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It seemed like Ringo Starr would do anything for The Beatles. He put up with Paul McCartney’s drumming instructions for years. He rushed to Yoko Ono’s side when John Lennon was killed. Out of principle and respect, the drummer even refused to record a song John gave him shortly after his bandmate died. Ringo nearly died just to get the perfect shot in the Beatles movie Help!

Ringo Starr risked drowning just to get the perfect shot in ‘Help!’

Years before Ringo proved his acting talent in serious movies, he acted in two Beatles movies. The Fab Four released A Hard Day’s Night in 1964 and followed up with Help! in 1964.

The drummer was the star of the show in that latter movie. The bejeweled ring a fan gave him was really a key piece of a sacrificial ritual, and the rightful owners want it back. Ringo’s willingness...

Tl;Dr:

The Beatles’ “Help!” was written specifically for the film of the same name. John Lennon was the primary writer of “Help!” but Paul McCartney said he made changes to it. The tune became a hit twice in the United Kingdom. The Beatles | Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

Many notable people worked together to come up with the title of The Beatles‘ Help!, the Fab Four’s second feature film. Subsequently, Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote a title song for the movie. Paul revealed his contribution to the song.

The Beatles’ ‘Help!’ was inspired by the title of the film, not the other way around

In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed how the title of The Beatles’ film Help! came about. “I seem to remember [director] Dick Lester, [the band’s manager] Brian Epstein, [producer] Walter Shenson, and ourselves sitting around, maybe [actor] Victor Spinetti was there, and thinking, ‘What are...

The Fab Four’s first and biggest movie hit comes to 4K Ultra HD! The Beatles brought something new and exciting to 1964 and the world embraced it. This United Artists release was a major event in the first wave of Beatlemania, setting the standard for Swinging London cool; thanks to Richard Lester’s flip approach and the Beatles’ positive energy little in the movie has dated. George Martin’s input for the musical end of things didn’t hurt either. The movie itself never gets old: new generations still respond with enthusiasm. It always looked super on home video, so what does the format boost add to the mix?

A Hard Day’s Night 4K

4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 711

1964 / B&w / 1:75 widescreen / 87 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 18, 2022 / 39.95

Starring: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr,

Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, Victor Spinetti,...

During the period of Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back, John Lennon and Yoko Ono made many experimental films. One of the techniques they pioneered was film speed. They showed the erection of a building, from scratch, fit into a few minutes of screentime by shooting a few frames per day. Jackson does the opposite in his new documentary, creating a slow-mo cinema verité version of director Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night.

In the greatest jukebox musical ever made, the band has to retrieve an errant band member in time to make a show, and when they make that show, it’s a success. The crowds go wild. Beatlemania is encapsulated for all time. They play all their songs during the long and winding road to the TV station, and during rehearsals. They actually have to escape from prying eyes during rehearsals. We get snippets of old songs,...

This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s The Beatles on TV Special Collector’s Edition, available for order online now at BeatlesonTV.com and for purchase on newsstands nationwide. The Fab Four’s energy was never higher than on their three beloved films. Ahead of the release of Disney+’s docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, we’re reflecting on the musical group’s trips to the big screen. A Hard Day’s Night (1964) (Credit: The Everett Collection) Directed By Richard Lester, Written By Alun Owen Starring: The Beatles, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, and Victor Spinetti The Setup: With the first wave of Beatlemania hitting its crest, the Fab Four look for a respite as they prep for a big television appearance. The Plot: Taking a day-in-the-life approach with Marx Brothers–level anarchy, the movie breathlessly captures the moment the Liverpool lads became generational idols. It’s...

Mark Allison Apr 13, 2017

From A Hard Day's Night to Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine and Help!, we revisit the original Beatles films...

Of all the art that the Beatles brought into the world, their cinematic misadventures are probably less fondly remembered than their music. But in addition to 12 studio albums, 13 EPs, and 22 singles, the Fab Four also released five films in their comparatively few years together. These efforts comprised two feature films, a TV movie, a cartoon, and a documentary, all of admittedly inconsistent quality. Looking back now, these films provide a fascinating insight into the phenomenon of Beatlemania.

