stevequaltrough

I have left one point off as, being from Liverpool, I can spot a dud Liverpool accent a mile off, and while the lead actors accents were very good, some of the "cough and spit" actors did not get the sixties accent correctly. The accent seems to have become more rough around the edges than in those days when BBC English ruled the airwaves. Other than that the series was a joy. I loved hearing Sheridan Smith's versions of 60s classics. I especially enjoyed the revival of "Love of the Loved" as I liked this song on its first release and thought it should have been a much bigger hit. As an 11 year old I was glued to the TV screen whenever Merseybeat stars appeared. I remember Cilla Black being interviewed and saying that she was more excited about that song getting to number 35 than she did about her next release getting to number 1. Watching this I had to sympathise with Cilla as I enjoyed the scenes of her singing in the Liverpool clubs better than her later more middle of the road studio recording, but that is an ageing Liverpool music fan for you! I also enjoyed seeing the remnants of 60s Liverpool in this show, looking as dingy as I remembered the street back cracks of the time. And my, didn't the place look a treat when it was dressed up as New York using Civic Buildings also still around from that60s era. People I have chatted to have proudly told me that they were served hot-dogs and Coke by Cilla at the Cavern, so it seems to have tapped a wave of warm affection from older inhabitants of Modern Liverpooltowards Cilla. There is surely scope for a series two as there are several big Cilla hits from the late 60s and 70s such as "Surround Yourself With Sorrow" "Conversations" and the recently revived "Something tells me Something's going to Happen Tonight" still to come plus some emotionally charged episodes in the life of Cilla. But as it stands anyone who is still in thrall to the music of this period,with specific reference to lovers of Lennon and McCartney songs should watch this to get another take on the Beatles story as it delivers new information on Brian Epstein's managing abilities. I also loved hearing "Bad To me" by Billy J Kramer(One of the "lost" Beatles compositions like "Love of the Loved"? Well done to all concerned. It really,truly left me wanting more. A feature it shared with its subject, the legendary Cilla Black

I saw this at the time of its first release. There was some contention with the British distributors not liking the movie and it was in danger of being pulled from the cinemas. They reckoned it was confusing and no-one knew what if was supposed to be about. So as soon as it premiered in Liverpool my cousin and I went to see it immediately at the first-run cinema The Gaumont in Liiverpool City Centre. There it was paired with a gung-ho action movie called "Mozambique" and the sound was not up to standard for the start of the movie, but even these shortcomings could not detract from the fabulous experience of seeing this film. We knew all the Sgt Pepper songs off by heart and it seemed to encapsulate what the Beatles were all about at that moment in time. As for those cinema bosses in London well they were just "blue meanies". Zoom to 1999 and the Liverpool re-release of the remastered film at the Philharmonic Hall. Tribute bands were playing outside the town hall and a character dressed as a Blue Meanie was walking around. I went to see the film again. It had survived all that the cinema bosses could throw at it and was louder and more colourful than ever. It is another revolutionally piece of cinema under the Beatles name and is an absolute animated classic.

A Hard Day's Night and Yellow Submarine often appear in lists of the best rock films of all time, Help less so despite it including 3 of John Lennon's best songs. This may be because the plot resembles not Monty Python but a Goon Show episode. This breakthrough show of the 50s and very early 60s often featured a nemesis called the Red Bladder played by Ray Ellington as well as other Indian characters voiced famously by Peter Sellers in Spike Milligan's surreal story lines in which Milligan also acted. They were often set in far flung corners of the British Empire and mercilessly lampooned the British, It was a fore runner of Monty Python and its spin off Ripping Yarns. Readers may be interested in the Goon Show episode called the Last British Banana Tree where our "heros" are sent to protect the last bananas. Not only do the bananas get blown up, so do the Goons to the catchphrase "You've deaded me". Richard Lester was heavily involved with this comedy partnership and it is my contention he has referred to this "default position" when organising Beatles film two. The Goons had 20 minutes comedy interrupted by two musical interludes per half hour. Then it stopped. Help! goes on its manic way for an entire feature pausing only to have musical interludes featuring the Beatles. But the problem is this. When we tuned into the Goons we expected the show to be dominated by comedy, when I went to the Gaumont, Liverpool in 1965 we expected to hear Beatles music and so came out of the cinema theatre feeling unsettled and shortchanged. Maybe this intention to slightly unsettle was deliberate on Lester's part. It seemed asif it could be that in Britain that the writing was on the wall for the Beatles as Merseybeat and the Cavern were on the wane in the popularity stakesat this point in time. Could this be that this is why there is no victorious ending to the film. It ends with a dust up on a beach (or should that be sand up)to the title song. The Beatles survive but that is about it. As Lester has just played "Help" as the film descends into Goon like fiasco, he can hardly repeat the same song for the end credits so he resorts to a shot of the ring with the Beatles imitating the Goons (I kid you not) before THE END title shows. .We could have had another Lennon and McCartney song or John singing "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" that is o the flip side of the UK "Help" album. But instead we have something not Beatles related.We get a snatch of classical music. At no time do we see anyone enjoying the Beatles music. Leo McKearn says it is "shocking" and throws darts at a cinema screen with the Beatles tearing through the opening song "Help!". This is despite the music being fabulous. Later the Beatles perform in a recording studio or in a series of remote locations such as Salisbury Plain, icy Scandanavia or on a deserted Caribbean beach. Never to an audience.The Beatles were still a performing band at this stage and only a short while later played Shea Stadium so why not play out with a shot of the Beatles in concert? Granting that the public would have been in danger from the Eastern Cult (according to the plot line)before this we could at least have had a "live" performance as a climax as in Hard Day's Night, Let It Be or even Magical Mystery Tour, even if it was with the titles superimposed across it. Maybe the symbolism of the end with its camera perspective being viewed through the faces of the red ring-jewel is to hint to us that we have been watching the Beatles through "a prism". Rather than the intimacy of "A Hard Day's Night" we have been kept at a distance from the Fab Four. The first feature felt as if we were "with the Beatles". This keeps us at an arm's length from them. Nevertheless what we are left with is a fun,melodic feature, its colourful sheen and frantic plot lines stopping us from realising that. Beatles music apart, there is nothing of much substance going on here. Best viewed by Beatles fans as "the one in colour". It has some great innovations that would be used in music videos such as "Ticket to ride etc" and as a Beatles fan I wouldn't be without it,but... Magical Mystery Tour (or should it be "a Day Out in the Life of the Beatles") is more authentically Beatles and has about the same ratio of music in a much shorter film. It continues the great video experiment pioneered by Lester.