For years, the easiest way to view "A Hard Day's Night" (AHDN), "Help!," and
"Magical Mystery Tour" (MMT) was to buy a weekend pass to the closest
Beatles fan convention, sit in a crowded, semi-dark auditorium, and squint
at a washed-out image projected on a roll-up screen some tens of yards away.
It didn't matter that the soundtrack was barely audible -- there were always
enough
know-it-alls within earshot to recite every word of dialogue in a strange
Merseyside-cum-Jersey City accent. And, of course, even more attendees would
chime in for the songs.
As appealing as this ritual was (and still is for many), the arrival of
these films on commercial home video allowed fans to have their own,
first-generation copies (although MMT appeared in the early 1980s as an
unlicensed, bootleg-quality tape before receiving its official release).
Not only were we free to watch these films whenever we chose, but we could
enjoy them without audience participation.
While the videotape versions of AHDN, Help!, and MMT proved adequate for
most fans, the laserdisc (LD) releases provided a higher standard: better
picture resolution, digital sound, a more durable, fixed-format medium, and,
sometimes, exclusive goodies (theatrical trailers, interviews, production
stills). Although critics of the laserdisc point out its bulkiness, need for
LP-style side changes, and lack of recordability, there's no doubt that
laserdisc presents a superior home video experience than does video tape.
Enter the American Movie Classics cable channel, which, in 1996, aired AHDN
and "Help!," newly restored by Paul R. Rutan, Jr. of the Four-Media Film
Laboratory in California. At first, videotape of the AMC broadcast was the
only way to view the refurbished films: the subsequent commercial videotape
reissues of AHDN and Help! added the bonus material previously available on
the laserdiscs, but neglected to use the Rutan restorations.
In November 1997, restorations of AHDN and "Help!" (as well as an unrestored MMT)
were finally released on home video, exclusively as Digital Video Discs (DVD), a
fledgling format which, through the compression of its video and audio signals,
encodes each film onto a separate CD-sized disc. Although incompatible with
existing audio-CD and laserdisc players, the new format forgoes the clumsy side-
changes of laserdiscs, adds nifty interactive menus to help navigate the disc's
contents (not dissimilar to Voyager's AHDN CD-ROM from a few years ago),
and, like laserdiscs, often includes supplementary material unavailable
elsewhere.
Electronics magazines and internet discussion groups bristle with the
debate: Which format is superior, DVD or LD? That general controversy won't
be addressed here, but we will take a look at how the new DVD incarnations
of AHDN, "Help!," and MMT stack up against their laserdisc counterparts.
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT [Criterion CC1175L (LD) and MPI DVD 7082 (DVD)]
Both the laserdisc and DVD preface the film itself with the "I'll Cry Instead"
montage assembled for AHDN's 1982 theatrical rerelease. There's no distinction
here between the two formats; sourced from the same material, the images are
essentially identical, and the DVD's soundtrack even duplicates the
noticeable edit used to artificially lengthen the shorter version of the song.
It's only after the prologue that the differences begin to appear. The restored
image on the DVD has a completely different "look" than the laserdisc. Paul
Rutan's handiwork reveals darker blacks and brighter whites, in his successful
attempt to, as he put it in a telephone interview, "make the film look like the
day it was shot." Side-by-side with the laserdisc, the DVD's image conveys a
somewhat starker-looking image, providing more contrast than the laserdisc,
which has a softer, grainier, and more subdued appearance. Rutan has
restored AHDN to a true black & white film; the laserdisc, by comparison, is
a melange of grays.
The laserdisc never really looked that bad -- the restoration of AHDN simply
looks better. There's a sparkle to the bubbles in John's bath, a new
crispness to the wrinkles in the clothing. It's an image that is, with no
pun intended, very clean. Artifacts seen in the previous versions are gone.
Examine, for example, the end of the "And I Love Her" sequence. What had
been one of the poorest quality sections of film is now virtually spotless.
(The bonus material, unrestored, supersedes that of the CAV laserdisc,
adding some exclusive newsreels).
The DVD of AHDN could have easily been the authoritative version of the
film. It isn't. Although the DVD's restored video image is impressive,
there is,
alarmingly, less of it than on the laserdisc. The DVD picture is cropped, quite
significantly, on the left, top, and bottom. It's as if the DVD's image has
been magnified, trimming the edges in the process. Digital Video
Compression Center, responsible for the transfer of Rutan's digital master
to DVD, says they know nothing about the cropping, but a similar effect seen
in the MMT DVD calls that claim into question. MPI Home Video did not respond.
In his restoration, Rutan used the soundtrack from AHDN's 1982 theatrical re-
release, the original mono apparently too overmodulated to use (DVD and
laserdisc are capable of archiving both the stereo and monaural audio
tracks). Like the currently-available laserdisc, however, the DVD uses
stereo mixes of the songs, obliterating any original sound effects along the
way (listen for the falling amp during "If I Fell," but check Volume Three
of your Beatles Anthology to actually hear it). In addition, the DVD's
sound seems slightly compressed, without some of the warmth and atmosphere
heard on the laserdisc.
