When the Beatles first arrived in this country, it was with much fanfare as anyone who lived through it or has seen some of the film clips can attest to.  This DVD contains a documentary that really gives some insight into the incredible response the band encountered during that trip.  There hadn’t been anything like it before and I doubt there ever will be again.

The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit is a documentary following The Beatles on their first trip to the U.S. in 1964.  At the time, brothers Albert and David Maysles were given access to the band during the trip and recorded this footage.  They traveled with the band from New York to Washington and Miami, recording all the way.

The DVD opens with the four boys from Liverpool arriving on a jet in New York City.  The footage here includes time in their hotel as well as visiting radio stations prior to their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.  I really enjoyed this footage from the heyday of AM radio when DJs who were familiar to me in my youth in the suburbs of the City were in their glory.

There’s footage from The Ed Sullivan Show including performances of All My Loving, Till There Was You, She Loves You, and I Wanna Hold Your Hand.  The entourage travels by train to Washington and Ringo gets the city wrong when they arrive, demonstrating how new all of this was to them.  There’s also footage of their first U.S. concert and it’s interesting to contrast the production values (or lack thereof) with future concerts.


I was pleased that The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit had actual Beatles music throughout the documentary.  I was honestly expecting the worst after watching a few collections of archive footage from other bands.  This is the real deal, though.  The DVD really came alive when I watched it with the commentary by Albert Maysles.  He really fills in a lot of what was happening.  After watching that, I really felt like the documentary would have benefitted from some sort of narration.

Also on the DVD are some deleted scenes with input from Albert Maysles, which really comes off quite well and is almost better than the actual documentary.  This also does much more to set the tone for what was happening at the time, including grabbing what was happening among the fans, where the documentary focused more on the Beatles themselves.

The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit is a must-see for fans and anyone who wants to know more about what this time was like. The fact that the footage has a raw feel to it rather than a slickly produced feel is actually a plus.  There were a few surprises as it seemed that everything that was happening somewhat overwhelmed the boys. I thoroughly enjoyed it.


DVD EXTRAS:

• Commentary by cameraman Albert Maysles
• Deleted Scenes