Birth of The Beatles - The Film

The Film

The film focuses on the early history of 1960s rock band The Beatles. It was released only nine years after the announced break-up of The Beatles themselves, and is the only Beatles biopic (others include Backbeat, In His Life: The John Lennon Story, The Hours and Times, John and Yoko: A Love Story, Lennon Naked and, to a lesser extent, The Linda McCartney Story) to be made while John Lennon was still alive. The film tries very hard to be accurate, opening with a written statement read out by a narrator stating the authenticity of the production, emphasising as it put it: "former Beatle, Pete Best" acting as technical advisor.

Another attempt at authenticity is that most of the cast look alarmingly similar to the real people they are supposed to be playing. The four actors portraying John, Paul, George and Ringo look uncannily similar to the real deal, but Pete Best and Stu Sutcliffe bear a lesser resemblance. Actors included Stephen MacKenna and Ray Ashcroft, who provided vocal impersonations of John and Ringo.

In what has become an unofficial tradition of rock 'n' roll movies based on true stories, some of the real events/sequence of events have been abridged or omitted. This has a positive effect on the film, allowing it to cover a broad stretch of time and not making it feel rushed, while also adding to the drama when the real events may not have been as such. A prime example of this is when Stu Sutcliffe dies of a brain haemorrhage about half-way through the film. In the film, it takes place in the midst of the band's second trip to Hamburg, meaning the others have to deal with this loss and still fulfill their engagement. They still manage to give great performances and they must overcome the tragedy in order to make their journey to fame. In real life, this was not how things happened. In real life, Stu was still alive living in Hamburg with his German girlfriend Astrid when the others departed from the second trip, and it was when they returned on the third trip to Hamburg they discovered Stu had died the night before they arrived. By adapting events, though, the film not only makes things more dramatic, but in fact speeds things up and keeps the plot flowing smoothly by only portraying two trips to Hamburg.