The Fab Four’s first and biggest movie hit comes to 4K Ultra HD! The Beatles brought something new and exciting to 1964 and the world embraced it. This United Artists release was a major event in the first wave of Beatlemania, setting the standard for Swinging London cool; thanks to Richard Lester’s flip approach and the Beatles’ positive energy little in the movie has dated. George Martin’s input for the musical end of things didn’t hurt either. The movie itself never gets old: new generations still respond with enthusiasm. It always looked super on home video, so what does the format boost add to the mix?
A Hard Day’s Night 4K
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 711
1964 / B&w / 1:75 widescreen / 87 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 18, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr,
Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, Victor Spinetti,...
A Hard Day’s Night 4K
4K Ultra-hd + Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 711
1964 / B&w / 1:75 widescreen / 87 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 18, 2022 / 39.95
Starring: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr,
Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, Victor Spinetti,...
- 1/18/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Sanford and Son, the first mainstream, primetime sitcom in television history with an almost-all Black cast, debuted on NBC on Jan. 14, 1972. Created by Norman Lear, and starring legendary “blue” comedian Redd Foxx as an African American bigot, it was seen as a direct answer to CBS’ All in the Family. But the Bunker family series was a social satire which took its laughs seriously. The Sanfords presented pure comedy, any lessons it taught were intentionally coincidental. The most controversial part of the show, when it first aired, was its lead actor.
Foxx was already an underground comedy legend when Cleavon Little, best known for his role as Sheriff Bart in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, suggested him for the lead in the mid-season replacement. Little wasn’t available, but worked with Foxx on Ossie Davis’s 1970 neo-noir film Cotton Comes to Harlem. Before Foxx played the junk dealer stuck with the bale of genuine Mississippi cotton,...
Foxx was already an underground comedy legend when Cleavon Little, best known for his role as Sheriff Bart in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, suggested him for the lead in the mid-season replacement. Little wasn’t available, but worked with Foxx on Ossie Davis’s 1970 neo-noir film Cotton Comes to Harlem. Before Foxx played the junk dealer stuck with the bale of genuine Mississippi cotton,...
- 1/14/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s The Beatles on TV Special Collector’s Edition, available for order online now at BeatlesonTV.com and for purchase on newsstands nationwide. The Fab Four’s energy was never higher than on their three beloved films. Ahead of the release of Disney+’s docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, we’re reflecting on the musical group’s trips to the big screen. A Hard Day’s Night (1964) (Credit: The Everett Collection) Directed By Richard Lester, Written By Alun Owen Starring: The Beatles, Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin, and Victor Spinetti The Setup: With the first wave of Beatlemania hitting its crest, the Fab Four look for a respite as they prep for a big television appearance. The Plot: Taking a day-in-the-life approach with Marx Brothers–level anarchy, the movie breathlessly captures the moment the Liverpool lads became generational idols. It’s...
- 11/2/2021
- TV Insider
Actor who began as a glamour model went on to appear in the James Bond film before taking numerous roles in 1960s and 70s TV
Margaret Nolan, the actor best known for appearing in the title sequence for Goldfinger and for a string of appearances in TV shows in the 1960s and 70s, has died aged 76. Film-maker Edgar Wright, who directed Nolan in her final film role, in the forthcoming Last Night in Soho, reported the news on social media.
Nolan, who was born in 1943 in Somerset, first appeared on film under the name Vicky Kennedy in “glamour” shorts by the then notorious Harrison Marks, appearing in his naturist film It’s a Bare, Bare World. She soon graduated to more mainstream films, with a noticeable role in the Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night (as the girl accompanying Wilfrid Brambell in a casino), and the James Bond film Goldfinger,...
Margaret Nolan, the actor best known for appearing in the title sequence for Goldfinger and for a string of appearances in TV shows in the 1960s and 70s, has died aged 76. Film-maker Edgar Wright, who directed Nolan in her final film role, in the forthcoming Last Night in Soho, reported the news on social media.
Nolan, who was born in 1943 in Somerset, first appeared on film under the name Vicky Kennedy in “glamour” shorts by the then notorious Harrison Marks, appearing in his naturist film It’s a Bare, Bare World. She soon graduated to more mainstream films, with a noticeable role in the Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night (as the girl accompanying Wilfrid Brambell in a casino), and the James Bond film Goldfinger,...
- 10/12/2020
- by Guardian film
- The Guardian - Film News
For his follow-up to The Witch, Robert Eggers launches a salty story of two men trapped in a turret. Think Steptoe and Son at sea and in hell
Robert Eggers’s gripping nightmare shows two lighthouse-keepers in 19th-century Maine going melancholy mad together: a toxic marriage, a dance of death. It is explosively scary and captivatingly beautiful in cinematographer Jarin Blaschke’s fierce monochrome, like a daguerreotype of fear. And the performances from Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson have a sledgehammer punch – Pattinson, in particular, just gets better and better.
There is rare excitement in seeing these two actors butt heads and trade difficult, complex period dialogue with such mastery and flair. And the screenplay by Robert and Max Eggers is a delicious and often outrageous homage to maritime speech and sea-dog lore, saltier than an underwater sodium chloride factory. Their script is barnacled with resemblances to Coleridge, Shakespeare, Melville...
