The Beatles Films Podcast

@beatlesfilmspod.bsky.social

Two film writers and Fab Four fans discuss films and TV about, starring and inspired by The Beatles. Podcast in your ears and in your eyes. (Mainly your ears.) https://linktr.ee/beatlesfilmspod

OK now LIVE, part 3 of us on A Hard Day's Night. 🍏The press event: where Beatlemania persists with or without the Beatles themselves 🍏Ringo and the sound engineer ("Aren't you being rather arbitrary?") 🍏John mugging during If I Fell - what stopped him singing it straight?

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Now LIVE, in part 2 of our Hard Day's Night miniseries, it's a romp through: 🍏Class dynamics! As Ringo dances with a very posh man 🍏Generational disconnect! We contrast them in the club vs Grandfather in the casino 🍏 Magic realism! As John goes down a plughole

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Now LIVE and very clean: part 1 of our episodes on A Hard Day's Night! 🍏The absurdist techniques used early on to establish the film's rules - or lack of them 🍏I Should've Known Better and the birth of the music video, maybe? 🍏They're good in it, aren't they?

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OK then. Our season finale, finally, will be AN ACTUAL HARD DAY'S ACTUAL NIGHT. We'll cover it in a few parts, because there's a lot to discuss. Expect a smokescreen of bourgeois clichés, and none of your five-bar gate jumps and over sort of stuff.

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Now LIVE: our episode on Raga, from Apple Films, 1971. 🧘🏽‍♂️Did Ravi Shankar dilute Indian classical music by introducing it to a bunch of Haight-Ashbury stoners? 🧘🏽‍♂️What contrasts are there between Ravi and the Maharishi's public relationship with the Beatles? 🧘🏽‍♂️Was George actually rubbish at the sitar?

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On Monday get the incense burning for Raga, from Apple Films in 1971. Join Ravi Shankar as he ponders if he's diluted his culture by introducing Indian classical music to the West. There's some George too of course. Watch it here and we'll see you then. Jai guru deva Om. youtu.be/bvwf53_ZPEM?...

Raga (1971) ~ A Film Journey into the Soul of India - by Pndt Ravi Shankhar

This is a wonderful and informative documentary about the famous Indian classical musician Ravi Shankhar. Raga is a 1971 documentary film about the life and music of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar,…

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LIVE: our latest episode, on 200 Motels, in which Ringo Starr plays Frank Zappa! Sort of! 🪉 Could Ringo's role have been played by anyone else? (Say, Frank Zappa?) 🪉 Maybe a bit of Zappafan-baiting: was the musicianship undermined by the lyrics? 🪉 Did John and Yoko rip off Zappa?

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Now LIVE: we talk Evolver 62, the film of Mark Lewisohn's stage show. 🍏 How significant was it that Pete Best didn't look up much when drumming? 🍏 Ringo! We get into why he was a punchline for so long. 🍏 The techniques used here and trends in documentary.

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Next up: on Monday it'll be Imagine (1972). (NOT Imagine: John Lennon (1988) which we've done already, keep up.) It's a mad conceptual art film! But what does it MEAN? Find out first thing Monday! In the UK it's on Prime Video at the moment, and they don't even sting you for more cash for it.

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Now LIVE from the LWT Tower in 1988, it's our episode on George Harrison and Ringo Starr's interview with Michael Aspel. 🕶️ Is Ringo OK? (Spoiler: not really, but he gets better soon.) 🕶️ How uncomfortable is George about the sue me, sue you blues on show? 🕶️ Was Paul McCartney in the walrus costume?

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Live now: listen as we unpack 2014's Norwegian coming-of-age drama "Beatles". 🍏 Why does teenage Beatles fandom dovetail so well with this genre? 🍏 Its use of a few original Beatles songs and a cover version 🍏 How it marries up the four teenage boy characters with their respective Beatles.

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Now live: everybody's talkin' 'bout Power to the People: John & Yoko Live in NYC, isn't it the most? All we are saying is: 📣 Is John Lennon nervous in this performance? 📣 Yoko Ono as an "anti-rock" singer 📣 Imagine: did it escape singalong arena anthem status?

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So it's McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass to kick us off then. 🎻Did the bass detectives actually find it or just coincide with it being found? 🎻Was the bass really rock's holy grail? 🎻Paul's Yellow Submarine socks! Imagine being able to wear socks that depict your own work.

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