Customer Reviews

The Beatles Unauthorized/Fun with the Fab Four

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you love the Beatles, this is a fantastic DVD in content and quality. I was amazed and pleased to see so much truly rare footage, including much material that was not shown on the "Anthology." There are rare color interviews with the boys, backstage mooments and just oddities that will amaze anyone who loves the Fabs. My favorite is a brief color interview with John in '66 when he was in Spain, filming "How I Won the War." I've never seen this clip before, despite amassing a large Beatles video library. For American viewers, there's much material from 1963, before the Beatles hit our shores and changed all of our lives.

Whether you're a Beatle newbie or a seasoned collector, I guarantee you will love this collection and watch it again and again.

I'm always wary of all the "rare" Beatles stuff out there, but found this DVD a great surprise. There were things on this DVD i had only seen pictures of before. Some of the interviews provided here are somewhat unintelligible and obviously incomplete, but you get to see the Beatles in many different settings just being themselves. Clips from the Hollywood Bowl, the claustrophobia of Beatlemania and a Shakespearean comedy skit are the best treasures. Quality is good... no silly narration... more a collection of clips than a structured documentary.

This is a masterpiece. This is something that all will treasure, from inveterate Beatles' fans to people just becoming familiar with their work.

This dvd contains a lot of bonus footage, such as the Hollywood Bowl Concert as well as some interviews. This is a fresh look at the Beatles, the nonpareil band who has raised the musical, artistic and cultural bars. This is a timeless classic that is sure to be cherished. I love it!

If one doesn't have the 'legendary' Washington DC "first USA concert" in their DVD collection (since the Apple film "First U.S. Visit" has been deleted), this budget DVD has most of it. It's a DVD edition of an old grey market video by the oldies video label Goodtimes - it's also their usual so-so quality, but nice to see that historic show back on the market, and for such a reasonable price. So, until the Beatles put "First U.S. Visit" back on the market, this isn't a bad purchase. The other material on the disc is fairly entertaining as well, most of it common but out of print, including skits from a TV show, interviews and press conferences.

For a reasonable price, you get a nice glimpse of early Beatlemania, and an actual live concert. You could find worse ways to spend your money.

THIS WAS A GREAT MOVIE, BECAUSE IT SHOWED RARE INTERVIEWS AND STUFF FROM TV SHOWS THAT HAVE NEVER BEFORE BEEN SEEN. MY FAVORITE PART WAS THE "A HARD MIDSUMMER'S NIGHT DREAM" THING, WHICH WAS SORT OF A ROMEO AND JULIET PARODY THAT I HAD LONG WANTED TO SEE BUT COULD NEVER FIND. THIS IS A MUST BUY FOR ALL BEATLES FANS! ...

This particular video is a pleasure to review because of it's quality.
I can show my 16 year old, "see, this is what we saw when I was your age", meaning it was black and white. The only thing we didn't have to do here was adjust the rabbit ears (I'll leave that for you to explain.) The quality is real good, better than some other documentaries, that's for sure.

Among all of the other items I've got on the Beatles, I am real happy to have this in my collection, so I do urge you to put it on your shelf as well. Is it a must have? Yes, right up there with the best of the Ed Sullivan cd's, despite the lack of original quality, which is not the fault of this cd. I think for the price, you can own a great piece of history that you'll view more than once and look forward to it as well.

Outside of the Hollywood Bowl material, you'll wonder how the Beatles were able to get that sound out, under those stoneage concert amplification conditions, with thousands of gone-beserk teenage bubblegum-chewing-pimplepickers. You'll just have to shake your head and guess. It's a good thing they hadn't heard of mosh pits. But, I digress.

Trust me, you'll dig this fab and gear disk, mate!

