This project is a collection of ten sources I would use in support of my thesis: A Hard Day's Night was the first film to successfully unite the popular cultures of both film and music, and was therefore the first true rock and roll film.

A Hard Day’s Night: Director Richard Lester gives a very interesting perspective on the 1964 comedy, A Hard Day’s Night. Like many other sources, it comments on the music, The Beatles, and “Beatlemania”, but unlike most sources, it looks at the film through a very refined cinematic lens. One chapter, for example, takes a deep look into Richard Lester as an auteur, in which he is credited for making “something of a breakthrough in communicating the spirit of popular music in film.” Lester’s technique in filming A Hard Day’s Night is also considered to be incredibly unique. “[His] approach to pop music in cinema was a world away from earlier attempts. The music, here, dictates the image completely; it is not in the background, nor is it an aimless interlude with the performers spotlighted. Lester fits whichever image most suits the songs, thereby giving visual expression to the spirit of the songs.” Instead of using the music as a means of enhancing the image on the screen, Lester instead used the image on the screen as a means of enhancing the music. This book also goes into detail on the narrative, characters, and even cinematography of A Hard Day’s Night when it claims that the film’s cinematographer, Gilbert Taylor, shared with Lester a strong “interest in the cinema verite style” and an inspiration “by the French New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard.” With such influences, A Hard Day’s Night includes cinematography such as “depth of field, framing, shot duration, camera angles” and many of the shots are “shot from all sides: from above, below and sideways.” Even “The experimental approach to lighting complemented the camera work and the two together are key aspects to the film’s style.”
This book looks at A Hard Day’s Night from the perspective of a filmmaker, and with such a view, it complements and notes what was so innovative about this film. Lester, along with his cinematographer, Gilbert, created a film that had its own unique style, one that complemented the true subject of the film: the music. With such a cinematic approach to music, this book supports my claim that A Hard Day’s Night was in fact the first true rock and roll film because although there had been movies before it about music, this was the first to use the medium of film in a way to enhance the music it portrayed.

    Andrew Sarris' introduction to book, A Hard Day's Night: A Complete Pictorial Record of the Movie, tells the story of how this 1964 comedy changed pop culture and how "nothing would ever be the same again."  Sarris discusses what it was in particular that made this film so revolutionary.  In his opinion, the score for one thing "surpass[ed] in emotional lucidity and melodic invention every other musical show of the sixties from every medium."  Sarris doesn't stop with the music, however.  He goes on to comment on the revolutionary filming style used in the film that differentiated it from all of its predecessors.  "The success of the film is attributable not only to the Beatles and their music, but to a genuinely modern style of film making.  Even at the time I was aware that A Hard Day's Night would turn out to be the Citizen Kane of jukebox musicals, a brilliant crystallization of such diverse cultural hand held camera, frenzied cutting, the cult of the sexless sub-adolescent, the semi-documentary, and studied spontaneity."  In addition to this introduction, however, the book includes a lenghty interview with Richard Lester, the film's director.  In the interview, details of the film are revealed and we can learn what the motivations were behind many of the scenes and characters.

    In the interview, Lester claims "the general aim of the film was to present what was apparently becoming a social phenomenon in this country."  This quote is the root of my thesis: that A Hard Day's Night was the first film to successfully unite the pop cultures of film and music and therefore was the first true rock and roll film.  The movie was made with the intention of portraying the social phenomenon on screen, and Lester chose to do this by capturing the unscripted essence of the "Fab Four."  "I think the classic example of this is the boys playing in the field.  It says in the script, "Ringo... fire escape... space." [...] It doesn't say what they are going to be doing."  Lester's reflexion on the loose filming process is further evidence that this film was intended to portray The Beatles, not a fictional set of characters in a fictional world in the same way the Elvis films did, for example.  This new approach at filming a musical is what led A Hard Day's Night to be so influential.

 

 Seelye, John. “A Hard Day’s Night.” Rev. of A Hard Day’s Night, by Richard Lester. Film Quarterly Autumn, 1964: 51-54.

