and unremarkable. While the film is worth seeing, this by-the-numbers biopic works best for the casual fan who doesn't know much about Epstein. I came away feeling the film was just a bit too glossy, the anti-BackBeat if you will, with the highs not high enough and the lows not low enough. Check it out, though; your mileage may vary.

Epstein is credited with (among other things) putting the Beatles in suits
to smarten their image in the early days. 

Statue of Epstein near his former Liverpool
record store from which he walked to the
Cavern Club to discover the Beatles.

I would love your comments on what Beatles films I should watch next!

My 5 favorite Powell & Pressburger films

In honor of the recent release of Martin Scorcese's documentary Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, which I saw recently at the cinema, I present my five favorite (so far) films from this legendary filmmaking team, counting down from #5 to my #1.

First, for those not familiar with Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, they were a director/writer team who flourished as independent British filmmakers in the mid-20th century with a wide-ranging filmography and consistent innovation. They hired the best actors and crews working at the time, and thanks to the efforts of Scorcese's Film Foundation, many of their films have been restored to their original brilliance. Many are on DVD and streaming platforms, and some can be seen in your local independent cinema.

Michael Powell (left) and Emeric Pressburger in consultation (image
from Criterion.com)

#5: The Red Shoes (1948): Arguably the best-known of Powell & Pressburger collaborations, it has it all: music, dance, high drama, art vs. life, life imitating art, incredible technicolor, and gorgeous settings. A bonus is the film debut of the luminous dancer Moira Shearer. Watch the original trailer here: 

#4: A Matter of Life and Death (1946): I recently had the opportunity to see this on the big screen, and it was a blast. I had seen it earlier on the small screen, but the black and white scenes in the bureaucratic afterlife were so stunningly rendered, which only really "popped" in the cinema. I also found Roger Livesey to be a complete delight in his secondary but critical role as the doctor who defends our hero. And Marius Goring, who was the serious composer in love with Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes, here is fantastic as a petulant French 18th-century angel who failed to transport David Niven to the hereafter. Spoiler: It has a feel-good ending. 

Residents of the afterlife are summoned to witness a trial.

Watch the trailer for the recent 4K restoration below.

#3: I Know Where I'm Going! (1945): This might be the most overtly romantic film in my list, with a love story unfolding against all odds. It's full of quirky characters, witty humor, and a forbidding Scottish highland coast, but the brilliance of leads Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey make this so much more than your typical romantic drama. Seeing a restoration of this one last November at the British Film Institute was a highlight of my trip to the UK. A trailer is below.

#2: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943): Approaching this film, I asked, "Who is Colonel Blimp?" Turns out he was a famous cartoon character in England (created by cartoonist David Low) who represented a satirized "old-school" authoritarian British officer. The protagonist of the film is not named "Colonel Blimp" but was inspired by him. Yet as scripted by Pressburger and played by Roger Livesey, he is an imperfect but eminently likeable character who we accompany through 40+ years of his life and loves over the film's near 3-hour running time. Along the way we meet his one-time nemesis, and later friend, a German officer portrayed by Anton Walbrook, and three pivotal female characters all portrayed by Deborah Kerr. There could be so much said about this film, so I'll leave you with just two words: watch it.

Roger Livesey and Deborah Kerr in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

At the end of the movie I may or may not have exclaimed it was the best movie I'd ever seen, a true masterpiece. In that, Scorcese would agree with me. And then came...

#1: A Canterbury Tale (1944): My love for this film came as a complete surprise, as I hadn't even heard of it before I watched it for my "50 Years of Film in 50 Weeks" blog series. I delighted in the quirkiness, the wartime realism blended with overtones of medieval mysticism, yearnings that are partially satisfied but others left to the future...all with the trademark breathtaking shots and humanistic themes that run through most of the Powell & Pressburger oeuvre. Read my blog post here for a deeper dive into the film, its production, and my reflections. I cannot argue with writer Xan Brooks, who confessed in an article in The Guardian, "A Canterbury Tale may be the most loving and tender film about England ever made." 

Sheila Sim and Eric Portman in A Canterbury Tale

Which is your favorite of the Powell and Pressburger films? Please leave a comment.

Postscript: After I watched the Scorcese documentary, I realized that I have yet to see most of Powell & Pressburger's later work. Here are films that intrigue me and that I plan to see soon:

• The Tales of Hoffman (1951): The complete opera by Offenbach on cinema, with Moira Shearer appearing as the famous dancing doll, Olympia. Of course, the actual singing was dubbed in by opera singers.
• Gone to Earth (1950): Scorcese had good things to say about this one, a co-production with David Selznick, especially Jennifer Jones' (Mrs. Selznick's) performance, but the film was not a commercial success.
• Peeping Tom (1960): This horror film was Michael Powell without Pressburger, and it was so controversial and almost universally panned at the time that Powell's career was over. The film has since been reappraised and is seen as Powell's last masterpiece.