See related Bill Condon interview: Mr Holmes, Beauty & The Beast Bill Condon interview: Beauty And The Beast, Twilight, fandom

For Beatles fanatics such as myself, the music alone makes them a joy to watch and re-watch, but as pieces of cinema in their own right there’s plenty to still be enjoyed and appreciated.

Simply Media

To celebrate the release of An Actor’s Life For Me, Hugh and I and Get Well Soon on DVD, we are giving 2 lucky WhatCulture readers the chance to win a bundle containing all three!

An Actor’s Life for Me is a British sitcom starring a stand out cast including John Gordon Sinclair (Gregory’s Girl), Victor Spinetti (A Hard Day’s Night and Gina McKee (Notting Hill). Written by The Vicar of Dibley’s co-writer Paul Mayhew Archer, and based on a hit Radio 4 series, it originally aired in 1991. Robert Neilson (Sinclair) is a struggling actor, desperate to hit the big time, however unrealistic his ambitions are and never quite achieves the dizzy heights he aspires to.

With the help of his incompetent agent Desmond Shaw (Spinetti), he tries to secure the romantic lead opposite Kim Basinger, attempts to play a corpse while suffering from a...

Chicago – If you are lucky enough to have the 50th Anniversary edition of “A Hard Day’s Night” playing in your area, drop everything and go see it, especially if you’ve never seen it before. The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – are ageless and timeless in a new print restoration and sound remastering of their 1964 debut film.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

There is no way to describe the luck and timing of the music phenomenon called “The Beatles.” They were four guys in a rock band, but they virtually influenced everything the 1960s had to offer, due to the perfect moment they entered the arena and fired their creativity into the mass production era of record albums and baby boomers. Their first film was a coming together of the right screenwriter (Alan Owun) and the perfect director (Richard Lester), who captured a zeitgeist as it was happening...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

The year is 1964 and Beatlemania is in full swing. The biggest band on the planet are about to make their big screen debut. The film is A Hard Day’s Night, a seminal piece of filmmaking that shows The Beatles as they’ve never been seen before.

To celebrate its 50th Anniversary the film will be presented in a new 4k digital restoration approved by director Richard Lester, with three audio options - a monoaural soundtrack in addition to newly created stereo and 5.1 surround mixes supervised by sound producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios. The film will be in cinemas, on-demand and available to download from 4 July, followed by a special edition Blu-ray and two-disc DVD release on 21 July 2014, courtesy of Second Sight Films.

A Hard Day’s Night will have an Extended Run at BFI Southbank...

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has added an exciting roster of screen legends and beloved titles to the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival, including appearances by Maureen O’Hara, Mel Brooks and Margaret O’Brien, plus a two-film tribute to Academy Award®-winner Richard Dreyfuss. Marking its fifth year, the TCM Classic Film Festival will take place April 10-13, 2014, in Hollywood. The gathering will coincide with TCM’s 20th anniversary as a leading authority in classic film.

O’Hara will present the world premiere restoration of John Ford’s Oscar®-winning Best Picture How Green Was My Valley (1941), while Brooks will appear at a screening of his western comedy Blazing Saddles (1974). O’Brien will be on-hand for Vincente Minnelli’s perennial musical favorite Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), starring Judy Garland. The tribute to Dreyfuss will consist of a double feature of two of his most popular roles: his Oscar®-winning performance...

Calling all Beatles fans… the group’s second feature film, 1965’s Help!, will be released on Blu-ray on Tuesday, June 25 and Wamg is giving away copies to 2 lucky readers.

Directed by Richard Lester, who also directed the band’s debut feature film, 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night, Help! follows The Beatles as they become passive recipients of an outside plot that revolves around Ringo’s possession of a sacrificial ring, which he cannot remove from his finger. As a result, he and his bandmates John, Paul and George are chased from London to the Austrian Alps and the Bahamas by religious cult members, a mad scientist and the London police.

In addition to starring The Beatles, Help! boasts a witty script, a great cast of British character actors, and classic Beatles songs “Help!,” “You’re Going To Lose That Girl,” “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,” “Ticket To Ride,...

