The Beatles Films Podcast

We finish off this season with a look at the film's use of footage that's been colourised from black and white. Was this done, as Iain Lee suggested to Ed on his Talk Radio show in 2016, because American audiences don't like black and white? We think there's a bit of mileage in that: more specifically that the brief here was to present this footage to a new audience with a bit of sheen. We also discuss talking heads in the film like Eddie Izzard, and look at what they contributed, as well as some who appear only in the Blu-ray extras, like Paul Greengrass. Here's the full audio of the eight-minute call Ed made to Iain Lee's radio show after they'd both seen Eight Days a Week in the same screening, August 2016: https://youtu.be/dOggLQlN8GUThe film we mention coming to IMAX briefly in April 2025 is One to One: John and Yoko: https://www.imax.com/en/gb/movie/one-to-one-john-and-yokoMeet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

Has Ron Howard's 2016 documentary effectively been superseded by other films since? Probably the first official Apple film to be released as part of the Beatles legacy project, it's very polished and pays a lot of respect to fan culture, in particular teenage girls. But nine years on, does it cover too much of the same ground as other films, like Beatles '64, to be significant?You can rent the film online in a few places: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/the-beatles-eight-days-a-week-the-touring-years or pick up the two-disc Blu-ray for the special features, which really complement the film as we discuss.The detail about Matt White's role in originating the idea for the film comes from this article by his friend David Royle, written after White passed away: https://documentarytelevision.com/case-study/in-memory-of-matt-white-david-royles-tribute-to-the-late-archivist-and-producer/Read Ed's review from 2016: https://www.theshiznit.co.uk/review/the-beatles-eight-days-a-week--the-touring-years.phpWatch the trailer: https://youtu.be/0fFyZzqPDwsThe clip of teenage fans at Shea Stadium in 1965, one of whom may or may not be Meryl Streep: https://youtu.be/x6aNSHLg18YMeet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

The coming together of two great British cultural institutions feels fated, but how well did Russell T. Davies pull it off? We look, of course, at how accurate they've been when it comes to Beatle detail, and in particular at the characterisations of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Matt, a Whovian, explains how this episode fits into the canon and how this season of Doctor Who compared tonally to others, while Ed, who thinks he might have seen a couple of the Christopher Eccleston ones 20 years ago, mainly just listens.Watch the episode on BBC iPlayer if you're in the UK and have a licence: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001z8c7/doctor-who-season-1-2-the-devils-chordOr on Disney Plus if not: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/doctor-who/1ml73V6phgyZSome clips of the a non-Eccleston Doctor playing a Beatle (identities revealed in the episode): https://youtu.be/cOzmhlgwM4EHear the Beatles-related Doctor Who audio story, Fanfare for the Common Men, on the "Into the TARDIS" podcast: https://shows.acast.com/into-the-tardis/episodes/doctor-who-1963-fanfare-for-the-common-men-part-1Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

We look at Radoslaw Piwowarski's Beatles-themed film, which won the Golden Shell at the 1985 San Sebastián International Film Festival. It's the story of teenagers in 1964 communist Poland trying to forge an identity through their love of the Beatles. We talk about cinema behind the Iron Curtain (the Polish People's Republic was under communist rule both in the story and when the film was released) and what that means for freedom of expression, both for the filmmakers and the characters. Is the Beatles' music, which we hear in the film, treated with a special reverence given how it was contraband to the characters? And as the boys are forced to have haircuts we talk about the cultural significance of the Beatles' hair and what that meant in a regime where signifiers of rebellion were more dangerous than in the West.Watch the film on YouTube with English subtitles: https://youtu.be/ymPnya34a4gThe poster with the four shaved heads we mention is the one we've used for this episode's image (albeit with our logo photoshopped in)Bruce Channel's Hey Baby from 1959, which briefly popularised the harmonica, a craze which helped with the Beatles' early popularity: https://youtu.be/ik9dxkKriV0Some more information on El Cóndor Pasa, the folk song popularised by Simon & Garfunkel but which has versions in lots of countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_C%C3%B3ndor_Pasa_(song)Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

We weren't big fans of this 2023 Apple TV+ documentary series: it's prurient and invasive, and in the parts where it suggests conspiracy theories but then does nothing to back them up, it's pretty irresponsible. We discuss the techniques it uses in the context of the contemporary true crime boom, and ask whether we'd have liked it more if we had no personal investment in John Lennon's murder. Could it have achieved more by doing what it briefly threatens to, and framed itself around how thinking around criminality and mental illness, and gun control in the United States, has moved on since 1980?Watch it on Apple TV+: https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/john-lennon-murder-without-a-trialRFK Must Die: The Assassination of Bobby Kennedy: https://youtu.be/7H8ZV7QrVZYNetflix film Amanda Knox: https://www.netflix.com/title/80081155News of the World journalist Paul McMullan defending phone hacking on BBC Newsnight in 2011: https://youtu.be/ZV9Sh_R3wB4The documentary Ed mentions is Active Shooter: America Under Fire: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/tv-series/active-shooter-america-under-fireKenneth Womack's John Lennon 1980: The Last Days in the Life: https://kennethwomack.com/books/beatlesbooks/john-lennon-1980-the-last-days-in-the-life/John's surgeon Dr David Halloran in the BBC radio series "I Was": https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08tfsqbPaul McCartney was interviewed on the March for Our Lives on 24 March 2018: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_for_Our_LivesMeet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

