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Beatles Anthology [1995] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
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Our Price: £28.84 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Beatles Anthology was initially broadcast as a TV miniseries to run alongside the series of three Anthology double-CD albums. This set of eight documentaries has the heft and scope of one of Ken Burns' expansive projects. Still, you may find yourself with more material--particularly about the Beatles' early lives as lads in Liverpool--than you'll want to watch. The documentary material is copious, including early performance films and tapes, at the point before they found their true voices. The actual Beatlemania years--beginning in 1963 and concluding in 1970--feature extensive performance films, as well as home movies and archival material. The best parts, of course, are the interviews with the Beatles themselves, who produced the entire thing. Along with reworking two previously unreleased John Lennon tracks as "new Beatles songs", the Anthology includes some unseen Lennon interview tapes so that his acerbic voice can be heard as well. This stands as a comprehensive document of that heady period, the second coming of rock & roll, as the Beatles took what Elvis had started and expanded upon it exponentially. This box set gives a solid sense of the historical context and the way these four musicians changed the world around them in the 1960s. --Marshall Fine
Another great docummentary of "THE BEATLES"
Review date: 2008-06-29 Rating: 10 out of 10
Every episode is so addictive and you will want to watch the whole series all over again.
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Reviews
Good value for money
Review date: 2007-10-20 Rating: 10 out of 10
This has loads of info that you would find interesting,and running at over 10 hours long,is good value for money..
Emotional, moving, definitive!
Review date: 2007-10-10 Rating: 10 out of 10
Probably the best piece of Beatles memorabilia you could ever buy. I had originally taped the series of TV way back in the mid 90's, but the DVD is now a permanent storage that won't have Gardner's World taped on it!
With all the members of the band present (except of course for the late John) their is a real authenticity about the footage - not just what a narrator thinks. They all give great in-depth in-sights, from how they all met, to the final and emotional days of Abbey Road. Perhaps one unique thing about the band members are their personalities - rarely would a band member these days take the time to produce such a long, in depth story of one of the greatest bands we've known.
The editing is super, and sets it aside from other documentaries. No split second footage of songs, so tiny cuts people talking - its just transcends so nicely. Many songs are actually footaged in their entirety, and the moving between stories/years is so smooth.
Perhaps the most emotional part of this collection is the end. The interviews end quite bluntly, but its rather fitting, as Ringo explains, because the band never talked about 'it being the end'. They just enjoyed making Abbey Road, and went their separate ways. The editing at thr very end which plays clips of songs mixed together, with the sad but happy photo of them in the field really touches your heart, after everything they had been through for almost a decade.
It's not surprising however that, in typical Paul McCartney fashion (ie. he wants to be 'different'), we see him not just talking and giving stories in one chair. He is constantly in several places, from piloting a boat, to rather oddly having a camp-fire in a field. Hmm...
What makes this more special now is that, with poor George passing (my fave Beatle for his simple down to earthness) we still have a lovely record of him here and looking very healthy. It was a real shock when he died, as he seemed such a lovely guy.
I can't recommend this highly enough. It's quite pricey, but what you may not realise is the sheer length of time it actually scales, and for that, its definitely worth considering.
Probably worth fifty stars if you're a real fan
Review date: 2007-08-31 Rating: 10 out of 10
This gives you pretty much everything you could possibly want about the Beatles. most of the music is in there somewhere or other, the footage is classic (of course) and the editing rather good.
You could almost just buy this and forget everything else if you were a real blue meanie....
Essential
Review date: 2007-07-17 Rating: 10 out of 10
Once you get past the fact this is the "official" - sanitised version of the Beatles' history, you can enjoy Anthology for what it is - a celebration of probably the most famous band of all time. It's compelling, compulsive viewing, as much social history as anything - and the archive footage is extensive and fantastic. Some of the interviews work better than others, and some of the major episodes in the career of the Beatles are occasionally air-brushed - sackings, deaths etc - to make them more acceptable, but these are small gripes.
Th bonus material features McCartney, Harrison and Starr chewing the fat and making music (filmed early to mid-1990's) - and there is a real sense of affection between them, although there still seems an edge at times to the McCartney/Harrison relationship. Bringing the story up to date, there is also the "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" videos. Beatle enthusiasts will have their own views on such material, and whether it adds much to the canon, but they're here anyway, and personally I think it's all the better for it.
If I had to pick one DVD boxset to accompany me on a desert island - this would be up there at the top of the list. Having seen the series through twice now, it remains a brilliant and moving chronicle of the Beatles and the times they - and we - lived through. Stunning.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
George Harrison
Ringo Starr
Neil Aspinall
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
Director(s):
Recording label: Capitol
Manufacturer: Capitol
EAN: 0724349297593
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 5
Format: Box set, Black & White, Colour, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, NTSC,
Release date: 2003-04-01
Universal product code (UPC): 724349297593
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 674 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1995-11-19
Language: English (Original Language)