Robert Eggers’s gripping nightmare shows two lighthouse-keepers in 19th-century Maine going melancholy mad together: a toxic marriage, a dance of death. It is explosively scary and captivatingly beautiful in cinematographer Jarin Blaschke’s fierce monochrome, like a daguerreotype of fear. And the performances from Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson have a sledgehammer punch – Pattinson, in particular, just gets better and better.
There is rare excitement in seeing these two actors butt heads and trade difficult, complex period dialogue with such mastery and flair. And the screenplay by Robert and Max Eggers is a delicious and often outrageous homage to maritime speech and sea-dog lore, saltier than an underwater sodium chloride factory. Their script is barnacled with resemblances to Coleridge, Shakespeare, Melville...
- 5/19/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Mark Allison Apr 13, 2017
From A Hard Day's Night to Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine and Help!, we revisit the original Beatles films...
Of all the art that the Beatles brought into the world, their cinematic misadventures are probably less fondly remembered than their music. But in addition to 12 studio albums, 13 EPs, and 22 singles, the Fab Four also released five films in their comparatively few years together. These efforts comprised two feature films, a TV movie, a cartoon, and a documentary, all of admittedly inconsistent quality. Looking back now, these films provide a fascinating insight into the phenomenon of Beatlemania.
See related Bill Condon interview: Mr Holmes, Beauty & The Beast Bill Condon interview: Beauty And The Beast, Twilight, fandom
For Beatles fanatics such as myself, the music alone makes them a joy to watch and re-watch, but as pieces of cinema in their own right there’s plenty to still be enjoyed and appreciated.
From A Hard Day's Night to Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine and Help!, we revisit the original Beatles films...
Of all the art that the Beatles brought into the world, their cinematic misadventures are probably less fondly remembered than their music. But in addition to 12 studio albums, 13 EPs, and 22 singles, the Fab Four also released five films in their comparatively few years together. These efforts comprised two feature films, a TV movie, a cartoon, and a documentary, all of admittedly inconsistent quality. Looking back now, these films provide a fascinating insight into the phenomenon of Beatlemania.
See related Bill Condon interview: Mr Holmes, Beauty & The Beast Bill Condon interview: Beauty And The Beast, Twilight, fandom
For Beatles fanatics such as myself, the music alone makes them a joy to watch and re-watch, but as pieces of cinema in their own right there’s plenty to still be enjoyed and appreciated.
- 4/3/2017
- Den of Geek
Set in the grimy streets of early-60s Soho, The Small World of Sammy Lee is a lost gem of British cinema. Starring Anthony Newley as a strip-club compere who owes a large amount of money to a local villain, it was written and directed by Ken Hughes (best known for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and was photographed by the renowned Wolfgang Suschitzky. It also features a host of recognisable faces in smaller roles, including Steptoe’s Wilfrid Brambell, The Rag Trade’s Miriam Karlin, and Till Death Us Do Part’s Warren Mitchell.
•The Small World of Sammy Lee is released on Blu-ray on 14 November
Continue reading...
•The Small World of Sammy Lee is released on Blu-ray on 14 November
Continue reading...
- 11/4/2016
- by Guardian Staff
- The Guardian - Film News
Mark Harrison Aug 5, 2016
Hello! From Armageddon to Harry Potter, we salute the screen work of Mr Jason Isaacs...
This feature contains spoilers for Event Horizon and the Harry Potter films. This spoiler warning contains spoilers for the list.
Hello to Jason Isaacs! Through roles in an impressive array of movies, from indies to massive blockbusters on both sides of the pond, he's become one of our favourite character actors. We've found that no matter how the film turns out, you can guarantee that if he's in it, his performance is going to be one of the highlights.
Off-screen, Isaacs has a whole other profile of popularity. Out of several prominent celebrity fans of Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's film review show on BBC Radio 5 Live, he's the patron saint of their “church of Wittertainment”, and “hello to Jason Isaacs” is the show's first, most popular catchphrase.
Some might argue...
Hello! From Armageddon to Harry Potter, we salute the screen work of Mr Jason Isaacs...
This feature contains spoilers for Event Horizon and the Harry Potter films. This spoiler warning contains spoilers for the list.
Hello to Jason Isaacs! Through roles in an impressive array of movies, from indies to massive blockbusters on both sides of the pond, he's become one of our favourite character actors. We've found that no matter how the film turns out, you can guarantee that if he's in it, his performance is going to be one of the highlights.
Off-screen, Isaacs has a whole other profile of popularity. Out of several prominent celebrity fans of Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's film review show on BBC Radio 5 Live, he's the patron saint of their “church of Wittertainment”, and “hello to Jason Isaacs” is the show's first, most popular catchphrase.
Some might argue...
- 8/3/2016
- Den of Geek
“The Beatles?…..Oh yes, I seem to recall their off-key caterwauling on the old Sullivan show”….Montgomery Burns
Cinema St. Louis teams up with the chefs over at Tenacious Eats for a one-of-a-kind movie/dining event! It’s a movies for Foodies night at Sliff. A Hard Days Night is the film and the Centene Building is the location. As A Hard Days Night unfolds, local celebrity chef Liz Schuster and her Tenacious Eats team cook and serve multiple courses with paired cocktails served byBeth Sorrell at Cocktails are Go. Ticket information can be found Here Please note that tickets are not available for the film only.
A Hard Day’S Night was the Beatles’ first, and best, feature film of their career. Unlike the confused and confusing Help! or the incredibly simplistic and message-oriented Yellow Submarine – in which the Beatles only appeared briefly — this film has sharp editing, good supporting characterization,...
