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BEATLES' BIGGEST SECRETS

 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Documentary
Director: Fiona Proctor
Rating: NC-16 (Brief Nudity)
Year Made: 2004

 

 


 SPECIAL FEATURES

- NIL

 


 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: English
Subtitles: English/Chinese
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 Fullscreen
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
Running Time: 1 hr 11 mins
Region Code: PAL 3
Distributor: Origin Entertainment
Official Website:

 

 

SYNOPSIS:   

Icons of the twentieth century, the Beatles revolutionised the world of music and won millions over with their songs and clean-scrubbed image. But beneath the album cover lies a complex darker world of sex, drugs, reality and heartbreak. Using a combination of new and exclusive interviews, BEATLES BIGGEST SECRETS delves into the inside story of the world's greatest ever pop group. One of the first fully rounded portraits to appear on television, this programme carries explosive relevations about the extraordinary life and behaviour of Liverpool's favourite sons. This is the Beatles at their best and their worst!

MOVIE REVIEW

This reviewer wasn’t born in the 1960s, so he wasn’t around to experience the phenomenon that was The Beatles during that era. But because the English pop and rock band has so much social and cultural influence even by today’s standards, there is no way anyone familiar with popular music wouldn’t have heard of the band. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are such cultural icons and trend setters; they have made their mark in other areas like art and film. And what is the life of a rock star without some dirty laundry?

This 2004 TV documentary is s a collection of interviews, archival photographs and video footages put together supposedly to expose the deepest and darkest secrets of the Fab Four. The long list of interviewees featured include 1960s Liverpool musician Tony Crane, McCartney’s stepsister Ruth McCartney, radio journalist Larry Kane and Lennon and Yoko Ono’s assistant May Pang, amongst many others.

Therein lays the problem of this documentary produced and directed by Fiona Proctor. What you get in this 71 minute picture is a compilation of sound bites said by different sources, all with the objective of painting a dark world where sex, drugs and all things unpleasant are involved. You even get some ugly information about the supposed rivalry, the fights and even a gay relationship between one of the Beatles and his manager. Shudders.

Sure, a documentary is supposed to shed light on the truth behind the glitz and glamour behind the commercially and critically acclaimed band, but is this exploitation really necessary? This reviewer may not be the best person to tell you whether the information in this documentary has any factual backup to them, but the lengthy series of talking heads which seem to have malicious intent just doesn’t make this enlightening in any sense at all. Instead, it seems like a project to bring the Fab Four down.

Loyal fans may not be too impressed with how this documentary is put together, while those who do not have much knowledge about The Beatles may be intrigued to find out more about the multifaceted lives of the four members of the popular band.

For those of you who think that you are going to hear some familiar tunes performed by the band, you’d be sorely disappointed. There is no Beatles music throughout this documentary at all. Hmm, if you really had to hear “Hey Jude”, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “All You Need is Love”, go watch Julie Taymor’s musical drama Across the Universe instead.

SPECIAL FEATURES :

This Code 3 disc contains no special features.


AUDIO/VISUAL:

There is nothing to complain about the disc’s visual transfer, and there are English Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 audio tracks to choose from.

MOVIE RATING:



DVD RATING :

Review by John Li

 
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This review is made possible with the kind support from Origin Entertainment

 



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