Beatles’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ Gets 4K UHD + Blu-ray Edition

Beatles’ 1964 feature film debut, A Hard Day’s Night, has received a 4K digital restoration, and is being released via a new special edition. The restoration, approved by director Richard Lester, arrives January 18, 2022, as a 2-disc UHD + Blu-ray edition via Criterion Collection. (The black-and-white film has been upgraded many times in the previous decades. This edition was first made available in Japan in 2021.)

From the announcement: Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. This film, in which the bandmates play slapstick versions of themselves, captured the astonishing moment when they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation and changed music forever. Directed with raucous, anything–goes verve by Richard Lester and featuring a slew of iconic pop anthems—including the title track, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” and “If I Fell”—-A Hard Day’s Night, which re-conceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video, is one of the most deliriously entertaining movies of all time.

“Are you a mod or a rocker?” “I’m a mocker…”

The collection includes:

• The new 4K digital restoration, approved by the filmmaker, offers three audio options—-a monaural soundtrack as well as stereo and 5.1 surround mixes supervised by sound producer Giles Martin at Abbey Road Studios—-presented in uncompressed monaural, uncompressed stereo, and DTS-HD Master Audio.

  One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features

  Audio commentary featuring cast and crew

  In Their Own Voices, a program featuring 1964 interviews with the Beatles and behind-the-scenes footage and photos

  You Can’t Do That: The Making of ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ a 1994 documentary (from executive producer Walter Shenson) includes an outtake performance by the Beatles. I wrote and produced this for Shenson.

  Things They Said Today, a 2002 documentary about the film featuring Lester, music producer George Martin, screenwriter Alun Owen, and cinematographer Gilbert Taylor

  The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1960), Lester’s Oscar-nominated short

  Interview from 2014 with Beatles biographer Mark Lewisohn
  English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing