7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A compilation of found footage featuring music, interviews and stories of the Beatles 250 concerts from 1963 to 1966.
Starring: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, The BeatlesMusic | 100% |
Documentary | 49% |
History | 18% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Romanian, Russian
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The tagline for The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years states: The band you know. The story you don’t. The first part of that statement is of course inarguable—who among the living with any interest in pop and rock music hasn’t had at least some exposure to the Fab Four? That very exposure, though, puts the lie to the second part of this marketing formulation, for my hunch is even casual fans of The Beatles won’t find much new, let alone revelatory, information in this genial but kind of by the numbers documentary from Ron Howard. Those of us who grew up with The Beatles may exult in the wonderful assemblage of live performance footage that Howard has put together, not to mention brief but ingratiating contemporary interview snippets with surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with some equally brief but occasionally incisive archival interviews with John Lennon and George Harrison, but in terms of an “unknown” story—well, with a band as iconic as The Beatles, what more is there really to know at this point?
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Capitol Records and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (mostly) in 1.78:1 (much of the archival material has been blown up to fill a 1.78:1 frame, but there are a couple of exceptions both in terms of other aspect ratios which can be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review). This documentary has the expected patchwork quilt appearance that always comes from efforts like these which are cobbled together from such widely variant source elements. The contemporary interviews segments look decently sharp, even if the palette is not especially vivid, while the archival footage varies from acceptable to pretty ragged looking. Some of the older source material is pretty fuzzy looking, and what appears to be 16mm elements blown up for this presentation offer an expected gritty and grainy appearance. The archival stills generally look excellent sharp, and consistent contrast and solid blacks help to elevate the black and white material in terms of both stills and video.
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years features LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. While the surround track offers at least a little more separation and space in the performance snippets, many of these feature such overwhelming audience screaming that I personally preferred the stereo track, since I felt the music was at least a bit better prioritized in that version. Otherwise, there's not much to separate these tracks since the bulk of the rest of the piece is simply talking heads. Fidelity is fine, with an understanding that some of the live performance footage was recorded under less than optimal conditions.
This 2 Disc Special Edition contains the feature documentary on Disc 1. Disc 2 contains the following supplementary material:
- She Loves You, ABC Cinema, Manchester, November 20, 1963 (1080p; 2:24)
- Twist and Shout, ABC Cinema, Manchester, November 20, 1963 (1080p; 1:27)
- Can't Buy Me Love, NME Music Awards, Empire Pool, London, April 26, 1964 (1080p; 2:21)
- You Can't Do That, Festival Hall, Melbourne, June 17, 1964 (1080p; 2:44)
- Help!, ABC Theatre, Blackpool, 1965 (1080p; 3:04)
- Liverpool (1080p; 11:42)
- Three Beatles' Fans (1080p; 8:21)
- Ronnie Spector and the Beatles (1080p; 4:03)
- Shooting "A Hard Day's Night" (1080p; 5:54)
- The Beatles in Australia (1080p; 4:18)
- Recollections of Shea Stadium (1080p; 3:44)
- The Beatles in Japan (1080p; 5:13)
For those interested in saving a few bucks, there's a one disc version of The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years available that evidently omits both the second disc of special features and the booklet. That said, if you're even a passably well informed Beatles fan, it's the supplemental material that is really the selling point here, since the documentary, while consistently interesting, is hardly revelatory in the information it imparts. Technical merits are generally strong (with an understanding of expected hurdles some of the archival performance footage inherently come burdened with), and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years comes Recommended.
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