Details
Movie Description
A deluxe, multi-volume chronicle of the complete history of the Beatles, THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY is the definitive documentary, featuring 10 hours of footage culled from interviews, live concerts, studio sessions, feature films, home movies and more. Twenty-five years after the Beatles' breakup, Paul, George, and Ringo reunited to offer new perspectives on their lives and their bitter 1970 separation. ANTHOLOGY traces the roots of the group with striking archival footage and photographs. The collection offers a wealth of unreleased early Beatles material, some of it long presumed lost and some previously available only on bootlegs--from pre-Ringo practice sessions to early-'60s tracks with fabbed-up versions of pop standards like "Ain't She Sweet" and "Besame Mucho." The live side of the band is well represented too, by such unforgettable items as Ringo tearing through "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Boys" at a 1964 TV taping, and John ripping into "Twist & Shout" at the band's 1963 Royal Command Performance.
Synopsis
25 years after their breakup, the surviving members of The Beatles, one of the most prolific, influential, and charismatic rock groups of the century, reunite to offer new perspectives on their lives and bitter breakup in 1970. The television version aired over the ABC Television Network in three, two-hour time slots, November 19, 22, and 23. The video version, released in September 1996 is 10 hours.
"The Beatles Anthology" (on CD) is a collection of rare and unreleased Beatles recordings; a companion book is also planned. Among the rare materials on the first CD volume are recordings by The Quarry Men (a band featuring a teenaged John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison); five songs from The Beatles' unsuccessful audition for Decca Records on January 1, 1962; live tracks from various television appearances; and alternate versions of several early Beatles songs.
"The Beatles Anthology" also traces the roots of the group (as well as wonderful archival footage and photographs of them as children and teenagers), tapping a rich motherlode of unreleased early Beatles material, some of it long presumed lost and some of it available only from bootleggers. There are pre-Ringo Beatles practice sessions that show them dreaming of being Elvis, Buddy Holly and countless American rhythm and bluesmen. Amazingly well-preserved tracks from the early 1960s show them starting to let their Beatles hair down, while rocking merrily through such pop standards of the time as "Ain't She Sweet" and "Besame Mucho." The Beatles were an electrifying live band, and among the treasures here are Ringo tearing through "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Boys" at a 1964 TV taping, and John ripping into "Twist & Shout" at the band's 1963 Royal Command Performance.
Film Notes
Broadcast over the ABC Television Network November 19, 22, & 23, 1995.
wo new songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, "Free As a Bird" and "Real Love", debut in this documentary.
The compact disc went on sale in the USA at midnight, November 21, 1995.
The CD is a collection of rare and unreleased Beatles recordings. Among the rare materials on the first CD volume are recordings by The Quarry Men (a band featuring a teenaged John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison); five songs from The Beatles' unsuccessful audition for Decca Records on January 1, 1962; live tracks from various television appearances; and alternate versions of several early Beatles songs.
"The Beatles Anthology" was nominated for the following Emmy Awards: Best Documentary Series; Outstanding Informational Series; Outstanding Picture Editing; and Outstanding Sound Editing
Writer Bob Smeaton was also the series director.
The DVD release contains a bonus disc featuring a further 80 minutes of rare and previously unseen material. Extra footage includes a 46-minute performance by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, filmed when the three briefly reconvened in the Summer or 1994. The material they perform reverts back to songs originating from their early club days in Liverpool and Hamburg, including "Blue Moon of Kentucky," "Ain't She Sweet," "Sweet Georgia Brown," and many more.
Archival material for the production was obtained from the following sources:
Estate of John Lennon and Yoko Ono Lennon
MPL Communications, Ltd.; Apple Corp. Ltd.; Archive Films; BBC Sound Archive; BBC Television; Jerry H. Bishop; British Movietonews Ltd.; British Pathe News Ltd.; CBC; CBS News Archive; The Daily Mirror; Dennis Elsas; The Evening Standard (Solo Syndication Ltd.); Flower Films; Granada Television Ltd.; Huntley Film Archives, Ltd.; ITN; Larry Kane; KCNC-TV 1994 NBC Subsidiary; KLOS-LA; KRON TV; Las Vegas News Bureau; Mark Lewisohn; Lumiere Pictures Ltd.; The Manila Chronicle; Brian Matthew; MGM Inc.; Elliot Mintz; NBC Inc.; Reuters Television Library; David Sheff; Sherman Grinberg Film Libraries, Inc.; Sony Music; Subafilms Ltd.; Tyne Tees Television; Walter Shenson Films Ltd.; WCPO-TV Cincinnati; Scripps Howard Broadcasting; Jann S. Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine; WGN-TV; WISH-TV; WNEW FM; Worldwide Television News Corp.; WPLJ FM; WTMJ; and Footage from the 1968 Comeback Special courtesy of Lightyear Entertainment and Elvis Presley Enterprises.
Industry Reviews
"...This Fab Four collection is a permanently valuable bookshelf reference trove and a rapturous docu-musical entertainment. It's also the video event of the year..."
USA Today - Mike Clark (09/06/1996)
"...The aptly named ANTHOLOGY remains the definitive Beatleography....The doc puts all its stock in the insights from the only men who really knew what it meant to be a Beatle..."
Entertainment Weekly - Michael Sauter (04/11/2003)
"[A]s candid as you'll get..."
Mojo - Mojo Staff (12/01/2004)
Quotations
"Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands, and the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry." (John Lennon to the audience at The Royal Command Performance in 1963)
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