Cinema St. Louis teams up with the chefs over at Tenacious Eats for a one-of-a-kind movie/dining event! It’s a movies for Foodies night at Sliff. A Hard Days Night is the film and the Centene Building is the location. As A Hard Days Night unfolds, local celebrity chef Liz Schuster and her Tenacious Eats team cook and serve multiple courses with paired cocktails served byBeth Sorrell at Cocktails are Go. Ticket information can be found Here Please note that tickets are not available for the film only.
A Hard Day’S Night was the Beatles’ first, and best, feature film of their career. Unlike the confused and confusing Help! or the incredibly simplistic and message-oriented Yellow Submarine – in which the Beatles only appeared briefly — this film has sharp editing, good supporting characterization,...
- 11/17/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“The Beatles?…..Oh yes, I seem to recall their off-key caterwauling on the old Sullivan show”….Montgomery Burns
Head down to Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood Thursday July 31st where A Hard Day’S Night screens at at 7pm.
A Hard Day’S Night was the Beatles’ first, and best, feature film of their career. Unlike the confused and confusing Help! or the simplistic and message-oriented Yellow Submarine – in which the Beatles only appeared briefly — this film has sharp editing, good supporting characterization, and the good sense not to rely too much on the Beatles themselves for more than some good quips and great music.
Richard Lester’s compelling and innovative cinematography and editing underscores the fact that these four young Liverpool lads are going to change the world, well before they actually had begun to do so. Rather than making a throwaway flick for the fans, Lester crafted a minor...
Head down to Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood Thursday July 31st where A Hard Day’S Night screens at at 7pm.
A Hard Day’S Night was the Beatles’ first, and best, feature film of their career. Unlike the confused and confusing Help! or the simplistic and message-oriented Yellow Submarine – in which the Beatles only appeared briefly — this film has sharp editing, good supporting characterization, and the good sense not to rely too much on the Beatles themselves for more than some good quips and great music.
Richard Lester’s compelling and innovative cinematography and editing underscores the fact that these four young Liverpool lads are going to change the world, well before they actually had begun to do so. Rather than making a throwaway flick for the fans, Lester crafted a minor...
- 7/24/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – If you are lucky enough to have the 50th Anniversary edition of “A Hard Day’s Night” playing in your area, drop everything and go see it, especially if you’ve never seen it before. The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – are ageless and timeless in a new print restoration and sound remastering of their 1964 debut film.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
There is no way to describe the luck and timing of the music phenomenon called “The Beatles.” They were four guys in a rock band, but they virtually influenced everything the 1960s had to offer, due to the perfect moment they entered the arena and fired their creativity into the mass production era of record albums and baby boomers. Their first film was a coming together of the right screenwriter (Alan Owun) and the perfect director (Richard Lester), who captured a zeitgeist as it was happening...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
There is no way to describe the luck and timing of the music phenomenon called “The Beatles.” They were four guys in a rock band, but they virtually influenced everything the 1960s had to offer, due to the perfect moment they entered the arena and fired their creativity into the mass production era of record albums and baby boomers. Their first film was a coming together of the right screenwriter (Alan Owun) and the perfect director (Richard Lester), who captured a zeitgeist as it was happening...
- 7/5/2014
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Stars: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Wilfrid Brambell | Written by Alun Owen | Directed by Richard Lester
It’s been fifty years since United Artists wanted a Beatles movie to make money off its soundtrack, but what a decision it was. A Hard Day’s Night is a film that focused on the life of the Beatles but in turn became one of the best comedies to come out of the UK. With a new 4k restoration in cinemas this weekend and a DVD/Blu-ray release coming July 21st, is the movie showing its age or does it still stand up as a comedy?
A Hard Day’s Night looks to show what a day in the life of the Beatles is like. Travelling down from Liverpool to London to perform a concert with Paul’s grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell) tagging along for the ride chaos soon ensues.
It’s been fifty years since United Artists wanted a Beatles movie to make money off its soundtrack, but what a decision it was. A Hard Day’s Night is a film that focused on the life of the Beatles but in turn became one of the best comedies to come out of the UK. With a new 4k restoration in cinemas this weekend and a DVD/Blu-ray release coming July 21st, is the movie showing its age or does it still stand up as a comedy?
A Hard Day’s Night looks to show what a day in the life of the Beatles is like. Travelling down from Liverpool to London to perform a concert with Paul’s grandfather (Wilfrid Brambell) tagging along for the ride chaos soon ensues.
- 7/5/2014
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
You only need look at the opening scene of A Hard Day's Night, Richard Lester's fleet-footed day in the life of The Beatles, to see just how much of an impact the film has had. As the first chord of the title track rings out and the group evade screaming fans to board a train to London, it's clear that this was the moment the music video was born.
A Hard Day's Night pre-dated MTV by almost two decades, but the channel would probably never have existed had it not been for Lester's beautiful synchronisation of music with images here. 50 years on from its original release, and with a new digital restoration heading back to cinemas, this film is still as fun and lively as ever.
It was Lester's anarchic short The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers) that caught the attention of The Beatles and studio United Artists,...
A Hard Day's Night pre-dated MTV by almost two decades, but the channel would probably never have existed had it not been for Lester's beautiful synchronisation of music with images here. 50 years on from its original release, and with a new digital restoration heading back to cinemas, this film is still as fun and lively as ever.