The Beatles’ second feature film, 1965’s Help!, is on the way on Blu-ray. On June 24 (June 25 in North America), Help! makes its eagerly awaited Blu-ray debut in a single-disc package pairing the digitally restored film and 5.1 soundtrack with an hour of extra features, including a 30-minute documentary about the making of the film, memories of the cast and crew, an in-depth look at the restoration process, an outtake scene, and original theatrical trailers and radio spots. An introduction by the film’s director, Richard Lester, and an appreciation by Martin Scorsese are included in the Blu-ray’s booklet.

Help!’s Blu-ray edition follows the 2012 release of The Beatles’ digitally restored Yellow Submarine and Magical Mystery Tour feature films on Blu-ray, DVD and iTunes with extensive extras. Help!’s restoration for its 2007 DVD debut wowed viewers, earning five-times platinum sales in the U.S. and praise from a broad range of...

The Beatles only starred in four films together (not counting the animated Yellow Submarine which they didn’t even voice) yet two of them have been virtually impossible to see in any home viewing format for decades. A Hard Day’S Night and Help were both acclaimed successes with long histories of VHS and DVD releases but Let It Be, a 1970 documentary showing how the Beatles rehearsed in preparation for a new live tour, despite winning an Oscar for Original Song Score, has never been seen since its original theatrical release. Let It Be captured the Fab Four as they were in the process of breaking up, bickering and acting chilly to each other in a most un-Beatle-like fashion. The other “lost” Beatles film is the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour, a 53-minute psychedelic road trip first broadcast on the BBC. Magical Mystery Tour is now available on Blu-ray from Capitol Records...

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Magical Mystery Tour was the third, and last, film The Beatles were involved with, and it’s the one in which they had most creative input. The film is getting a limited theatrical run and will be re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray later in the month. The film was shown on British TV on 6th October, which is when I, a huge Beatles fan, finally got to see the rare film. And was it worth the wait?

The plot of Magical Mystery Tour is summed up by the title. There is a great deal of improv and, ahem, spontaneity within the film. Ringo takes his Auntie Jessie on a Magical Mystery Tour to somewhere. The coach travellers are a mix of Beatles, actors, real people, children, and an accordion player. In between vignettes the four perform their songs- I Am The Walrus, Blue Jay Way, Your...

Songs you.ll never forget, the film you.ve never seen, and a story that.s never been heard. In 1967, in the wake of the extraordinary impact of the Sgt. Pepper.s Lonely Hearts Club Band album and the One World satellite broadcast of All You Need Is Love, The Beatles devised, wrote, and directed their third film, Magical Mystery Tour, a dreamlike story of a coach day trip to the seaside. Apple Films has fully restored the long out-of-print, classic feature film for October 8th release worldwide (October 9th in North America) on DVD and Blu-ray with a remixed soundtrack (5.1 and stereo) and special features. For the first time ever, there will be a limited theatrical release in certain territories from September 27th.

Magical Mystery Tour will be available in DVD and Blu-ray packages, and in a special 10″x10″ boxed deluxe edition. The deluxe edition includes both the DVD and Blu-ray,...

The Beatles film Magical Mystery Tour caused outrage in 1967 – and is now being compared to Buñuel and the Pythons. John Harris hears the true story of the shoot from those involved

On Monday 11 September 1967, two hours later than scheduled, a coach pulled out of Allsop Place, just behind Baker Street tube station. Filling 40 of its 43 seats were actors, technicians and camera operators – along with Paul McCartney, and a crowd of friends and associates of the Beatles. John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were soon picked up near their commuter-belt homes in Surrey – whereupon the coach headed for an inconclusive and ill-starred trek around the West Country, ending in the less-than-glamorous environs of Newquay in Cornwall.

Just over three months later, after further filming at a Kent airfield, BBC1 screened the hour-long film the Beatles titled Magical Mystery Tour. It went out on Boxing Day at 8.35pm and 15 million people tuned in – but,...

Songs you’ll never forget, the film you’ve never seen, and a story that’s never been heard. In 1967, in the wake of the extraordinary impact of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album and the One World satellite broadcast of All You Need Is Love, The Beatles devised, wrote, and directed their third film, Magical Mystery Tour, a dreamlike story of a coach day trip to the seaside. Apple Films has fully restored the long out-of-print, classic feature film for October 8th release worldwide (October 9th in North America) on DVD and Blu-ray with a remixed soundtrack (5.1 and stereo) and special features. For the first time ever, there will be a limited theatrical release in certain territories from September 27th.

