The Beatles: An Intimate Scrapbook is a DVD that is alleged to be “an intimate look at arguably the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band ever. See the Fab Four like you’ve never seen them before through vintage photos, archival footage, and more.”  I think that’s a good promotional line, but to most people who will view this, it’s little more than that.

“A film by Avalon Giuliano,” this was compiled by Geoffrey Giuliano, who wrote biographies on John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.  Giuliano also did some recording with Harrison.  He’s someone who has had contact with the four members of The Beatles over the years and now seems to want to profit off of it as well as stroke his ego a bit.

The DVD warns in the beginning that the viewing quality of the footage might vary, even though the latest technology has been used to ensure the maximum quality of the production.  I’m not so sure about that.  I do think more could have been done to restore the footage, but this just didn’t have the budget for it.

The DVD begins with an early radio interview, which is played for the audio as vintage photographs are flashed on the screen.  That’s not all this is.  Much of the DVD is just a retelling of the story of The Beatles by showing modern pictures and film of various places, such as the homes where John Lennon and Paul McCartney grew up, or clips from a recent interview with Pete Best.  Frederic Seaman, who was the last personal assistant to John Lennon, is interviewed and talks about John’s reflections on the early years in The Beatles.  These parts are a bit interesting, but for many people who have seen The Beatles Anthology, it doesn’t contain any new information.

The DVD shows interviews from various dates, but doesn’t provide the exact information on where and when they occurred.  There’s a black and white interview of Paul by himself that during the course of the interview it becomes apparent that it was filmed after John’s death, but it’s hard to decipher exactly when.

The narration leaves something to be desired.  It’s easy to hear – the problem is that it’s too much.  It seems to be more like someone who’s trying to use words he thinks will impress the audience rather than giving narration that gets to the point quickly and simply and lets the footage speak for itself.


At just an hour long, it’s basically a collection of various interviews, as well as highlights and lowlights of their careers.  The DVD does deal with times after they had broken up and touches on the drug busts, the religious explorations, and John’s death.  It shows the interview where Paul was wrongly pegged as being nonchalant about John’s death and discusses the backlash over that interview.

In the BONUS FEATURE is a newsreel of The Beatles returning to London Airport after their very successful first trip to the US.  This was sort of cool to see, but the DVD is lacking overall.  The quality of the footage isn’t great, and it just seems like someone got their hands on a bunch of clips and is trying to make some money off of them.  I definitely wouldn’t recommend it, even to the most hardcore Beatles fan.