It was Lester's anarchic short The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (starring Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers) that caught the attention of The Beatles and studio United Artists,...
- 7/4/2014
- Digital Spy
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
The year is 1964 and Beatlemania is in full swing. The biggest band on the planet are about to make their big screen debut. The film is A Hard Day’s Night, a seminal piece of filmmaking that shows The Beatles as they’ve never been seen before.
To celebrate its 50th Anniversary the film will be presented in a new 4k digital restoration approved by director Richard Lester, with three audio options - a monoaural soundtrack in addition to newly created stereo and 5.1 surround mixes supervised by sound producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios. The film will be in cinemas, on-demand and available to download from 4 July, followed by a special edition Blu-ray and two-disc DVD release on 21 July 2014, courtesy of Second Sight Films.
A Hard Day’s Night will have an Extended Run at BFI Southbank...
The year is 1964 and Beatlemania is in full swing. The biggest band on the planet are about to make their big screen debut. The film is A Hard Day’s Night, a seminal piece of filmmaking that shows The Beatles as they’ve never been seen before.
To celebrate its 50th Anniversary the film will be presented in a new 4k digital restoration approved by director Richard Lester, with three audio options - a monoaural soundtrack in addition to newly created stereo and 5.1 surround mixes supervised by sound producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios. The film will be in cinemas, on-demand and available to download from 4 July, followed by a special edition Blu-ray and two-disc DVD release on 21 July 2014, courtesy of Second Sight Films.
A Hard Day’s Night will have an Extended Run at BFI Southbank...
- 7/2/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
By Mark Cerulli
After a meticulous 4K restoration by none other than the Criterion Collection, the Beatles’ first film, A Hard Days Night, was unveiled at La’s Raleigh Studios. Yes, the image was crisp and clean, not a smudge or scratch in sight. (No surprise there as the film’s director Richard Lester personally approved the restoration.) And yes, the music sounded glorious in a new 5.1 mix. In fact, George Harrison’s iconic opening riff on the title track just about knocked this Cinema Retro scribe off his seat! But what was really special about this whimsical film was watching it through the prism of fifty years. From frame 1, we know how we lost both John Lennon and George Harrison. We are living with climate change, al-Qaeda, overpopulation and deforestation, so this movie is a welcome relief, capturing a simpler time in a quainter London which was then still...
After a meticulous 4K restoration by none other than the Criterion Collection, the Beatles’ first film, A Hard Days Night, was unveiled at La’s Raleigh Studios. Yes, the image was crisp and clean, not a smudge or scratch in sight. (No surprise there as the film’s director Richard Lester personally approved the restoration.) And yes, the music sounded glorious in a new 5.1 mix. In fact, George Harrison’s iconic opening riff on the title track just about knocked this Cinema Retro scribe off his seat! But what was really special about this whimsical film was watching it through the prism of fifty years. From frame 1, we know how we lost both John Lennon and George Harrison. We are living with climate change, al-Qaeda, overpopulation and deforestation, so this movie is a welcome relief, capturing a simpler time in a quainter London which was then still...
- 7/1/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Let’s be honest, who doesn’t have a deep seeded love for the fab four? How could anyone resist those Liverpool lovelies, with their matching suits, Rickenbackers, mop tops and an ever growing catalogue of unbelievable hooks? It’s possible that before 1964, anyone outside of Britain might not have heard of The Beatles, but after A Hard Day’s Night took international cinemas by storm, there was no denying it – the British invasion had begun, and John, Paul, George and Ringo were the faces of this new pop movement, a new set of idols for teens to fawn over and an absolute force of creatively catchy songwriting. Helping craft and simultaneously critique their cheeky rock star image, Richard Lester’s monumental faux day-in-the-life documentary of the band became a comedic musical masterpiece that set the blueprint for music videos decades before Video Killed the Radio Star set us off into the abyss of MTV.
- 6/30/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
A documentary about the angriest old man of music, drummer Ginger Baker, who is filmed whacking the interviewer with his cane, can only be enthralling
A refreshing aspect of this film about Ginger Baker, the legendary 73-year-old rock and jazz drummer, and former smackhead given to smacking people in the head, is that it doesn't mention the phrase "national treasure". This status is traditionally conferred on England's ageing rebels whose cantankerous and reactionary tendencies are thought to be picturesque. However, it is perhaps worrying that the chief character witness for Baker, produced in the opening few minutes, is the hectoringly pop-eyed John Lydon, who recently distinguished himself by telling a woman interviewer: "When a man is talking, you do not interrupt."
Probably music's angriest old man, Baker gives the American journalist and film-maker Jay Bulger pure film gold – that Bulger uses at the beginning and end of his documentary – by...
A refreshing aspect of this film about Ginger Baker, the legendary 73-year-old rock and jazz drummer, and former smackhead given to smacking people in the head, is that it doesn't mention the phrase "national treasure". This status is traditionally conferred on England's ageing rebels whose cantankerous and reactionary tendencies are thought to be picturesque. However, it is perhaps worrying that the chief character witness for Baker, produced in the opening few minutes, is the hectoringly pop-eyed John Lydon, who recently distinguished himself by telling a woman interviewer: "When a man is talking, you do not interrupt."
