The Beatles: The First US Visit

Many viewers of last year's Beatles '64 seemed to ask the question: "Why does this exist when we already have The First US Visit?" So we thought we'd have a go at an answer. This is a 1991 re-edit of the Maysles brothers' original 1964 Granada TV film What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA, and a much straighter, more chronological telling of the short tour's story using much of the same footage. We ask how this compares to Beatles '64, and in particular we discuss the effect of having no narration or talking heads, and whether this creates a void of context that needs filling. Apple later bought the rights and released it on DVD in 2004, and we look at how Apple's approach to documentary releases differs 20 years on, now the Beatles legacy project is in full swing.

• You can pick up the Apple DVD easily enough. The film is also on archive.org at the moment, but who knows for how long ... https://g.co/kgs/Y26cAuf
• The "making of" documentary included on the DVD, which we both generally preferred to the film itself: https://youtu.be/38jmSpSPujY
• The best we can do for a copy of What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA is here, but it's only 38 minutes of what should be an hour and 21, so: https://archive.org/details/vts-01-3_202011
• 7 Seconds by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry, the soundtrack to Ed's 1994 French exchange: https://youtu.be/wqCpjFMvz-k
• We Love You Beatles by The Carefrees: as Matt warns, listen at your own risk: https://youtu.be/Hj3A3WcjBDE

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.

But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:

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