A Hard Day’s Night
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Synopsis
Meet the Beatles! Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. This film, in which the bandmates play slapstick versions of themselves, captured the astonishing moment when they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation and changed music forever. Directed with raucous, anything-goes verve by Richard Lester (The Knack . . . and How to Get It) and featuring a slew of iconic pop anthems—including the title track, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” and “If I Fell”—A Hard Day’s Night, which reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video, is one of the most deliriously entertaining movies of all time.
Picture 9/10
The Criterion Collection upgrades their previous edition for Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night to 4K UHD, presenting the film again in the aspect ratio of 1.75:1 on a dual-layer, UHD-66 disc. The film is presented in 2160p/24hz ultra high-definition with Dolby Vision. The release also comes with a Blu-ray disc featuring a 1080p presentation of the film. As far as I can tell it is the exact same disc that was included in the dual-format release and eventual Blu-ray only edition. As a note, compression is a bit more obvious now in that presentation.
The restoration notes state that the same 4K restoration (scanned from the 35mm original camera negative and two 35mm fine-grain master positives) used for the Blu-ray’s downscaled 1080p presentation is what has been used here. That may be true to an extent: the restoration work still looks incredible, only a few marks remaining (primarily appearing on the sides of the screen) and the image is still crisp when the source allows. Having said that, there are at least two reasons that make it difficult to believe that the Blu-rays’ downscaled master comes from the same 4K source that this UHD’s does.
The first is that the improvements found in the 4K UHD’s presentation are far too significant over the previous Blu-ray’s high-def one. For starters, the improvement in grayscale is absolutely astounding, with a significantly wider range in the grays. Dolby Vision does play into this, but, as can be seen in the SDR screen grabs below, even the base presentation handles the grayscale in a far more impressive manner. The gradients are finer and cleaner, and the black levels aren’t as thick as what the Blu-ray offers, allowing for more shadow detail in the darker objects, including suits worn by The Beatles throughout the film. This improvement in grayscale then, in turn, allows for better detail levels, the finer ones looking crisper, along with improved textures, which is best shown through various tweed jackets or sweaters. Smokier shots during some of the stage performances are also cleaner, the smoke looking natural without any noise present. The film’s grain structure is also rendered in a far cleaner manner.
Details that were invisible on the Blu-ray also end up showing up here. One of the more interesting and clear examples is through the various lights and lamps that show up throughout the film. On the Blu-ray, most of these lights appear as a flat white, any details to be found in the lampshades or the underside of a hood lost for good. As the SDR screen grabs included show, you can now make out subtle shades in those lights, even in the underside of the hoods of the studio lights, to the point where you can even make out where the bulbs are. Dolby Vision further enhances this aspect, the wider range allowing those bulbs to pop out even more with a subtler gradient leading to the shadows. Of course, I’m sure no one is screaming that they need to see the actual light bulbs, but I think it’s a decent example as to what HDR and Dolby Vision can do when it comes to pushing out those finer details.
Now, moving along, the second reason I suspect that this 4K presentation comes from an entirely different source than what the Blu-ray used is due to an issue that was pointed out elsewhere online: there are incorrect edits during the final moments of the film, where incorrect shots have been inserted or the edits are out of order. There’s a cut around the time Paul’s “Grandfather” (Wilfrid Brambell) comes up on stage that felt wrong, and it turns out it’s because a reaction shot was missing. There are also a couple other goofs where incorrect shots have been placed or the sequences are just bungled. Criterion is already addressing the issue and will be issuing replacements in March, though it appears a number of retailers have pulled the release for the time being.
Ignoring that issue (as Criterion is already working on correcting it and will replace the discs at no cost) the presentation is otherwise fantastic, a huge leap over the previous Blu-ray releases. I’d say it’s worth upgrading to.
(All SDR screen grabs have been taken from the source disc and have been converted to JPG files. They are presented in full resolution and may not properly fit some monitors. While the screen grabs should offer a general idea of quality, they should not be used for reference purposes.)
