Beatles ’64 – Review

Cert – Recommended ages 16+, Run-time – 1 hour 47 minutes, Director – David Tedeschi

Documentary charting The Beatles first visit to America, and how their stardom only skyrocketed with their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Beatles ’64 is unlikely to introduce anything new to anyone. Charting the band’s first trip to America, and their must-watch appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, this Martin Scorsese-produced documentary is more about Beatlemania (labelled by the papers at the time as ‘Beatl-itis’) than anything else. A portrait of how one country went mad over the four boys from Liverpool.

We see footage from the time of fans trying to find which room they were staying in in their hotel, screaming and crying over the fact that they got to touch Paul or simply talking about which member of the band is their favourite. In the present day talking head interviews take place with fans who saw or interacted with the band at the time. Ronnie Spector pops up to talk about The Ronettes telling The Beatles all about America and the food it has to offer, David Lynch wonderfully recounts seeing them live during their first trip and other interviews include going over all kinds of merchandise from the time to figures remembering just how important it was to watch the Ed Sullivan appearance.

While not really rising above the idea of just how much people loved, and still love, The Beatles, both elements of interviews hammer this point throughout, and how much they brought rock and roll to an even wider audience – a lightly touched upon point with multiple references to Elvis and a light touch upon Little Richard – there’s no denying the likable nature of the footage we see. It’s, of course, nice to see moments of Paul and Ringo reminiscing in the present day, and indeed archival interviews with each individual Beatle, but where the most enjoyment comes from is in the footage from their performances. Simply seeing the band at that still relatively early point in the superstardom playing through amongst the tidal wave of screams, and seemingly having a great time while on stage, holds a good deal of entertainment, with an infectious sense of enjoyment.

As a whole the film acts as a slight scrapbook of memories largely relating to just how popular and loved The Beatles were. A 107-minute detail of this fact, Beatles ’64 certainly feels on the long side, however it manages to provide enough amusement in the archival footage to get it through and make for an overall watchable documentary. Not too in depth and therefore not to challenging, it’ll likely best pose itself as something for major fans of the band to see some unseen footage from the past, otherwise there’s not much new here for more casual viewers who still get a likable time capsule of that moment in music history.

While not really introducing any new information Beatles ’64 makes for an amiable watch with likable footage from the time, particularly involving the fab four at work.