Ringo Starr's film career includes the odd misstep, of course, but this 1978 vehicle for Mae West is often cited among the worst films ever made. And fair enough, it's not great. But Ringo is the best thing in it: we talk about how he brings his whole self to the role, further evidence of how committed he was to making acting his primary career at this point in his life. And there are other Beatles connections: Dom DeLuise sings the Lennon/McCartney song Honey Pie in the film, and of course there's the small matter of the cover of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.Watch the film: https://youtu.be/_d7y_ai5oy8The YouTube supercut of Mae West's best lines we mention: https://youtu.be/FJS670okmZcIf you like one-star reviews, here are the two of Ed's we mention in the episode: What To Expect When You're Expecting: https://www.theshiznit.co.uk/review/what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting.phpAnd Maniac: https://www.theshiznit.co.uk/review/maniac.php The bottle episode of Friends we mention is season 3, episode 2, The One Where No One's Ready, which you can watch on Netflix or just close your eyes and recite the entire thing in your head because it's all in there somewhere.Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

Paul McCartney's 1984 short animated film was a project he'd been planning for years: buying the film rights to the Rupert the Bear character was the first thing he did after leaving The Beatles. The more you get into it, the more you realise the extent of his passion for it. Released alongside Give My Regards to Broad Street in cinemas, the film also serves as a music video for We All Stand Together, also known as The Frog Song. We start by discussing the song: why was it for so long the watchword for "embarrassing Uncle Paul", and how does it measure up today now that image is largely shed? Paul's voiceover work is also worth getting into: it serves the story rather than acting as a showcase for him, and we contrast this with the approach to Broad Street. And with Ringo Starr doing the Thomas the Tank Engine voiceover, and George Harrison writing the foreword to the 1990 book The Secret Life of Sooty, we look at the relationship between psychedelia and the childlike.Watch the 13-minute film: https://youtu.be/WfEyEp62-l4You can also get it on the DVD Paul McCartney: The Animation Collection, which also includes Tuesday and Tropic Island HumHere's George's foreword to the Sooty book: https://harrisonstories.tumblr.com/post/176977529878/the-secret-life-of-sooty-1990-foreword-by-georgeAn episode of The Magic Roundabout, which ran on the BBC from 1965 to 1977: https://youtu.be/J2ihhAVLSIkThe similar scenes Ed mentions in which the main character watches a secret ritual from an elevated vantage point, both from films released around the same time as this, are from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984): https://youtu.be/ftHyM_KSgE0And Young Sherlock Holmes (1985): https://youtu.be/QzahXAGAL9IYou can also listen to our episode on Give My Regards to Broad Street in this feedMeet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

An Accidental Studio is the story of HandMade Films, the production company set up by Beatle George Harrison and his business partner Denis O'Brien, which produced or distributed Monty Python's Life of Brian, Time Bandits, The Long Good Friday, Withnail and I, and Mona Lisa. We discuss George's contribution and what it says about his creative instincts. He seems to have been very happy to trust creative people with more film expertise than he to make the films. Was this good creative sense or commercial naivety? What does the film tell us about Denis O'Brien, whom George later sued for financial mismanagement, and about investors wanting to make creative decisions?If you're in the UK you can currently watch An Accidental Studio on ITVX: https://www.itv.com/watch/an-accidental-studio/10a6252a0001B. If not, you can rent it very cheaply on various platforms.A playlist of the songs recorded by George Harrison for the soundtracks of Time Bandits and Shanghai Surprise, later used mainly on Cloud Nine. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6VJrPcjROto7LZO6-CVzJtcqAp4osHVk Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622

In December 1968 Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who next month filmed The Beatles for the Let It Be/Get Back sessions, shot this circus-themed showcase for the post-psychedelic rock movement, starring John Lennon and Yoko Ono fronting supergroup The Dirty Mac, which also featured Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Mitch Mitchell. Between performances the Rolling Stones introduced acts like The Who and Taj Mahal, and there were pieces to camera from John and Yoko with Mick Jagger.We ask: Beatles or Stones: is it a stupid question? Why was the film, like so much of the Get Back footage, shelved for so long, only seeing a release in 1996? Why didn't The Beatles perform here as a group? And was Yoko Ono subverting the gendered norms of the rock 'n' roll vocal performance by wailing a lot?You can pick up the DVD cheaply to watch the whole film, or watch most of the Rock and Roll Circus on YouTube, on a Stones official playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA26O6DcPwiaMAzvHCrOqZmnE46UyQQjUWatch Britpop Now, the programme we mention from 1995 presented by Damon Albarn: https://youtu.be/skb6lVS35JkThe documentary Matt mentions is Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg, available to rent online: https://www.flicks.co.uk/movie/catching-fire-the-story-of-anita-pallenbergPerformance is available to rent online too: https://www.justwatch.com/uk/movie/performanceThe Netflix documentary about his 1968 comeback special is Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley: https://www.netflix.com/title/81462290Meet the Beatles Films PodcastThe Beatles Films Podcast is hosted by Matt Looker and Ed Williamson. We're both film writers and Beatles fans. Between us we've written for TheShiznit.co.uk, Total Film, Den of Geek and Virgin Media.But tomorrow may rain, so you'll follow us on:Instagram https://instagram.com/beatlesfilmspodBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/beatlesfilmspod.bsky.socialYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BeatlesFilmsPodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@beatlesfilmspodX https://x.com/beatlesfilmpodFacebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/304654901827622