A Hard Day’s Night - Screen Captures
Audio 9/10
The 4K disc appears to provide the same audio options that the Blu-ray did: 1.0 monaural and 2.0 stereo soundtracks, both presented in lossless PCM, and then a 5.1 surround option, presented in DTS-HD MA. I couldn’t detect a difference between the tracks on here and the similar tracks on the Blu-ray.
Across all three dialogue and most of the sound effects are centralized to the fronts, sounding mono in nature. In delivering these portions of the mix the tracks are mostly of the same quality, more than likely limited a bit by the age of the materials recorded exclusively for the film, where range isn’t all that wide and fidelity is a bit flat. Still, at the very least, it’s all easy to hear.
Where the tracks clearly differ is in their delivery of the musical numbers. Though the mono track sounds a bit flatter in comparison to the other two it’s clear the music has been remastered; it sounds far sharper, and range is significantly wider compared to everything else that appears on the respective soundtracks. In the end, the larger differences between the tracks come down to how the songs are mixed through the sound system, the mono presentation obviously delivering the music through the central channel and the stereo and surround ones spreading the music out. For the surround presentation the music does spread out cleanly to the rears, enveloping the viewer, with the singing mixed appropriately through the front speakers. The lower frequency gets some subtle use as well. Audience sound effects, which mostly consists of screaming, are also spread through the surrounds, placing you square in the middle with them. The stereo soundtrack also spreads these effects between the two front speakers.
Ultimately, they’re all good and it will more than likely come down to whether you prefer your Beatles in mono or stereo, or whether you like the theater experience.
Extras 9/10
As with Criterion’s other 4K titles, the 4K UHD is devoted entirely to the film, only the optional commentary being available. All other features are found on the standard Blu-ray that is included and also features a 1080p presentation of the film. From my coverage of Criterion’s Blu-ray:
First is an audio commentary for the film [which is, as I mentioned, also included on the 4K disc], featuring a number of members from the cast and crew. The notes suggest this material was recorded for the 2002 release, though I ultimately don’t know if it was used (I haven’t looked through the features of either the Alliance or Miramax DVD editions of the film). It sounds as though everyone was recorded in a group, but it’s obvious some editing has gone on. It’s very technical and concentrates entirely on the production itself, with a brief overview on how the production began and what it was like working with the rather limited budget (other features seem to suggest the use of black and white was a stylistic choice but here it’s suggested it was black and white more because the budget was so low.) There’s much discussion about Lester’s style and how it was influenced (The 400 Blows and the French New Wave played a big part) and comment on how certain sequences were captured, mostly by accident. There’s some great material about the actual musical numbers and how they were put together, and the overall difficulty of editing together what sounds like hours’ and hours’ worth of footage, which of course had to be synched with the music. They also of course talk about The Beatles themselves, what it was like working with them (great overall) and having to deal with their fans, which led to some good creative choices. It’s a full track with very little dead space, and has a great energy itself. It’s well put together and worth a listen.
In Their Own Voices presents 18-minutes worth of audio recordings taken over the years after the film’s release featuring The Beatles talking about the film and how it came about. They talk about how they had had plenty of offers to do films but it was usually as a background band or to be part of some terrible musical. They were determined to do a film on their own terms and A Hard Day’s Night and Richard Lester presented the perfect opportunity. They also talk about the experience, how they presented themselves on screen (more comedic versions) and the experience of seeing themselves on the big screen for the first time. Nicely edited together over behind-the-scenes footage and photographs it does offer what feels like a very honest reflection on the film by the members.
Anatomy of a Style features story editor Bobbie O’Steen and screenwriter Suzana Peric. The two go over Lester’s style and break down a few of the musical scenes, explaining how they were filmed and then edited together, expanding further on some comments made in the commentary but how a number of sequences worked out better because of some accidents or inconveniences (the first person view during the first “Can’t Buy Me Love” sequence was done because Lennon was unavailable but ultimately this helped the energy of the scene since shooting had to be adjusted.) The feature runs 17-minutes.