Magical Mystery Tour will be available in DVD and Blu-ray packages, and in a special 10″x10″ boxed deluxe edition. The deluxe edition includes both the DVD and Blu-ray,...

I couldn't have known, as my late husband and I brushed past the figure in the front row of a Hair rehearsal in 1968 at the Cambridge theatre, that the man-imp who gently prodded me would become one of my closest pals. Victor Spinetti soon invited us to his soirees, where his partner, Graham, prepared meatloaf for literary and showbiz friends.

Vic cherished friends and family. When Joan Littlewood and I visited him on tour, he gazed adoringly at her with the same look he would turn on his ebullient mum, Lil. However long between meetings or emails (after I introduced him to the internet), he would shed the performer's facade to reveal the real Vic. Or "The Old Vic", as he called himself, facing the passing of time with grace and laughter.

Only those close to him saw the pain, vitriol and vulnerability which informed his comedy. He could be bitter,...

Actor who made his name at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and appeared in the Beatles films, making firm friends with the Fab Four

Victor Spinetti, who has died of cancer aged 82, was an outrageously talented Welsh actor and raconteur who made his name with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and found fame and fortune as a friend and colleague of the Beatles, appearing in three of their five films, and with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Franco Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew (1967).

It was while he was giving his brilliantly articulated and hilarious "turn" as the gobbledegook-shouting drill sergeant in Oh, What a Lovely War! in the West End in 1963 – he won a Tony for the performance when the show went to Broadway – that the Beatles visited him backstage and invited him to appear in A Hard Day's Night (1964).

George Harrison later said that his mother would...

Comic actor Victor Spinetti, best known for his appearances in three Beatles movies, died on Tuesday morning. He was 82. The Welsh performer had been fighting pancreatic cancer in recent years, according to his agent, Barry Burnett.  Born in the village of Cwm in south Wales, Spinetti studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before launching his acting career in England. His big break came after John Lennon and George Harrison, with "A Hard Day's Night" director Walter Shenson and screenwriter Alun Owen, caught his performance in 1968, in the...

Actors and comedians including Rob Brydon, Barbara Windsor and Britt Ekland pay their respects to veteran poet and raconteur

Actors and comedians have paid tribute to one of the best loved of their profession, the actor, poet, and peerless raconteur Victor Spinetti, who has died of cancer in a hospice in Monmouth aged 82.

Spinetti appeared in the first Beatles film, A Hard Day's Night, and in all of their subsequent films because they liked him so much. Sir Paul McCartney once described him as "the man who makes clouds disappear", and he insisted George Harrison told him: "You've got to be in all our films … if you're not in them me Mum won't come and see them – because she fancies you."

Rob Brydon, the actor and television presenter, and fellow Welshman, said Spinetti's death was terribly sad news.

"One of the funniest raconteurs there's ever been, a lovely man who...

Victor Spinetti, an acclaimed comic actor who appeared in several Beatles movies, has died. He was 82. Spinetti's close friend and agent Barry Burnett said Spinetti died Tuesday morning after suffering from cancer for several years. Photos: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2012 Spinetti won a Tony award in 1965 for his Broadway performance in "Oh, What a Lovely War." He also appeared in three Beatles movies, "A Hard Day's Night," ''Help," and "Magical Mystery Tour." Spinetti was born to an Italian Welsh father and Welsh mother in South Wales. He moved to London

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Veteran actor Victor Spinetti, whose notable roles included appearances in three Beatles films, has died at the age of 82.

The Welsh star, who appeared in a string of acclaimed movies as well as taking roles in the West End and on Broadway, died in a Monmouth hospice following a fight with pancreatic cancer, his agent said.

The versatile actor was able to easily turn his hand from serious classical roles to comedy performances and roles in sitcoms. He has also been a successful stage director, wrote poetry and became known for his appearances in a Jaffa Cake ad campaign.

Cwm-born Spinetti - who studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff - had worked as a waiter before finding his feet as an actor.

Victor Spinetti (left) with John Lennon and Yoko Ono

He landed his role in the first of the Beatles' films following the...

