How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin

Leslie Woodhead's 2009 film for BBC Four wasn't his first entry into Beatledom: he also shot the Cavern Club footage in 1962 that we're all so familiar with. He's also spent time making films in Russia, so he's ideally placed for this look at Russian youth's relationship with The Beatles, during the Soviet era and into the early, less scary, Putin era. We look at Russian then-Deputy PM Sergei Ivanov's contribution to this film. He seems fun! Maybe less so these days. We also discuss the practice of smuggling contraband Beatle recordings about by etching them into X-ray acetates, and Paul McCartney's meeting with Vladimir Putin in 2003.

• You can watch the film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUO1atyECD8 
• Chuck Norris vs Communism doesn't look like it's on any streamers at the moment, but its details are here: https://g.co/kgs/uoaNUFT 
• Nick Broomfield's film Kurt & Courtney: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hfrtn 
• Pete Paphides' excellent book, Broken Greek: https://g.co/kgs/3XqWL4K
• Elton John's autobiography, Me: https://g.co/kgs/3XqWL4K

Meet the Beatles Films Podcast

The Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.

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