Come 'ead, then. We start by looking at roughly the first 16 minutes of the Beatles' 1964 film debut. Expect a detailed breakdown of their first dialogue scene in the train carriage ("Who's that little old man?"), and how it establishes straight away through absurdist techniques that these characters don't inhabit a strict reality, giving Richard Lester licence to do more or less what he wants from now on.
We also unpack the generational and class dynamics at play in the scene with the train commuter ("I bet you're sorry you won!") and discuss, in frankly more detail than anyone wants, whether or not the film is a musical.
Links
A Hard Day's Night is often on BBC iPlayer, although not at the moment, and available to rent on a few streaming services
There's also a good quality copy on YouTube at the moment, which might of course be taken down soon. Do yourself a favour and buy the Blu-ray anyway.
Get Samira Ahmed's excellent book about the film, from the BFI Modern Classics series
Guns N' Roses' November Rain video, which as explained would not exist without I Should've Known Better
The Proclaimers jukebox musical Sunshine on Leith, which is great
The series
A Hard Day's Night (Part 2: And a room)
Beatlemania meets magic realism as we continue through the film, from a hotel room stowaway to Ringo's class-conscious dance moves in the nightclub.
Listen on Spotify
A Hard Day's Night (Part 3: And a car)
From press conference chaos to a tender rendition of If I Fell, we compare John Lennon's jokey delivery to Paul McCartney's straightforward And I Love Her.
A Hard Day's Night (Part 4: And a room)
Three solo spotlights in one go: John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney each get their moment, including Paul's performance of And I Love Her.
A Hard Day's Night (Part 5: And a room)
Ringo Starr steps into the spotlight as we explore his standout scene with Wilfred Brambell, then join him parading by the Thames and meeting a fellow deserter.
A Hard Day's Night (Part 6: And a room)
We reach the film's frantic finale, tracing its Buster Keaton-inspired chase scenes and asking if Ringo Starr's homecoming really resolves anything.