February 7, 1964: cheered by their national audience, the Beatles board the most important plane of their lives. Their destination? The United States. But as soon as they land in New York, they are awaited by nearly 5,000 fans at the airport, and their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, two days later, will be watched by 73 million viewers. When they leave two weeks later, they have become the most popular group in the country. It is these two crazy weeks that are at the heart of the documentary Beatles '64, which will be streamed on Disney+ from November 29, making it the third documentary recently released on the Beatles by the platform after Get Back and Let It Be. Directed by David Tedeschi, this new film was produced by Martin Scorsese, familiar with the group since he directed in 2011 the excellent documentary Living in the Material World dedicated to George Harrison.
Rare Beatles footage restored in 4K ££££
Beatles '64 is based primarily on footage from the documentary The Beatles: The First US Visit, shot at the time by the legendary documentary duo Albert and David Maysles (who later made the brilliant Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens in the 1970s). This rare and intimate footage of a group of four kids caught up in the whirlwind of fame has been restored in 4K for the occasion, and is complemented by previously unseen footage and new mixes of the Beatles' concerts in Washington DC and on the Ed Sullivan Show, under the direction of producer Giles Martin. And to forge a link to the present, new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have also been filmed, as well as with American fans of the band who still remember that wild period.
It should be noted that the release of this documentary will coincide with the vinyl release of the American editions of seven Beatles albums on November 22. Albums that were composed of a medley of album tracks and singles only for the American market, and which are reserved only for collector fans.