Criterion then includes the 62-minute making-of special You Can’t Do That: The Making of A Hard Day’s Night, hosted by Phil Collins, who actually appears briefly in the audience of the last performance in the film. Made up of a number of interviews from members of the cast and crew and other filmmakers and critics (including Roger Ebert) the TV special just goes through the film’s production timeline. It’s easy to forget at the time that The Beatles were seen by many as another flavor-of-the-month [and] would eventually just fade away. There was a desire to cash in on their popularity and, despite the film’s stature over time, it did start out as a simple cash-grab on those behind the financing. It sounds as though the primary reason the film was greenlit (and Lester was given free reign) was that the financiers really just wanted a soundtrack since the band would write all-new music for the film. They wrote the music, fairly quick (even one for the title, which they thought was rather ludicrous) and from there the production took off. Screenwriter Alun Owen spent time with the group and came up with the storyline, which was then fitted around the music. The background is rather intriguing more because with hindsight it almost seems ridiculous to think a lot of people were scared this film would be a disaster or just disappear quickly (distributors were debating on whether they just dump the film and make as much as quickly as they can, or give it a longer run.) It’s a more in-depth television special than what one may expect, and it has the added bonus of having an outtake performance of the song “You Can’t Do That.”
There’s another making-of from 2002 called Things They Said Today. It runs a shorter 36-minutes and repeats some material from the other doc, but this one allows Lester and producer Walter Shenson to get into more detail about certain particulars. Lester talks a bit more about the freedom he truly had here (no one seemed to care at all about the script) and we get more stories from the set (like the hairdresser getting requests for Lennon’s hair.) There’s some great stories here and with this, the longer doc, and the commentary we get an in-depth look at the film’s production and history.
Criterion then devotes a section to Richard Lester, first offering up his 1960 Goon’s film (starring Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan) The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film. It’s a short 11-minute skit film, featuring a number of bizarre sight gags loosely tied together. After this there is a 27-minute video essay on Lester’s career called Picturewise, which covers his career from the Goons to A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, and then his more “alienating” films, How I Won the War and The Bed Sitting Room. Mixed in are audio interviews featuring Lester talking about his work. Ultimately the feature offers a decent analysis on the development of his style through the years and its impact on cinema today.
Author Marc Lewisohn then offers the sole Beatles focusing feature with his interview found under The Beatles: The Road to A Hard Day’s Night. Lewisohn talks in-depth about the group’s early career, which consisted at first of Lennon, McCartney, and then Harrison, and their fairly long and rather unique road in developing their sound and style, which really came to be while playing in Hamburg. He talks a little about their early drummer, Pete Best, who was eventually replaced by Ringo Starr, their rise in popularity in England, and their eventual performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which shot them up in the U.S., though Lewisohn points out that even before this their popularity had been building up. Despite my father being an enormous fan of The Beatles, owning every album multiple times over, I’m admittedly fairly ignorant to their career before Ed Sullivan, and Lewisohn does an excellent job in relating everything, reminding us that despite their legacy today, they were on shaky ground early on, even at risk of breaking up a few times. The feature runs 28-minutes.
The set then closes with the two theatrical trailers: The 2000 Miramax trailer and then the 2014 Janus trailer. The original is bizarrely missing, though it does appear in the lengthy documentary included on this disc.
The rather thick [80]-page booklet then includes an excellent essay by Howard Hampton on the film, Lester, and the band’s film career (though he takes a couple of unnecessary potshots at other films, like The Monkees’ Head.) This is then followed by an extensive collection of interview reprints with Lester on the film. [The content appears to be the same when compared to the dual-format's booklet.]
Criterion still offers an impressive collection of material, but I do still wish there was some more academic material around the film itself. I'm also surprised more Beatle-centric material wasn't included, like maybe their Ed Sullivan appearance, though I'm assuming costs could have made that option unrealistic. Still, the set offers some great material that should keep any Beatle-fanatic busy for a bit.
Closing
Despite the current issue around the edit of the film (which is in the process of being corrected), Criterion’s new 4K UHD provides a significant and clear upgrade over the older Blu-ray edition. The image is sharper and cleaner, thanks mostly to the improved grayscale and detail.
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