Victor Spinetti has died at the age of 82. The actor, who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, was known for his performances in The Beatles' movies A Hard Day's Night, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour. The band had asked him to appear in their first film after his performance in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop Oh, What a Lovely War!, which later transferred to the West End and Broadway, where he won a Tony Award. Spinetti later (more)...

The older I get, the younger teenagers seem to get. Just look at this year's horrendous X Factor line-up, which seems to have been tailor-made for under-fives. Most of the acts are apparently around the 18 mark, including a Dot Cotton lookalike with a head that's about five times bigger than her body; a smug Todd Landers lookalike from Neighbours, and what appears to be a group of boy scouts from about 1977 (it's the crap haircuts, you see).

Still, this is nothing new, and even in Doctor Who, 18 year-olds seem to have overtaken the building. Take Full Circle, the first story of the E-Space trilogy. The author is a highly talented young chap called Andrew Smith, who was one of Christopher Hamilton Bidmead's real finds. Despite being only 18 years of age, Smith turned in a script that was detailed, thought-provoking and highly entertaining to boot. It deals with a whole manner of weighty subjects,...

The older I get, the younger teenagers seem to get. Just look at this year's horrendous X Factor line-up, which seems to have been tailor-made for under-fives. Most of the acts are apparently around the 18 mark, including a Dot Cotton lookalike with a head that's about five times bigger than her body; a smug Todd Landers lookalike from Neighbours, and what appears to be a group of boy scouts from about 1977 (it's the crap haircuts, you see).

Still, this is nothing new, and even in Doctor Who, 18 year-olds seem to have overtaken the building. Take Full Circle, the first story of the E-Space trilogy. The author is a highly talented young chap called Andrew Smith, who was one of Christopher Hamilton Bidmead's real finds. Despite being only 18 years of age, Smith turned in a script that was detailed, thought-provoking and highly entertaining to boot. It deals with a whole manner of weighty subjects,...

The older I get, the younger teenagers seem to get. Just look at this year's horrendous X Factor line-up, which seems to have been tailor-made for under-fives. Most of the acts are apparently around the 18 mark, including a Dot Cotton lookalike with a head that's about five times bigger than her body; a smug Todd Landers lookalike from Neighbours, and what appears to be a group of boy scouts from about 1977 (it's the crap haircuts, you see).

Still, this is nothing new, and even in Doctor Who, 18 year-olds seem to have overtaken the building. Take Full Circle, the first story of the E-Space trilogy. The author is a highly talented young chap called Andrew Smith, who was one of Christopher Hamilton Bidmead's real finds. Despite being only 18 years of age, Smith turned in a script that was detailed, thought-provoking and highly entertaining to boot. It deals with a whole manner of weighty subjects,...

The older I get, the younger teenagers seem to get. Just look at this year's horrendous X Factor line-up, which seems to have been tailor-made for under-fives. Most of the acts are apparently around the 18 mark, including a Dot Cotton lookalike with a head that's about five times bigger than her body; a smug Todd Landers lookalike from Neighbours, and what appears to be a group of boy scouts from about 1977 (it's the crap haircuts, you see).

Still, this is nothing new, and even in Doctor Who, 18 year-olds seem to have overtaken the building. Take Full Circle, the first story of the E-Space trilogy. The author is a highly talented young chap called Andrew Smith, who was one of Christopher Hamilton Bidmead's real finds. Despite being only 18 years of age, Smith turned in a script that was detailed, thought-provoking and highly entertaining to boot. It deals with a whole manner of weighty subjects,...

This Weekend's Spring Memorabilia 2010, at Birmingham's NEC, features several comic book writers and artists among its special guests.

Among those in the convention's Comic City will be Coventry-based Al Davison, whose work includes Idw's Doctor Who comic book (pictured) and DC's House of Mystery.

I carried an interview with Al in November, in which he gave his verdict on comic book movies such as The Dark Knight and Watchmen, and his views on the best and worst of the genre. You can read that article here.

Other comics talent at the event include Mike Collins (Spider-Man, Transformers, 2000Ad, Star Trek), Keith Burns (Devashard, Spy School, Boys), Hunt Emmerson (Beano, Fiesta, Fortean Times), John McCrea (many Marvel and DC titles), Lee Bradley (Transformers, Spider-Man), Lew Stringer (all major publishers), Kat Nicholson (Marvel Heroes, Action Man Atom, Scooby Doo), Jason Cardy (Henry V) and Laura Howell (Beano, Toxic).