AHDN on DVD looks great; Paul Rutan's work is exemplary. But cropping the
image on DVD and sacrificing a genuine mono soundtrack prove that the
ultimate version of AHDN has yet to be released, in any format.
"HELP!" [Criterion 2003L (LD) and MPI DVD 7081 (DVD)]
I've seen the best-existing version of "Help!," as has anyone who tuned in to
the AMC broadcast in 1996. Like AHDN, "Help!" was restored by Paul Rutan, who
managed to reveal a clarity, sharpness, and radiance unseen in the previous
laserdisc and VHS versions. The colors are more striking, the film bolder
than before. Even with its improvements, though, some film artifacts remain
after "Help!'s" restoration: The "Ticket to Ride" sequence is still dingy; no
superior source material could be found.
Thankfully, "Help!'s" transfer to DVD has not resulted in the image-cropping
seen on the AHDN DVD. When compared to the laserdisc, however, the video
image has been shifted slightly-- one format has a little more information
on the left, the other a bit more on the right-- suggesting that there's a
source image wider than either format displays, an image wider than a
standard television can handle without letterboxing.
The AMC version of "Help!" used the mono soundtrack, with its unique mix of
the title track in the film's opening sequence. Laserdisc and DVD opt for
stereo only -- even though Rutan calls the mono "Help!" soundtrack "superb."
Instead of offering both the mono and stereo tracks, MPI has decided that
you'd rather listen to any of these DVDs with a dubbed French- or
Spanish-language soundtrack. Olé.
Since no worthwhile mono soundtrack was then-available for the AHDN DVD
(rumor has it that soundtrack masters have since been located), perhaps that
decision to use the later soundtrack is understandable. There's no excuse
with the "Help!" DVD, however, because MPI was supplied with the pristine mono
soundtrack heard on AMC, and they ignored it.
With its visual restoration, the "Help!" DVD edges out the laserdisc, but
still falls short of being definitive. If you've already taken the DVD
plunge, Help! is the "best" of the three MPI titles, and the supplementary
material is first-rate. Hang on to your tape of the AMC presentation of
"Help!," though, because there's no better version for sale.
MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR [MPI CLV 1538 (LD) and MPI DVD 1583 (DVD)]
Although the DVDs of AHDN and "Help!" are more visually stunning than their
laserdisc cousins, their shortcomings prevent either DVD from becoming the
definitive home video version. With MMT, surprisingly, there is one clear
choice.
Both the LD and the DVD begin with the same "To the Viewer" disclaimer regarding
the film's 1988 transfer. In fact, there's no reason to believe that the DVD
version of MMT should be any different from the existing laserdisc version. No
further restoration done; no special screenings on cable networks.
Nevertheless, seconds after the film begins, differences become obvious.
The animated opening sequence has been altered on the DVD, a multi-colored
star frozen for a fraction of a second. The brief "raining stars" shot,
admittedly filthy on the laserdisc, has been wholly removed from the DVD.
It's been replaced by another view of the MMT coach, the camera zooming in
and out as in the excised shot. It is here that shoddy digital mastering
(or, perhaps, the limitations of the DVD format itself) becomes shockingly
apparent. During that zoom shot, the DVD's image degrades into a screenful
of rectangular pixels, like a television signal breaking up during
broadcast. This digital artifacting, or pixellation, can be seen throughout
the MMT DVD, often as a filmy haze hanging over the DVD image.
Peering through its murkiness, the DVD image lacks the vibrant look of the
laserdisc. The LD's bus is brilliant yellow, its lettering intense and
vivid. By comparison, the DVD bus looks faded, its color dull and dreary.
Regrettably, as with the AHDN DVD, MMT's DVD image has been cropped on the left,
top, and bottom of the screen. People visible at the fringes of the
laserdisc are eliminated from the DVD.
MMT's sound has also been mysteriously tweaked for DVD, with less than magical
results. The volume level of the background noise seems to have been
increased, but not without first adding an annoying layer of hiss. Like the
pixellation, it is difficult to ignore. The laserdisc, on the other hand,
sounds clear and bright-- it's not hiss-free, but certainly not overwhelming.
With the visual restorations of AHDN and "Help!" looking so splendid, it is
troubling that the MMT DVD is so bad. The extras (the opening of the Apple
boutique, trailers from the two earlier films [!]) are nice, but they don't
make up for the lackluster presentation of the main attraction. Skip this
DVD, at least until it's done right.
Many fans were pleased to see these three Beatles films appear on DVD so
quickly, especially given the footdragging surrounding most other
Beatles-related titles (can you say "Shea Stadium"?) Examining these DVDs,
however, forces the question: Did MPI jump too hastily on the DVD bandwagon?
If these DVDs weren't rushed, MPI certainly should have exercised more
control in the product they released. Each of these DVDs could have been
definitive. None of them is.
It's too early to pack away the laserdisc player, and too soon to purchase a DVD
machine (strictly for these discs, anyway). Spring for the format you
prefer, but don't be surprised if it's not the last time you invest in these
three films.
(With thanks to Justin Friend)
