One of the very best

Rating: 10/10 (4 April 2012)

From the opening, with that iconic chord, to the very end, A Hard Day's Night is a celebration of The Beatles hitting their stride.
The episodic non-story tells of a day in their hectic life, being shunted from pillar to post as they travel to do a TV show, Ringo goes missing between rehearsal and performance, and then they leave for the next engagement. In between this (which, allowing for artistic licence, was probably not an unfair representation of the unrelenting pace of their lives throughout 1963 and 1964), there are opportunities for each of them to have a little bit of their own and, fortunately, some songs.
Filmed documentary style in black and white by American Dick Lester, this is the film which took him up into another league. He was helped immeasurably by a strong script from Liverpudlian Alun Owen which captured the essence of the public face of The Beatles, and a strong supporting cast. The Beatles themselves, of course, were at the heart of the film's success: despite the fact that they weren't always able to hide their inexperience as actors, their sheer force of personality carried the day. And, of course, the film's small collection of classic songs helped a bit...