Other guests at the...

It’s still Thursday for a little while, and that means it’s time to remake an 80s classic TV show or movie with an all-new cast. This week I’m stretching a bit to include something that’s not quite 80s but impacted Gen Xers a lot as kids: A Hard Day’s Night, the 1964 Beatles movie that was basically the first music video. (The idea for this week’s Dream Cast comes courtesy of reader Eric-Jon. If you have a suggestion for an 80s TV show or movie we should play with, feel free to email me.) Remaking A Hard Day’s Night means, when it comes down to it, recasting the Beatles. Which some will consider blasphemy. But you know what? It’s gonna happening eventually, and probably soon -- someone will make a movie about the Beatles that will require actors representing the iconic musicians. So...

Play Rating: 3.5/5.0 Chicago – What has become of what John Lennon called, “The Greatest Show on Earth” (for what it was worth)? The Fab Four are still at The Beatle conventions – now called “The Fest for Beatle Fans”, which have gone on annually since 1977 in Chicago.

Looking to capture the zeitgeist of the yearly gatherings, Factory Theater’s Scott OKen has written and directed “Mop Top Festival”, now playing through April 25th on the main stage located at 3502 N. Elston in Chicago.

A quartet of Beatle convention attendees pose in ‘Mop Top Festival’

Photo credit: Paul Metreyeon, Factory Theater Mop Top Festival is set in present day Chicago at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, where the actual three-day Beatle fan fest goes on annually. It concerns two groups of ardent Beatle admirers, one foursome that is male and one female. They are there to celebrate The Beatles, but also to connect...

Miramax rereleases "A Hard Day's Night" -- with a restored picture and soundtrack -- in New York and Los Angeles today. This review originally appeared in The Hollywood Reporter on July 21, 1964.

In their first feature, "A Hard Day's Night", the Beatles display a flair for knockabout comedy and slapstick when they're not beating out some dozen of their tunes, including six new ones. The film is mad, mad and crazy, shrewdly designed for the teenage and calculated also to attract the curious and the oldsters who enjoy this sort of thing.

The shrieking, screaming teenage reaction was evident at a packed invitational afternoon screening at an upper Broadway theater. The mere appearance of a Beatle set off a chain reaction of screeching. When this mingled with the screams of pursuing teenagers on the screen, the result was pandemonium.

The Liverpool string quartet collectively achieves stardom in their maiden cinematic effort, and the film may be expected to be the first in a series.

Produced by Walter Shenson, directed by Richard Lester and written by Alun Owen, the team that delivered "The Mouse on the Moon", the film purports to chronicle 36 hours in the life of the moptops, hours that are normal because they're hectic. The riot starts as they take off for their next engagement, continues with their arrival in the provincial city and rehearsal and staging of a TV show. Always there are mobs of young girls in hot pursuit.

The script cleverly makes use of the Beatles' individual personalities, and while Norman Rossington as the harassed manager, Wilfrid Brambell (of TV's "Steptoe & Son") as a fictional grandfather and Victor Spinetti as a neurotic director have their moments in counter-plot, it's the Beatles' show all the way. Ringo Starr in a solo sequence displays potential as a mime.

While imaginative and often offbeat, the photography is lacking by top standards in on-the-spot location shooting, and editing is not as fluent as it might be in integrating the fast-moving scenes. The sound at times doesn't help American audiences to understand the quaint dialect and slang expressions.

But only the experts and the finicky will cavil at these deficiencies. There's a host of young American females waiting for this picture like the world is waiting for the sunrise.

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

United Artists

Producer: Walter Shenson

Director: Richard Lester

Screenwriter: Alun Owen

Director of photography: Gilbert Taylor

Art director: Ray Simm

Music director: George Martin

Songs by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney

Sound: H.L. Bird, Stephen Dalby

Editor: John Jympson

Associate producer: Dennis O'Dell

Assistant director: John D. Merriman

Cast: The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr), Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, Victor Spinetti, John Junkin, Deryck Guyler, Anna Quayle.

Running time -- 85 minutes

MPAA rating: G...