Beatlemania At Its Best

Rating: 8/10 (27 June 2014)

Originally A Hard Days Night was intended as nothing more than a way for United Artists to gain the rights for the Beatles next album. They didn't think that the film alone would be any good. But instead of becoming nothing but a marketing whore (like more recent music artist films such as the Spice Girls Movie) this film is a classic with clever scripting, a great shooting style and all the charisma of the Beatles making this in to a timeless feel good comedy that's up there with the best music comedies.
It's story is simple enough, following the Beatles as they go on tour in London and all the shenanigans they get in to. Throughout it has clever writing similar to that of a Marx brothers comedy, with a mixture of witty dialogue and hilarious visual comedy. On top of this writer Alun Owen captures the Beatles personalities perfectly, making their dynamic that much more believable in the film and further fills us with a real sense of friendship between them all.
There are some jokes which have become dated, such as a reference to Pauls uncle being in Steptoe and Son likely to be overlooked by more recent audiences. But most of the comedy in the film does have a timeless feel with most of it based on clever wordplay and silly visual comedy such as the various Benny Hill style chase scenes.
Of course, just like the producers wanted, the soundtrack is incredible, coming from a high of Beatlemania, filled with classics like A Hard Days Night and She Loves You in the film. On top of this the music sequences are also very impressive and have gone on to influence many other music videos in the future with a mixture of on stage performances and using the music to accompany the beginning chase scene.
This is probably one of the most influential music films and definitely one of the best. It shows the Beatles at the top of their game through great comedy mixed with some incredible music reminding us why the Beatles were so big.