In this film review of A Hard Day’s Night from the Film Quarterly’s autumn of 1964 issue, John Seelye both summarizes and critiques the story of what he calls “A Day in the Life of the Beatles.” Although he admits to watching the film twice (and enjoying it more the second time) Seelye seems to have a hard time admitting that he liked the overall film. He deems the plot as “simple and obvious” and he reduces the entire purpose of the film to making money and paying to see “The Beatles singing your favorite songs.” Despite these occasionally harsh critiques, Seelye does make some points that are redeeming. For example, he claims that “the camera is very much alive: it runs, it jumps, it seldom is caught standing still, unlike the bland flatness of the Elvis movies.”
By making references to the Elvis movies, and particularly how A Hard Day’s Night is different than those films, this article supports my thesis that this 1964 film was the first to successfully unite the pop cultures of film and music. Though often critical, Seelye admits to the fact that this jovial comedy is in some ways innovative. Although it may have similar themes to the Elvis movies, for example the theme of the generational gap between the fun youth and the rigid adults, A Hard Day’s Night does in fact also have cinematic qualities that differentiate it from any other pop music films previously made, such as its camera work, camera angles, and depth to its shots. But perhaps Seelye’s critique is missing the point of the film. Rather than being about story and plot, this film is about The Beatles, which is what makes it reach equally to both the mediums of music and film in a way that no movie had previously done (including the Elvis movies). Consequently, A Hard Day’s Night, may indeed best be thought of as the first true rock and roll film.

In Tell Me Why, the author Tim Riley analyzes The Beatles, song by song and album by album throughout the sixties.  In his chapter “Beyond Adolescence”, he takes this close-up look at the soundtrack album A Hard Day’s Night and delves deeply into the meaning of each of the songs’ structures and how they fit into the story of The Beatles.  He also, however, takes the time to analyze how these songs fit the soundtrack of the movie by the same title.  For instance, he emphasizes how the soundtrack songs have just as much a sense of humor as they do musicality, which easily allows them to fit the comedy that celebrates the jovial and fun life of the youthful four. 
    This chapter significantly supports my claim that the film A Hard Day’s Night is the first film to successfully unite the pop cultures of film and music because it emphasizes how well the two mediums connect within this one piece.  He says, for instance, “These soundtrack songs […] clean things up without selling out – accents are shaper, kicks hit harder, and lyrics carry more import.  If the film showed the four moptops trapped by success but free to say and do as they pleased amonst themselves, these soundtrack songs do the same thing in musical terms.”  Riley draws a parallel between the message sent by the film and the message sent by the music and makes a point to demonstrate that they are one in the same.  This creation of a soundtrack that fits the story and tone of the film is significant evidence that the film combines music and cinema in a successful manner that, perhaps had never been done before.  Riley also states that A Hard Day’s Night had an interplay between the music and the content that would be repeated a year later in Bob Dylan’s film Don’t Look Back which suggests the novelty of A Hard Day’s Night and influence it would continue to have. 

    In his book British Film Music and Film Musicals, K. I. Donnelly devotes an entire chapter to A Hard Day's Night and what he calls "the Musical Revolution."  This chapter outlines the previous style of rock and roll films and film musicals (which are described here as theaterical or "age-old narratives") and the stark contrast of this 1964 comedy that changed the future of the genre.  Donnelly describes A Hard Day's Night as being "a significant point for the development of the relationship between music and cinema" because rather than focusing on the narrative, this film focuses on the young and spontaneous lives of The Beatles and uses their pop music as part of the narrative instead of mere background.  Donnelly also notes that the music in this film is often times performed rather than lip-synched, which was a technique often used in the previous Cliff Richard and Elvis films.  With a bold statement, Donnelly claims "the success of the film put pop music firmly on the agenda of the cinema."

