If you want a no-holds-barred documentary, dishing the dirt on the most successful boy band of all time, ignore this film. If on the other hand, you'd like a good humoured romp through the saga, using re-mastered film clips, then this is for you.
There are some unexpected gems – a 14 year old Sigourney Weaver spotted screaming at a gig, and chatting about it later – Whoopi Golberg sharing her joy at her mother taking her as a surprise treat to the Beatles and saying "they had no colour". And indeed the Beatles quietly insisted that their concerts should not be segregated.
As someone who grew up with the Beatles it was a delight to share recording sessions, watch Brian Epstein mould their be-suited image, and watch their slightly surreal baiting of bemused press interviewers.
In the end this is a celebration of just how extraordinary the Beatles were, as they developed from up-market bubblegum music to multi-layered psychedelic creations. The soundtracks manage, even in the gigs, to let us savour the music – and experience which those who attended might not have been able to share over the screams of the besotted fans.
Only Schubert and Mozart, we are told, produced such a catalogue of melodic wonders.
Your humble reviewer loved this film – largely as an exercise in unashamed nostalgia, from Hamburg and the Cavern to that last concert on the roof in London.