Probably music's angriest old man, Baker gives the American journalist and film-maker Jay Bulger pure film gold – that Bulger uses at the beginning and end of his documentary – by...
- 5/16/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
(John Krish, 1959-77; BFI, 15)
John Krish entered the cinema as a teenager early in the second world war, working for the Crown Film Unit (on Harry Watt's Target for Tonight and Humphrey Jennings's Listen to Britain) and the Army Film Unit (as an editor on Carol Reed and Garson Kanin's The True Glory), before joining British Transport Films. It was with the latter group that he made his classic The Elephant Will Never Forget (1953), a beautiful movie about London's last tram journey. It was shown in a much acclaimed quartet of his pictures that travelled the country in 2010, and was included, along with his infinitely moving I Think They Call Him John (1964), in Shadows of Progress, the BFI's four-disc survey of postwar British documentary.
Now, in Krish's 90th year, the BFI help clinch his reputation as one of Britain's most distinctive and distinguished documentarians with a compilation of his work,...
John Krish entered the cinema as a teenager early in the second world war, working for the Crown Film Unit (on Harry Watt's Target for Tonight and Humphrey Jennings's Listen to Britain) and the Army Film Unit (as an editor on Carol Reed and Garson Kanin's The True Glory), before joining British Transport Films. It was with the latter group that he made his classic The Elephant Will Never Forget (1953), a beautiful movie about London's last tram journey. It was shown in a much acclaimed quartet of his pictures that travelled the country in 2010, and was included, along with his infinitely moving I Think They Call Him John (1964), in Shadows of Progress, the BFI's four-disc survey of postwar British documentary.
Now, in Krish's 90th year, the BFI help clinch his reputation as one of Britain's most distinctive and distinguished documentarians with a compilation of his work,...
- 4/27/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Rik Mayall has revealed that he is "desperate" to bring Bottom back.
Along with longtime comedy partner Ade Edmondson, Mayall was commissioned to write and film a new series of the 1990s anarchic sitcom titled Hooligan's Island.
The series would have been based on their 1997 stage show of the same name, which saw their characters Richie and Eddie being stuck on a deserted island.
However, the project was axed when Edmondson decided against it. He recently told Digital Spy that the series felt like a "backwards step", and pulled out after writing two episodes.
Speaking about the cancelled series, Mayall told The Mirror: "I thought it would be fun and Ade thought it would be fun but then he had a change of heart. It's a shame.
"Of course, I f**king tried to persuade him to change his mind. But if he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to.
Along with longtime comedy partner Ade Edmondson, Mayall was commissioned to write and film a new series of the 1990s anarchic sitcom titled Hooligan's Island.
The series would have been based on their 1997 stage show of the same name, which saw their characters Richie and Eddie being stuck on a deserted island.
However, the project was axed when Edmondson decided against it. He recently told Digital Spy that the series felt like a "backwards step", and pulled out after writing two episodes.
Speaking about the cancelled series, Mayall told The Mirror: "I thought it would be fun and Ade thought it would be fun but then he had a change of heart. It's a shame.
"Of course, I f**king tried to persuade him to change his mind. But if he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to.
- 3/31/2013
- Digital Spy
Interview Rachel Bowles 28 Mar 2013 - 07:45
We spoke to the inimitable Rik Mayall about his return to Jonathan Creek, the scrapped Bottom reunion, and why he is Jesus...
Just a word of warning for the faint-hearted. Before you proceed, the following interview contains some, ahem, colourful language from Dr the Rik Mayall, a pan-global phenomenon, and the only one of his kind...
(Oh, and any TV, film, radio or theatre writers reading this, there's an open talent call at the end, so have your business cards at the ready).
This is your return to Jonathan Creek as the formidable Di Gideon Pryke...
The very first time I was offered Gideon Pryke was straight after Blair assassinated me, when I fell off my quad bike...’fell off’ my quad bike. I was medically dead for five days, this was the day before Good Friday before Easter. 2000 years after Jesus.
(nervous laughter)
Oh you can laugh,...
We spoke to the inimitable Rik Mayall about his return to Jonathan Creek, the scrapped Bottom reunion, and why he is Jesus...
Just a word of warning for the faint-hearted. Before you proceed, the following interview contains some, ahem, colourful language from Dr the Rik Mayall, a pan-global phenomenon, and the only one of his kind...
(Oh, and any TV, film, radio or theatre writers reading this, there's an open talent call at the end, so have your business cards at the ready).
This is your return to Jonathan Creek as the formidable Di Gideon Pryke...
The very first time I was offered Gideon Pryke was straight after Blair assassinated me, when I fell off my quad bike...’fell off’ my quad bike. I was medically dead for five days, this was the day before Good Friday before Easter. 2000 years after Jesus.
(nervous laughter)
Oh you can laugh,...
- 3/28/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
News Rachel Bowles 25 Mar 2013 - 09:57
Rik Mayall tells us why the planned Bottom reunion with Ade Edmondson, Hooligan’s Island, didn’t happen…
Pitched as a revival of Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson early-nineties comedy Bottom, Hooligan’s Island would have seen an aged Richard Richard and Eddie Hitler not in their sordid Hammersmith flat, but exacting acts of extreme violence upon one another in a tropical paradise.
Last October however, Edmondson told Radio Essex that he’d stepped down from the project as “it wasn’t working”. “We started working on something and we realised why we stopped working together”, were Edmondson’s precise words, explaining his departure with the simple, “I enjoy other things more”.
