The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit

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The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit
First US Visit.jpg
DVD cover of The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit
Directed by Albert and David Maysles
Produced byStanley Hirson
Starring John Lennon
Paul McCartney
George Harrison
Ringo Starr
Ed Sullivan
Murray The K
Distributed by MPI Home Video (1991)
Apple Films (2004)
Release date
  • 13 November 1991 (1991-11-13)
Running time
83 mins
LanguageEnglish

The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit is a 1990 re-edited version of the 1964 16mm documentary What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A. , about the Beatles' first visit to America in February 1964. Made by documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles, it documents the Beatles' U.S. trip as they travel to New York City, Washington, D.C., and Miami Beach. Most of the non-musical footage is of the Beatles in hotel rooms, often acting irreverently in front of the camera.

Contents

The new version is 83 minutes long, two minutes longer than the original. [1] [2] Among other changes, it adds 22 minutes [3] of the Beatles' live recorded performances on The Ed Sullivan Show and removes several scenes with Brian Epstein. [4]

The original film premiered on 13 November 1964 as a special episode of the CBS variety series The Entertainers. It is still shown at various festivals, such as Silverdocs in 2008, [5] and was shown at a special screening at the Maysles Cinema in New York on 18 November 2011 in honor of Albert Maysles' 85th birthday. [6]

Track listing

The Ed Sullivan Show (NYC #1)

  1. "All My Loving"
  2. "Till There Was You"
  3. "She Loves You"
  4. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

The Washington Coliseum Concert

  1. "I Saw Her Standing There"
  2. "I Wanna Be Your Man"
  3. "She Loves You"

The Ed Sullivan Show (Miami)

  1. "From Me to You"
  2. "This Boy"
  3. "All My Loving"

The Ed Sullivan Show (NYC #2)

  1. "Twist and Shout"
  2. "Please Please Me"
  3. "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

In addition to the live performances, there are also studio Beatles recordings heard on the program's soundtrack. Among them are "She Loves You", "I Saw Her Standing There", "Love Me Do", "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "It Won't Be Long". Other recordings featured are "Navy Blue" by Diane Renay and "Pride and Joy" by Marvin Gaye.

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [7] Gold7,500^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Footnotes

  1. IMDb: Duration of "What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A." Retrieved 28 January 2012
  2. IMDb: Duration of The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit Retrieved 28 January 2012
  3. Retrieved from the film
  4. The Huffington Post 14 July 2007, David Haber: "Mods And Rockers Festival: Really With The Beatles" Retrieved 28 January 2012
  5. Silverdocs 2008: What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A. Retrieved 28 January 2012
  6. Egotripland: "A Special Screening of What’s Happening! The Beatles in the USA" Retrieved 28 January 2012
  7. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2004 DVDs" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved 17 December 2021.

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