Disco de The Beatles: “First US Visit [MPI]”

This is an engaging documentary of The Beatles' first U.S. visit. What makes it so fascinating are their performances on the Ed Sullivan show, which are captured here. Digitally remastered, this early television footage has been expertly restored, enabling the viewers to see and hear The Beatles, as they first appeared on American television.

Cheeky and exhuberant, The Beatles, occasionally off key but having the time of their lives, have not lost the capacity for knocking the socks off the viewer, as they are brimming over with vitality and the joy of life. They are truly wonderful to watch, as well as hear. Fortunately, the video covers all their performances on Ed Sullivan, and what a treat they are! It is sad to think that already two of them, John and George, are no longer with us.

The film documents a more innocent and simple time. It captured The Beatles on the threshold of international fame. It memorialized for all time their first U.S. visit with footage shot in railroad cars, hotel rooms, and limousines. Some of it is somewhat self-conscious, and some of it is playful fun. It also memorialized the reactions of their fans. The film is a daily cinema verite testament to that first visit.

This is a very good documentary that is well worth having soley for the performances of The Beatles. There are over thirteen of them, and the tracks have been digitally remastered for your listening pleasure. Overall, however, the documentary lacks some cohesion, due to the cinema verite nature of the film. Still, it is a worthwhile documentary to have, if only for those wonderful Ed Sullivan performances. If one wants a historical overview of The Beatles, one may also wish to view the more in depth and complex documentary, "The Compleat Beatles".

The most valuable thing that the Beatles had was their extraordinary songwriting ability.|

Oh, yes, they had many other great cards to play, but their songwriting was their ace of spades. To use a sports analogy, their songwriting ability was their Babe Ruth or Wayne Gretzky in their lineup of formidable talents.

This video shows this. It shows the Beatles showcasing songs that collectively run circles around their competitors.

Yes, occassionally a group or artist will come out with a song that can hang with the calibre of those of the early Beatles, but NO ONE or NO GROUP has had an output of such relentless quality in such a condensed time frame.

This isn't recognized enough, in my opinion.

But, had these magnificent sonic blueprints that the early Beatles created not been properly handled, the Beatles' impact would have been far less. We can all be thankful that the songs were delivered with infectious joy and cheekiness and feeling. We can count ourselves very lucky that the Beatles had great vocal gifts, especilly for harmonizing. We can consider ourselves fortunate that Brian Epstein "cleaned them up" for public viewing (in matching suits, and so forth). We can thank ourselves that they weren't "neat freaks" about letting a little rawness into their musical execution. There are untold numbers of talented band musicians with superb execution, but where has that gotten them? Up to a point, reasonably crisp execution is necessary; but beyond that, it runs the grave risk of impeding the flow of more important things, such as joie de vivre. The Beatles were not at all guilty of blocking the flow of joy, of generativeness.

What the Beatles were "guilty" of was, instead: 1) playing WELL WRITTEN SONGS (that this is so very crucial to great success seems to escape so many artists and bands); and, 2) exhibiting joy and buoyancy (who is going to consider the nihilistic output of rappers and punkers with nostalgia and misty-eyed remembrance 40 years from now? Not many, I can assure you. History does not long applaud and laud such "energies." Nobody long cherishes negativity).

For committing the lovely "crimes" of bringing top quality songwriting and bouyant joy to the stage and to our ears, long live the Beatles!--and they shall long live, for the reasons discussed above.

As a Beatle fan this film is a must-have and a testament to the marvel, charm, and magic of The Beatles. The live performances from the Ed Sullivan shows are alone worth the price; the picture is clear and the sound is excellent, and I was (I'm not embarrassed to admit) a bit misty-eyed as I watched the lads perform some of their best songs from the early days. These ain't some lip-sync'd, fake American Bandstand performances. The concert scenes are something else-they are grainy, dark and barely audible, but then again, you won't really care, because it's great to see the boys perform live anytime. In this day and age of no-name flash-in-the-pan rock bands, bland singer-songwriters, idiotic dance music, and tuneless, mindless and obnoxious rap, it is refreshing to listen and watch THE masters perform real music.

I remember waiting patiently years ago for somebody to release the February, 1964 appearances of the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. This video represents that, plus much of the hotel/limousine/Peppermint Lounge footage shot by the Maysles brothers during their historic first tour of the United States. While this represents a nice overview and entertaining video of that period, it could have been much more. Unfortunately, several of the songs from the Sullivan shows are NOT in the video; only "extracts" (the video's term!) are depicted. The entirety of the Beatles' 1964 Ed Sullivan performances are priceless. It's truly a shame that we may never get to see a commercially available release of all of this footage. The Maysles' film footage, however, is wonderful. In hindsight, it's amazing that these brothers had that much access to the Beatles. Much of this film was shot in the front seat of limousines and hotel rooms. I have to give the video a "C+." It could very easily have been an "A+"

(Update:6/27/03) This is to add to my initial review: A 2-disc DVD set was released late last year of all four Ed Sullivan 1964/1965 televised performances. This set, which was advertised for about a month during the Fall 2002, features the entire Ed Sullivan broadcasts (including commercials) and all other acts. This renders the edited Sullivan performances on the Beatles/First U.S.A Visit video moot.)

Enough time has elapsed now for a new generation to come of age one step removed from the Beatle experience. This film may not explain WHY the Beatles had the impact they did, but it does a fair job of depicting HOW the reaction manifested in so many awe-struck youngsters.

More than anything else, this film is a time capsule. First, it reveals a lot about Beatlemania (at its apogee) from the perspective of the Beatles themselves, at the eye of the media carnival that engulfed them in February 1964. There's lots of intimate, light-hearted footage of the boys at rest, on travel, and as camera-wielding tourists. The Beatles' legendary wit and photogenic charm are evident throughout. It's a fair guess that this film captures them just before their success became a crutch. You wouldn't guess that John Lennon was the leader of the group just on the basis of this film alone. He sometimes appears subdued and bewildered by the commotion around him. In contrast, Paul McCartney was as much of a ham at age 21 as he is now as one of rock music's elder statemen. Paul commands a LOT of screen time, and provided lead vocals for the first two songs in that initial (and explosive) three-song set on the first Ed Sullivan Show. Their musicianship in these performances was crisp and effortless, depite the technological limitations of that era's audio/visual equipment. It actually was not bad at all for four guys who were only 20 to 23 years old.

Second, the film depicts American baby boomers just as their age and numbers were reaching a critical mass that proved irresitible to Madison Avenue and the media. It's been said elsewhere that reaction to the Beatles' arrival served as an emotional release for adolescents who were only 79 days beyond the JFK assassination. The film's many kid-on-the street interviews are a fascinating glimpse of rapidly-fading 1950s innocence, soon to be replaced by the liberated and expressive 1960s counter-culture.