On the press circuit for the Jonathan Creek Easter special (more of which to come later this week), Mayall told Den of Geek his side of the Hooligan’s Island story, using some,...
Rik Mayall tells us why the planned Bottom reunion with Ade Edmondson, Hooligan’s Island, didn’t happen…
Pitched as a revival of Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson early-nineties comedy Bottom, Hooligan’s Island would have seen an aged Richard Richard and Eddie Hitler not in their sordid Hammersmith flat, but exacting acts of extreme violence upon one another in a tropical paradise.
Last October however, Edmondson told Radio Essex that he’d stepped down from the project as “it wasn’t working”. “We started working on something and we realised why we stopped working together”, were Edmondson’s precise words, explaining his departure with the simple, “I enjoy other things more”.
On the press circuit for the Jonathan Creek Easter special (more of which to come later this week), Mayall told Den of Geek his side of the Hooligan’s Island story, using some,...
- 3/25/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
You may find the new Ben Stiller movie The Watch strangely familiar. But that's not necessarily a good thing
You might be forgiven for thinking that you've seen The Watch before. Not because Ben Stiller's character is the same uptight blowhard that he has played in everything for the past 15 years, or because Richard Ayoade is basically just Moss from The It Crowd again, or because Vince Vaughn remains content to sit back and bibble out the same directionless patter that has been his stock in trade for what seems like centuries.
No. The reason is because, once you've scraped away all the sex jokes and clanging Costco product placement, you're basically left with Dad's Army. Both are essentially stories about a group of ill-prepared middle-aged incompetents trying to escape the monotony of their day-to-day lives by fudging together a defence against an enemy they don't fully understand. With The Watch,...
You might be forgiven for thinking that you've seen The Watch before. Not because Ben Stiller's character is the same uptight blowhard that he has played in everything for the past 15 years, or because Richard Ayoade is basically just Moss from The It Crowd again, or because Vince Vaughn remains content to sit back and bibble out the same directionless patter that has been his stock in trade for what seems like centuries.
No. The reason is because, once you've scraped away all the sex jokes and clanging Costco product placement, you're basically left with Dad's Army. Both are essentially stories about a group of ill-prepared middle-aged incompetents trying to escape the monotony of their day-to-day lives by fudging together a defence against an enemy they don't fully understand. With The Watch,...
- 8/16/2012
- by Stuart Heritage
- The Guardian - Film News
Giorgio Moroder Presents: Metropolis
Since its release in 1927, Fritz Lang's Metropolis has not only influenced any film-maker who wanted to create a futuristic city, it's also had a strong link with music. Indeed, plenty of performers with a strong eye for visuals – from Kraftwerk and Queen to Madonna and Janelle Monáe – have plundered the film's still-impressive imagery for their videos and artwork.
Perhaps the oddest and least cherished of these Metropolis and music crossovers is this 1984 version, overseen by Giorgio Moroder. Tinting it with colour, adding subtitles and sound effects, music and songs, Moroder made the film seem a little less black and white, slightly less German and a lot less silent.
His intention, if misguided, was more honourable than heretical. Even though this cut is shorter than usual, it does include footage that was previously thought lost, while missing scenes are recreated with photographs and illustrations.
Unfortunately, the...
Since its release in 1927, Fritz Lang's Metropolis has not only influenced any film-maker who wanted to create a futuristic city, it's also had a strong link with music. Indeed, plenty of performers with a strong eye for visuals – from Kraftwerk and Queen to Madonna and Janelle Monáe – have plundered the film's still-impressive imagery for their videos and artwork.
Perhaps the oddest and least cherished of these Metropolis and music crossovers is this 1984 version, overseen by Giorgio Moroder. Tinting it with colour, adding subtitles and sound effects, music and songs, Moroder made the film seem a little less black and white, slightly less German and a lot less silent.
His intention, if misguided, was more honourable than heretical. Even though this cut is shorter than usual, it does include footage that was previously thought lost, while missing scenes are recreated with photographs and illustrations.
Unfortunately, the...
- 7/20/2012
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
Based on the ground breaking UK series, the critically acclaimed Us remake of Shameless, from award-winning executive producer John Wells (ER, The West Wing) and starring Oscar-nominated actor William H. Macy (Fargo) as the notorious Frank Gallagher, is released on DVD from 25th June 2012. To celebrate Chicago’s most dysfunctional family we take a look back at the best British-made TV shows to successfully make their way across the Atlantic.
Steptoe & Son
UK (1962-1974)
This classic British sitcom about a warring father and son who run an unsuccessful rag and bone store in London gave audiences one of the most successful double acts in TV history. Despite in reality only having a 13 year age difference, Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett were convincing as a cynical father and ambitious son, respectively, who constantly bicker over the failing business and their vastly opposing views on social issues.
Us (1972-1977)
The well-loved...
Steptoe & Son
UK (1962-1974)
This classic British sitcom about a warring father and son who run an unsuccessful rag and bone store in London gave audiences one of the most successful double acts in TV history. Despite in reality only having a 13 year age difference, Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett were convincing as a cynical father and ambitious son, respectively, who constantly bicker over the failing business and their vastly opposing views on social issues.
Us (1972-1977)
The well-loved...