I love this double sided DVD.For Amazon's low price you can't go wrong even though the picture quality on the Fun With the Fab Four side while not awful, isn't as good as the Beatles Unauthorized side.I'll start with Beatles Unauthorized.A standout is the Washington Coliseum concert shown almost in it's entirety with great fabulous sound and great picture.The harmonies on From Me To You are really lovely.What a great live band they were before 1966,and they weren't half bad in '66 for that matter.There is also newsreel footage of the Hollywood Bowl concert in '64 with comments from of all people Groucho Marx,Jack Benny,and Edward G. Robinson.These were the people who were sought by the media in 1964.What Beatles fan would care about their oppinions though?Don't get too excited about the concert footage.It's taken from one stationary camera(stage left)and you only get a side view of the fabs.It's still nice however.And for the best part although it's probably tied with the Washington footage,is the very last press conference in 1966,just after the Jesus nonsense had died down.You get pretty much the whole thing.Note John's barely concealed bitterness and anger as he sarcasticly answers the questions.Who could blame him after what he and the others had been through?Paul as usual is adoreable,tripping over his words and making a very, very funny comment which went over quite well.George always the gentleman,answers a rather banal question with grace and politeness and not a hint of annoyance.Loved this side of the disk.Fun With The Fab Four has interesting parts but there are a bit too many cutaways of Beatlemania scenes.This was annoying especially during a Swedish interview where the interviewer asks Paul,"What makes a girl good"? Yes he actually asks poor Paul this question. Talk about being in the hot seat!I would have liked to have seen his face as he answered it instead of a cutaway of some teenage geek screaming with outstretched arms.By the time it goes back to Paul,he's already answered with a very smooth,"Oh I don't know."We get to see John though,egging Paul on by making him even more uncomfortable."I'm just helping him!"Then,another cutaway of people speaking Swedish and showing off their stupid Beatle dresses.A lot of airport scenes and screaming people in horn rimmed glasses.Yes,I get it already. Beatlemania was quite a phenomenon but I'd rather see the people who were the cause of all this commotion.The most wonderful part of this side however,is a very long scene from the Around The Beatles TV special which aired in April 1964.You will see the boys performing a hilarious Shakespear comedy sketch complete with audience participation shouts of encouragement.Paul and George shout back too and John is a scream.Their delivery is deliberately deadpan,like a send up of a school play and it's priceless.It's worth buying this just to see that sketch but of course there's so much more to enjoy.Let's not forget newsreel footage of an angry city cop after the boys violate the curfew.Once again it's Paul in the hotseat.He's caught with a girl in his room.I guess he really did know what makes girls good. This DVD is 105 minutes of pure joy for Beatle fans.You will not be disappointed!

I just recentlly moved back home and one of my parents bought this for me. I looked at the cheap dinged up case and the low budget jacket that went around this case which looks as if it had been printed off of a cheap old bubble jet printer and I thought to myself "LAME CASH IN".

By choice I don't but unofficial releases from any band as I feel if artists are not supported by consumers then there will be not artists to enjoy. So I just let these(I have them from seperate dvd cases not a single 2 disc set)sit there on my shelf for years. One night I had nothing going on and finally watched them and to my surprise I completely enjoyed them. There is not much here for a hardcore Beatles fan but it had a nice setup showing lots of Beatles snippits, mostly from press conferences. I had forgotten how funny they could be off the cuff and was able to see some interviews I had not seen previously. The real highlight is the Shakespeare. This is the real gem.

This is no Beatles Anthology but its nice to get the boys at there goofy best.

I read all the reviews for this and note that some customers received good quality. While I wasn't expecting crystal-clear on all parts, I'd say, on my ''copy'' (or is that copy of a copy of a copy?), that more than half the viewing is so degraded that it's totally unwatchable, and the rest of it is not much above that. I've seen far, far better quality on youtube clips, so I know this footage does exist in good quality. Will not purchase another ''GoodTimes'' product again.

while it is the beatles, it is VERY boring, basically they are the same DVD just rearranged. it is amazing to see the crowds and all the screaming fans but not much by the Beatles themselves. overspent and i only spent like .97 for the thing