DVD Review

CHAAAEENNNGGGGG!!!!! That's the first thing you hear as The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" opens, a massive guitar chord from George Harrison's 12-string Rickenbacker.

It's more like a holy muezzin though, a clarion call urging the faithful to worship.

The '60s picked up speed when the movie came out as millions of small town kids across the world got a glimpse of life as it could be, not as their parents told them it was.

In 1964, 18 years before MTV, director Richard Lester basically codified the style that would become so familiar in music videos.

He combined what he learned from producing TV ads and offbeat comedy shorts with techniques borrowed from French New Wave cinema to create a breathless, seemingly spontaneous movie.

With quick cutting, odd camera angles and wildly inventive humor, Lester accurately reproduces the insanity of Beatlemania, and sympathetically conveys what being at the center of that maelstrom must've felt like for the four young musicians.

Amongst all the cheery fun, there are signs of strain.

The Beatles are constantly fleeing. The film opens with a frenetic montage of them trying to board a train, while being pursued by hordes of shrieking teens.

They take refuge in the baggage compartment of the train to get in a decent hand of cards, and later ditch out of a tedious press meet and greet to frolic in a field.

This is one of the highlights of the film. We see The Beatles just being themselves, goofing around with each other.

It actually shows their particular chemistry in action and goes some way in explaining why they were successful as a group.

It's a moment of silent film comedy, with the great song "Can't Buy Me Love" playing behind it. The boys display their joy at being alive through pantomime and physical action. Lester described the scene as "pure cinema."

This film would not be as effective if it had been shot in color. Lester makes a virtue of his budget limitations by using stark light and shadow to highlight the beauty of the four Beatles as icons.

You can count the downy hairs on Paul's cheek as the camera lovingly caresses it.

The use of black and white also places the film in time. It's like the moment in "The Wizard of Oz" right before Dorothy opens the door to the riotous color of Munchkinland.

The Technicolor swinging '60s are just getting ready to erupt and The Beatles are right there, with one foot in the past, but pointing the way to the future.

You can't lose with this film. It has everything, great music, great visuals and it's funny. Lennon especially gets to shine, his barbed wit and cynicism tempered by a childlike astonishment at what was going on around him.

Their second film, "HELP!" should be out on DVD by Christmas. It's not as good, but it's still the Beatles. Stick with this one, though, when you need to feel energized. It's rejuvenating.

tonymillet@yahoo.com