    Ultimately, this chapter is significant evidence in support of my thesis.  It not only outlines the characteristics of  A Hard Day's Night but it also outlines what was unique about this film.  In order to claim that A Hard Day's Night was the first successful film to unite the pop cultures of both film and music, and therefore the first true rock and roll film, I would need to say why its predecessors were unsuccessful in this endeavor, and this is explicitly outlined in this chapter.  The "precursors to A Hard Day's Night were content at first to attempt to dilute pop music by mixing it into traditional forms of musical entertainment.  Pop stars such as Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard made successful films that took the traditional musical film form and attempted to imbue it with teenage orientation [...] A Hard Day's Night broke dramatically with the previous uses of pop music in cinema in a number of significant ways."  A Hard Day's Night was different from its precursors according to Donnelly because it did not have any "previously established musical forms," and because it was the first film to use a "film style that paralleled pop music with dynamic visual activity, and the articulation of songs as non-diagetic music."  By emphasizing the music's narrative role in this film, Donnelly explains that for the first time in film, a musical seemed to be about the music and the musicians to the point where the plot was very haphazard and ultimately inconsequential.  The medium of film adopted the medium of music as its subject in a way that had never been done before.

    Michael R. Frontani clearly tells the story of the making of The Beatles in his book entitled The Beatles: Image and the Media.  Chapter 2, "Intorducing the Image", is about how "Beatlemania" came to be.  Frontani discusses the immediate success of The Beatles in the British music industry, but also the less-known resistance of their American label, Capitol Records, to promote The Beatles' music in the United States prior to the band's American success.  According to Frontani, Capitol Records was hesitant to spend a significant amount of money promoting The Beatles in the U.S. in 1963 because of the previous British pop musicians, such as Cliff Richard, who despite popularity in England, had failed commercial success in the states.  Finally, however, with The Beatles' new single "I Want To Hold Your Hand", Capitol took the risk that made "Beatlemania" an international phenomenon and sent the new single to number one on the Billboard chart on February 1, 1964.  The music industry was never the same.  The Beatles made their United States television debut eight days later on The Ed Sullivan Show, a night that would solidify the fact that The Beatles, with their mop-top hair-cuts and thumping beats, were the new faces of pop culture.

    This chapter is incredibly significant for my thesis because it explains how "Beatlemania" came to be, and more importantly why "Beatlemania" made it to the silver screen.  Frontani makes a point of emphasizing the craze that went along with The Beatles' first trip to America.  "The Beatles returned to New York.  Four thousand fans were at Kennedy Airport to welcome them back, and to see them off as they departed for England."  With several facts like these, Frontani creates a sense of how overwhelming The Beatles' popularity was in America, let alone in England.  He also points out that a number of well-respected sources, such as the New York Times even wrote articles devoted to the discussion of The Beatles' haircuts and "Beatlemania" as a "cultural event."  Clearly the pop culture of 1964 revolved around The Beatles, therefore it comes as no surprise that the film industry would take advantage of this.  The result was A Hard Day's Night, a film that would portray a day in the life of the band and give their fans an up-close view of each of the "Fab Four."  A Hard Day's Night was a way to make money off of the immense popularity of the band, and therefore, a successful coming together of the pop cultures of both film and music.

