I Wanna Hold Your Hand Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		3.5

I Wanna Hold Your Hand Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 10, 2019

Bob Zemeckis' "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; exclusive new video program with executive producer Steven Spielberg, Bob Zemeckis, and cowriter Bob Gale; exclusive new video program with actors Nancy Allen and Marc McClure; vintage audio commentary; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring Scott Tobias' essay "All Perfectly Normal" as well as technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Some kind of bliss

In the wired world that we live in today the craziness that is depicted in Bob Zemeckis’ film I Wanna Hold Your Hand is impossible to replicate. The instant gratification that the internet allows is the ultimate hype killer, the most unforgiving destructor of the myths that once created superstars like The Beatles. It is why a lot of folks that will experience this film for the first time on Blu-ray will almost certainly conclude that it is charming and entertaining but for the most part extremely unrealistic.

But they will be wrong because when in 1964 The Beatles came to America to perform at The Ed Sullivan Show many of their fans really did some truly crazy things. How crazy? Well, according to Nancy Allen the Beatlemania was even more unhinged than the mayhem she and her co-stars are caught up in the film. The arrival of The Beatles produced a giant socio-cultural paralysis that for a short period of time essentially forced a rather substantial group of mostly young people to completely lose touch with reality and they stopped functioning like rational human beings. The whole thing was both hilarious and bizarre, and definitely unlike anything else America had seen before.

The film follows closely six teenagers from New Jersey who head to the Big Apple a day before The Beatles are scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall. Rosie (Wendy Jo Sperber) is obsessed with the band and literally throws herself out of the car when her friends refuse to stop so that she can make a phone call to a local radio station that is giving away free tickets to anyone that can answer their trivia questions. Janis (Susan Kendall Newman) hates the band and is planning to protest outside their hotel. Grace (Theresa Saldana) wants to interview the band and then use the material to further her journalistic career. Pam (Allen) hasn’t had much time to think about the band because she is getting married. Tony (Bobby DiCicco) is just looking for a brawl. Larry (Marc McClure) is the driver, though he does not have a driver’s license yet.

Zemeckis and Bob Gale mix equal doses of nostalgia and sarcasm that make this film virtually impossible to dislike. Yes, there is a fair amount of silliness in it that is also part of its identity, but underneath it there is a genuine understanding and appreciation of the Beatlemania that rocked the country. This is the reason why the end product actually feels surprisingly authentic -- it gets the vibe and flavor of the event right. The rest is part of and functions as a colorful ‘wrapper’ that Zemeckis and Gale simply use to present the two to their audience.

The acting is very loose but also incredibly enthusiastic and it infuses the film with a remarkable steady energy. However, the real catalyst behind it is actually Zemeckis, who carefully unleashes and then manages the energy so that it never collapses the film. It is a pretty remarkable accomplishment because it was his directorial debut and yet it is absolutely impossible to detect any areas that might have been marred by amateur indecisiveness or sloppy compromises. In fact, this is exactly the type of polished effort that one would rightfully expect to appear late in the career of a seasoned pro. (The exact same looseness that is highlighted above is also present in John Hughes’ beloved classic comedies, only in these films the energy is routinely traded for a very authentic and equally attractive sense of intimacy).

The trick that makes the finale look legit is very simple, and yet it is undoubtedly the only one that would have kept Beatles fans satisfied. The authentic footage with the band performing live is shown in a tiny screen of a rolling TV camera, while the stage below with the actors on it remains slightly out of focus.

*The first letters of the girls’ names actually point to the four members of the band: Rosie/Ringo Starr, Pam/Paul McCartney, Grace/George Harrison, and Janis/John Lennon.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Bob Zemeckis' I Wanna Hold Your Hand arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management. The 5.1 surround soundtrack was created in 2004 by Universal/BluWave using the original 35mm magnetic dialogue, music, and effects track and was approved by the filmmakers.

Transfer supervisors: Bob Gale, Robert Zemeckis.

Film scanning: Roundabout Entertainment, Burbank, CA.
Colorist: Lee Kline/Criterion Post, New York."

The new 4K remaster that was created for this very entertaining film will likely frustrate viewers with big TVs and projectors. Below, I will do my best to explain why.