- 6/22/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Sadie Frost, Gary Kemp, Phil Collins – they all started out in movies from the Children's Film Foundation
A forgotten catalogue of hundreds of British children's films, all shot in the school holidays from the 1950s to 1980s, is to be re-released after lying dormant while many of their young stars rose to fame.
Performers such as Phil Collins, Michael Crawford, Leslie Ash, Susan George, Sadie Frost and Gary Kemp all got their first screen work in Children's Film Foundation features, which entertained the nation's youth at Saturday morning cinema screenings. The British Film Institute has announced that it will be releasing the entire catalogue and screening many of the best features at special events which are sure to attract nostalgic fans and social historians.
"The early black-and-white films from the 1950s were rather middle-class and wholesome, so you can imagine the children throwing their ice cream tubs at the screen back then,...
A forgotten catalogue of hundreds of British children's films, all shot in the school holidays from the 1950s to 1980s, is to be re-released after lying dormant while many of their young stars rose to fame.
Performers such as Phil Collins, Michael Crawford, Leslie Ash, Susan George, Sadie Frost and Gary Kemp all got their first screen work in Children's Film Foundation features, which entertained the nation's youth at Saturday morning cinema screenings. The British Film Institute has announced that it will be releasing the entire catalogue and screening many of the best features at special events which are sure to attract nostalgic fans and social historians.
"The early black-and-white films from the 1950s were rather middle-class and wholesome, so you can imagine the children throwing their ice cream tubs at the screen back then,...
- 6/16/2012
- by Vanessa Thorpe
- The Guardian - Film News
Television comedy director and producer known for Fawlty Towers, Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part
Douglas Argent, who has died aged 89, was a prolific producer and director who scored hits with Till Death Us Do Part, Steptoe and Son, Fawlty Towers and Spike Milligan's Q8 and Q9 series – all with humour that pushed the boundaries of TV comedy.
He was gifted the second series of Fawlty Towers to produce in 1979. The creation of John Cleese and Connie Booth – who had divorced since the first run, four years earlier – went on to top a British Film Institute list of the 100 best TV programmes, as voted for by industry professionals. Argent modestly insisted that its success lay in the writing. However, producers guide all those working on their programmes and his track record was impressive, particularly in the field of comedy.
Argent was born in Bexleyheath, Kent, and his parents ran ironmonger's shops.
Douglas Argent, who has died aged 89, was a prolific producer and director who scored hits with Till Death Us Do Part, Steptoe and Son, Fawlty Towers and Spike Milligan's Q8 and Q9 series – all with humour that pushed the boundaries of TV comedy.
He was gifted the second series of Fawlty Towers to produce in 1979. The creation of John Cleese and Connie Booth – who had divorced since the first run, four years earlier – went on to top a British Film Institute list of the 100 best TV programmes, as voted for by industry professionals. Argent modestly insisted that its success lay in the writing. However, producers guide all those working on their programmes and his track record was impressive, particularly in the field of comedy.
Argent was born in Bexleyheath, Kent, and his parents ran ironmonger's shops.
- 12/6/2010
- by Anthony Hayward
- The Guardian - Film News
I feel like Sergeant Pepper slipped me some acid. Director Jonathan Miller found an underlying melancholy in the Alice stories by Lewis Carroll. He brought that into a haunting, surreal, dream-like, Victorian adaptation of the story for the BBC. Oh what a curiouser and curiouser trip it.s been. Alice (Anne-Marie Mallik) is spending the day with her sisters in the sunny fields. She appears to nap, but spies a Victorian gentleman White Rabbit (Wilfrid Brambell) and follows him into a tunnel. She finds herself in Wonderland, encountering the Duchess (Leo McKern), growing, shrinking, at a mad tea party with the Mad Hatter (Peter Cook), March Hare (Michael Gough) and Dormouse (Wilfred Lawson), poetry from the Caterpillar (Sir Michael...
- 3/3/2010
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
As John Hurt reprises his role as the flamboyant raconteur and gay icon, Quentin Crisp, in An Englishman in New York, Ben Walters traces the writer's legacy in the Big Apple
"I don't believe in abroad," John Hurt's Quentin Crisp says towards the end of The Naked Civil Servant, the 1975 Thames Television drama that made Hurt a star and Crisp an icon. Before long, Crisp would revise his opinion: after his new-found fame led to him performing in New York in 1978, he fell in love with the city and, forsaking his self-appointed status as one of the stately homos of England, relocated there in 1981, aged 72. He would remain one of its most celebrated resident aliens for the remaining 18 years of his life.
Now that period is the subject of its own ITV film, An Englishman in New York, which takes its title from the song Sting wrote about Crisp.
"I don't believe in abroad," John Hurt's Quentin Crisp says towards the end of The Naked Civil Servant, the 1975 Thames Television drama that made Hurt a star and Crisp an icon. Before long, Crisp would revise his opinion: after his new-found fame led to him performing in New York in 1978, he fell in love with the city and, forsaking his self-appointed status as one of the stately homos of England, relocated there in 1981, aged 72. He would remain one of its most celebrated resident aliens for the remaining 18 years of his life.
Now that period is the subject of its own ITV film, An Englishman in New York, which takes its title from the song Sting wrote about Crisp.