Blockbusters: A Reference Guide to Film Genres, by Mark A. Graves and F. Bruce Engle, is a book that outlines all the different genres of film, their respective places in film history, and the most notable films of each genre.  In chapter 7 dedicated to Musicals, Graves and Engle differentiate between six subcategories of the musical: The Backstage Musical, The Revue, The Showcase or Star Vehicle, The Screen Adaptation, The Dance Musical, and The Animated Musical.  The Showcase or Star Vehicle, described by Graves and Engle, is a film that’s purpose “is to showcase the talent of a musical personality whose success has already been achieved in radio or through recordings.”  As an example of such musical films, they refer to A Hard Day’s Night, the first film by The Beatles, an already established musical group that was using film to further launch their career. They also go on to discuss the history of musical film in the 1960’s claiming that the large-budget musicals, such as Mary Poppins (1964), were now becoming rare and were instead being replaced by “smaller-budget films [that] exploited the popularity of rock-and-roll music.”  A Hard Day’s Night is a prime example of the popular musical that started emerging in the 1960’s.
    To make a valid argument that A Hard Day’s Night was the first film to successfully unite the popular cultures of film and music, and therefore the first true rock and roll film, I must be able to claim what the popular culture of film was at the time of its release.  According to Blockbusters: A Reference Guide to Film Genres, the musical of the 1960’s was often infatuated with the new emergence of the rock and roll popular culture of music.  A Hard Day’s Night therefore, has a subject matter very representative of its time in film history, but as I have learned from my other sources, portrayed the pop culture of music in a way that was unique (showing a day in the life of The Beatles rather than The Beatles acting as other fictional people in a fictional story in the same way Elvis did).  Consequently, this source is instrumental to my thesis, as it supports the claim that A Hard Day’s Night was not only representative of music’s pop culture, but also film’s pop culture of the sixties.
   

Celluloid Jukebox, edited by Jonathan Romney and Adrian Wootton, is a collection of essays from famous filmmakers and musicians all regarding the relationship of popular music and film since the 1950’s.  In this book, many essays make stark remarks on the influence of A Hard Day’s Night in the connection between pop music and film.  Andy Medhurst’s essay, for example, entitled “It Sort of Happened Here: The Strange, Brief Life of the British Pop Film”, on numerous occasions makes the claim that “the film which irrevocably sundered that connection [between pop music and film] was A Hard Day’s Night,” and that “the kind of static on-stage set-piece that was one of the many causalities of the new approach [was] pioneered by A Hard Day’s Night.”  The section of the book, however, that is most supportive of my thesis is the final section of interviews, which asked a number of famous filmmakers what their favorite pop movies are.  In response to this question, Cameron Crowe, Amos Poe, and Allison Anders all claimed A Hard Day’s Night.
Allison Anders, a producer of many notable films such as Martin Scorsese’s Grace of the Heart, is quoted as saying, “the very first intoxicated experience of music and movies working together, needless to say, [was] A Hard Day’s Night.”  She then went on to say, “when I went to see the movie, I didn’t see the movie itself until I saw it for maybe the tenth time because we were screaming through the whole thing.  So it was like seeing a concert with all the little girls.”  This quote supports my thesis that A Hard Day’s Night was the first film to successfully unite the pop cultures of film and music in a way that no film previously had, and that it in fact is the first true rock and roll film.  Anders’ response to the film, like so many others’, was because of the novelty of the style of this production.  A Hard Day’s Night really was like watching a concert for an hour and a half on the silver-screen, and therefore was indeed a rock and roll film.  It was different than any other films that came before it, and it forever changed the way music and film interacted.  This book, Celluloid Jukebox, gives a great inside understanding of A Hard Day’s Night’s influence on music’s role in film.  It speaks of all the films to the present that have used pop music in a similar fashion to the 1964 Beatles’ comedy, and therefore is a great source for my thesis.

In Tell Me Why, the author Tim Riley analyzes The Beatles, song by song and album by album throughout the sixties.  In his chapter “Beyond Adolescence”, he takes this close-up look at the soundtrack album A Hard Day’s Night and delves deeply into the meaning of each of the songs’ structures and how they fit into the story of The Beatles.  He also, however, takes the time to analyze how these songs fit the soundtrack of the movie by the same title.  For instance, he emphasizes how the soundtrack songs have just as much a sense of humor as they do musicality, which easily allows them to fit the comedy that celebrates the jovial and fun life of the youthful four. 
    This chapter significantly supports my claim that the film A Hard Day’s Night is the first film to successfully unite the pop cultures of film and music because it emphasizes how well the two mediums connect within this one piece.  He says, for instance, “These soundtrack songs […] clean things up without selling out – accents are shaper, kicks hit harder, and lyrics carry more import.  If the film showed the four moptops trapped by success but free to say and do as they pleased amonst themselves, these soundtrack songs do the same thing in musical terms.”  Riley draws a parallel between the message sent by the film and the message sent by the music and makes a point to demonstrate that they are one in the same.  This creation of a soundtrack that fits the story and tone of the film is significant evidence that the film combines music and cinema in a successful manner that, perhaps had never been done before.  Riley also states that A Hard Day’s Night had an interplay between the music and the content that would be repeated a year later in Bob Dylan’s film Don’t Look Back which suggests the novelty of A Hard Day’s Night and influence it would continue to have. 

