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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.