- 12/9/2009
- by Ben Walters
- The Guardian - Film News
It’s still Thursday for a little while, and that means it’s time to remake an 80s classic TV show or movie with an all-new cast. This week I’m stretching a bit to include something that’s not quite 80s but impacted Gen Xers a lot as kids: A Hard Day’s Night, the 1964 Beatles movie that was basically the first music video. (The idea for this week’s Dream Cast comes courtesy of reader Eric-Jon. If you have a suggestion for an 80s TV show or movie we should play with, feel free to email me.) Remaking A Hard Day’s Night means, when it comes down to it, recasting the Beatles. Which some will consider blasphemy. But you know what? It’s gonna happening eventually, and probably soon -- someone will make a movie about the Beatles that will require actors representing the iconic musicians. So...
- 4/17/2009
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Miramax rereleases "A Hard Day's Night" -- with a restored picture and soundtrack -- in New York and Los Angeles today. This review originally appeared in The Hollywood Reporter on July 21, 1964.
In their first feature, "A Hard Day's Night", the Beatles display a flair for knockabout comedy and slapstick when they're not beating out some dozen of their tunes, including six new ones. The film is mad, mad and crazy, shrewdly designed for the teenage and calculated also to attract the curious and the oldsters who enjoy this sort of thing.
The shrieking, screaming teenage reaction was evident at a packed invitational afternoon screening at an upper Broadway theater. The mere appearance of a Beatle set off a chain reaction of screeching. When this mingled with the screams of pursuing teenagers on the screen, the result was pandemonium.
The Liverpool string quartet collectively achieves stardom in their maiden cinematic effort, and the film may be expected to be the first in a series.
Produced by Walter Shenson, directed by Richard Lester and written by Alun Owen, the team that delivered "The Mouse on the Moon", the film purports to chronicle 36 hours in the life of the moptops, hours that are normal because they're hectic. The riot starts as they take off for their next engagement, continues with their arrival in the provincial city and rehearsal and staging of a TV show. Always there are mobs of young girls in hot pursuit.
The script cleverly makes use of the Beatles' individual personalities, and while Norman Rossington as the harassed manager, Wilfrid Brambell (of TV's "Steptoe & Son") as a fictional grandfather and Victor Spinetti as a neurotic director have their moments in counter-plot, it's the Beatles' show all the way. Ringo Starr in a solo sequence displays potential as a mime.
While imaginative and often offbeat, the photography is lacking by top standards in on-the-spot location shooting, and editing is not as fluent as it might be in integrating the fast-moving scenes. The sound at times doesn't help American audiences to understand the quaint dialect and slang expressions.
But only the experts and the finicky will cavil at these deficiencies. There's a host of young American females waiting for this picture like the world is waiting for the sunrise.
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
United Artists
Producer: Walter Shenson
Director: Richard Lester
Screenwriter: Alun Owen
Director of photography: Gilbert Taylor
Art director: Ray Simm
Music director: George Martin
Songs by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Sound: H.L. Bird, Stephen Dalby
Editor: John Jympson
Associate producer: Dennis O'Dell
Assistant director: John D. Merriman
Cast: The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr), Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, Victor Spinetti, John Junkin, Deryck Guyler, Anna Quayle.
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
In their first feature, "A Hard Day's Night", the Beatles display a flair for knockabout comedy and slapstick when they're not beating out some dozen of their tunes, including six new ones. The film is mad, mad and crazy, shrewdly designed for the teenage and calculated also to attract the curious and the oldsters who enjoy this sort of thing.
The shrieking, screaming teenage reaction was evident at a packed invitational afternoon screening at an upper Broadway theater. The mere appearance of a Beatle set off a chain reaction of screeching. When this mingled with the screams of pursuing teenagers on the screen, the result was pandemonium.
The Liverpool string quartet collectively achieves stardom in their maiden cinematic effort, and the film may be expected to be the first in a series.
Produced by Walter Shenson, directed by Richard Lester and written by Alun Owen, the team that delivered "The Mouse on the Moon", the film purports to chronicle 36 hours in the life of the moptops, hours that are normal because they're hectic. The riot starts as they take off for their next engagement, continues with their arrival in the provincial city and rehearsal and staging of a TV show. Always there are mobs of young girls in hot pursuit.
The script cleverly makes use of the Beatles' individual personalities, and while Norman Rossington as the harassed manager, Wilfrid Brambell (of TV's "Steptoe & Son") as a fictional grandfather and Victor Spinetti as a neurotic director have their moments in counter-plot, it's the Beatles' show all the way. Ringo Starr in a solo sequence displays potential as a mime.
While imaginative and often offbeat, the photography is lacking by top standards in on-the-spot location shooting, and editing is not as fluent as it might be in integrating the fast-moving scenes. The sound at times doesn't help American audiences to understand the quaint dialect and slang expressions.
But only the experts and the finicky will cavil at these deficiencies. There's a host of young American females waiting for this picture like the world is waiting for the sunrise.
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
United Artists
Producer: Walter Shenson
Director: Richard Lester
Screenwriter: Alun Owen
Director of photography: Gilbert Taylor
Art director: Ray Simm
Music director: George Martin
Songs by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Sound: H.L. Bird, Stephen Dalby
Editor: John Jympson
Associate producer: Dennis O'Dell
Assistant director: John D. Merriman
Cast: The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr), Wilfrid Brambell, Norman Rossington, Victor Spinetti, John Junkin, Deryck Guyler, Anna Quayle.
Running time -- 85 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
- 12/1/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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