The raw remaster appears to be gorgeous -- there is plenty of footage where it is painfully obvious that the depth, delineation, and fluidity it boasts are superb. However, when the remaster was finalized someone applied different noise/grain adjustments that eliminated a fair amount of nuances. As a result, the end product is quite inconsistent, and plenty of indoor/darker footage actually loses entire ranges of fine details. Because the original footage has various native density fluctuations some of these compromising adjustments are not always easy to spot, so the larger your screen is, the easier it will be for you to notice the anomalies. Here are a few obvious examples: destabilized dynamic range and loss of detail (screencapture #1), unnatural flatness (screencapture #11), lost nuances due to filtering (screencapture #20), and compromised depth (screencaptures #21 and 22). So, throughout the film there are different anomalies that can be traced back to the problematic digital work. Now, the good news is that the new 4K remaster still retains some decent organic qualities and looks quite attractive. Also, the color grading is wonderful and at times the film really sparkles. Image stability is excellent and there are absolutely no traces of age-related imperfections. To sum it all up, this is still a decent presentation that most viewers will likely enjoy, but I find it underwhelming, and really only slightly better than Universal's controversial presentation of George Roy Hill's The Sting. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

I Wanna Hold Your Hand Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is stable, clear, and with a strong range of dynamic nuances. Separation is surprisingly effective and as a result some of the chase and group footage actually sounds rather impressive. The dialog is very clear and easy to follow. However, a lossless original Mono track almost certainly would have been appreciated by purists.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a vintage U.S. trailer for I Wanna Hold Your Hand. In 1.33:1 ratio. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080i).

• Radio Spots - presented here are multiple radio spots for I Wanna Hold Your Hand. In English, not subtitled. (6 min, 1080p).

• Allen and McClure - in this brand new video program, actors Nancy Allen and Marc McClure recall their work with Bob Zemeckis during the shooting of I Wanna Hold Your Hand, their interactions with the rest of the cast members, the real Beatlemania and its socio-cultural impact on America, etc. There are also some hilarious comments about the notorious sequence where Allen makes love to the bass in the hotel room, as well as additional observations about Zemeckis' working methods and illustrious career. The program was produced for Criterion in the 2018. In English, not subtitled. (23 min, 1080p).

• Spielberg, Zemeckis, and Gale - in this new video program, executive producer Steven Spielberg, director/cowriter Bob Zemeckis, and cowriter Bob Gale explain how the original idea for I Wanna Hold Your Hand came to exist and how it was developed to become a film, and discuss the production process as well as some of its unique themes. Also, there are interesting comments about some specific lensing choices and Spielberg's mentoring of Zemeckis and Gale in the old days. The program was produced for Criterion in 2018. In English, not subtitled. (42 min, 1080p).

• Short Films - presented here are two short films that Bob Zemeckis made while a student at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Art. The second, A Filed of Honor, was apparently inspired by Stanley Kubrick and his 'rebellious' work.
  
  1. The Lift (1972) - in English, not subtitled. (8 min, 1080p).
  2. A Field of Honor (1973) - in English, not subtitled. (15 min, 1080p).

• - in this vintage audio commentary, director and cowriter Bob Zemeckis and cowriter Bob Gale address in great detail the production history of I Wanna Hold Your Hand, some of the key locations where the film was shot (none of the footage that is seen in the film was shot in New York City), some of the issues that the unions created at the time, interesting lensing choices, the scoring/music and various other Beatles references that can be spotted throughout the film, the finale, etc. The commentary was recorded in 2004, and initially appeared on Universal's DVD release of the film.

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring freelance and TV writer Scott Tobias' essay "All Perfectly Normal" as well as technical credits.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

You can't get and more importantly sustain the energy level that I Wanna Hold Your Hand has unless you have a highly skilled director and a group of actors that believe in their work that are one hundred percent on the same page. That's the only odd thing about this film -- it was Bob Zemeckis' directorial debut, but it is the type of polished effort that you would expect to appear late in the career of a seasoned pro. I think that it is a genuine charmer that cannot possibly be disliked. Criterion's upcoming release is sourced from a new 4K remaster of the film that could frustrate some picky viewers because it reveals traces of digital work that I think was completely unnecessary. On the other hand, the release features a very good mix of exclusive new and vintage supplements, as well as Zemeckis' short films The Lift and A Field of Honor. RECOMMENDED.