Post Description

Deze film is uit 1979 en is ooit door Dan Hammerman op video opgenomen van een BBC uitzending. SMILE kreeg van hem deze tape en heeft hem op disc gezet!De cover is aangepast en bijgesloten. De film gaat over het ontstaan van The Beatles en deze hebben destijds geprobeerd te verhinderen, dat de flim uitgebracht werd!

Plot Synopsis Allmovies: 
British director Richard Marquand graduated from BBC documentaries to dramatized features with 1979's Birth of the Beatles. This chronicle of the Fab Four begins when the group consisted of five musicians: John Lennon (Stephen MacKenna), Paul McCartney (Rod Culbertson), George Harrison (John Altman), Stu Sutcliffe (David Wilkinson), and Pete Best (Ryan Michael). The group begins its career in the dregs of a Hamburg, Germany nightclub (most of the film was made on location). Under the tutelage of manager Brian Epstein (Brian Jameson), the group sheds its rough-hewn image in favor of choirboy haircuts and Eton collars; along the way, Sutcliffe dies and drummer Best is replaced by Richard Starkey, (aka Ringo Starr, played here by Ray Ashcroft). First aired in the U.S. on November 23, 1979, Birth of the Beatles is significant as the only Beatle biopic made while John Lennon was still alive. 
 
Cinema.nl:
Dramatisering van de vroege dagen van John, Paul, George en Ringo en de vijfde Beatle, Pete Best. Onbekende gezichten moeten voor de Fab Four doorgaan en de groep Rain zingt Beatleliedjes, maar waarom moesten we genoegen nemen met vervangers? 


Some comments:
This is a rather overlooked film, though one with many good points. It goes through the now familiar story of the development of the Beatles, ending (I think) with the tragic death of Stu Sutcliffe. Unlike the later Backbeat, which, though a good film, was flawed by its 'arthouse' approach, Birth of the Beatles tells the story fairly straightly. I'd imagine that casual fans would be more interested in this then die hard fans. But check it out anyway - the performances (particularly that of John Lennon) are very good. 

I saw this film only once when it premiered on the ABC movie of the week. I have always hoped to find it again on TV but to no avail. What this film tries to do in a 90 minute span is tell the story of the start of The Beatles from the beginning in Liverpool. As far as facts go there are some discrepancies.The songs that are preformed is one but the sacking of Pete Best was way off. From reading the book "Shout" ( a must for any Beatle fan, if you can find a copy get it)That scene we all know was coming. To me it was personal as Pete Best was involved in the making of the film. Overall not a bad film but I always hoped that they would do a second film with the same actors to continue the history of the band leading up to the breakup. I guess they did not think we needed to see it.My biggest problem with movies about rock bands is that they skip over things you want to see and always leave you with a happy ending (HYSTERA the Def Leppard story anyone?) If any die hard Beatle fan has not seen this movie try to find it I think you might enjoy it.


Kortom: een "must" voor de Beatlesfans!!!
Wordt morgen (zaterdag) ge-upt.