Douglass Brode’s book entitled Elvis Cinema and Popular Culture goes into great detail describing the plots, characters, and effects of each Elvis film.  In his introduction, “All Singing!  All Dancing!  All Elvis!,” Brode makes a point of emphasizing that Elvis’ dream as a young boy growing up in Tennessee was to become a movie star, not a musician.  It was perhaps for this reason that Elvis decided to take his fame to the silver-screen over a carreer of fifteen years.  Though Elvis’ acting career stemmed from his popularity as a Rock and Roll singer, his films were not about music, or even about Elvis himself.  Instead, as Brode notes, “under a series of names and guises, Elvis – shifting from contemporary settings to one place or time period and then the next – portrays a continuing persona […]  Viewed chronologically, [his films] offer a vivid cinematic canvas that portrays America in the process of renewing and redefining itself.”  In Brode’s chapter on Elvis’ 1957 film, Jailhouse Rock, for example, we learn that the film was made to reflect the social troubles in America due to the recession and economic problems under Eisenhower.  The chapter goes on to tell the plot of the film about a young southern boy named Vince played by Elvis, and its reflection of popular culture and the effects it later had on it.
    In order to be able to claim that A Hard Day’s Night was the first film to successfully unite the pop cultures of film and cinema, I would need evidence in support of why the previous rock films were unsuccessful.  This book, Elvis Cinema and Popular Culture does just that.  Where A Hard Day’s Night was a movie about The Beatles, each playing themselves, with the purpose of showing the world a day in the life of the “Fab Four,” the Elvis films, as described by Brode, have fictional stories in different time periods and do not even star Elvis as himself.  For these reasons, it is clear that the Elvis films were not made for the purpose of putting music’s pop culture on screen.  Instead, they were made to make money by simply starring a popular musician: Elvis Presley.  The Elvis films were, in some respects, social commentaries disguised behind silly and often unengaging plots, whereas A Hard Day’s Night was the first film to star music’s new rock and rollers to portray them being rock and rollers.

In his book, Beatle’s At the Movies, Roy Carr devotes an entire chapter discussing the production, music, and filming experience of the film A Hard Day’s Night. Through quotes from all four Beatles and the director, Richard Lester, and through detailed text, Carr tells the story of the entire film’s production, including finding the director, writing the script, shooting the actual film, and enjoying its immediate profits. Although the chapter describes the filming process as a whole, it devotes several pages focusing on how the Beatles were to be portrayed. In one quote, from the director for example, “When we started on A Hard Day’s Night the importance of separating out The Beatles’ individual personalities was something which we deliberately concentrated on…” one learns of the calculated character development, and through this, can get a better understanding of the film as being a more of a fictional movie than a documentary.
The point of my research is to find evidence that A Hard Day’s Night is the first film to successfully unite the pop cultures of film and music, and that it is therefore the first true rock and roll film. In the chapter “A Hard Day’s Night”, there is a strong emphasis on the film as a cinematic work and not just a documentary of The Beatles. It provides quotes that support the idea that the characters of each of the four Beatles seen in this film are somewhat fictional and not necessarily their real personalities, thus lending evidence to the fact that this is a common film with a normal script just like all the rest at its time. It gives anecdotes of how the “Fab Four” and their manager picked out the director and screenwriter, and it even refers to The Beatles’ acting abilities, particularly those of Paul McCartney. This chapter makes an effort to look at A Hard Day’s Night from a cinematic perspective, and little else, and as a result, it provides solid support for my thesis that this film is very much a combination of both mediums: film and music.