From Us To You: The Early Beatles Video Collection (Master Of Beatles Essentials MBEDVD-010V1/2)
DVD 1: Live at Floral Hall – February 20th, 1962: Sheila – Kansas City. Live at the Cavern, Liverpool – August 22nd, 1962. Some Other Guy, Catswalk, Some Other Guy (alternate version). Film at Sefton Park – March 25th, 1963 (I Got Find My Baby). BBC Paris Theater – April 4th, 1963 (Bad To Me). Interview and live at Great Yarmouth – June 30th, 1963 (She Loves You / Please Please Me). Film at North Somerset – July 27th, 1963 (BBC Medley : Don’t Ever Change – Hippy Hippy Shake – Soldier Of Love – Boys – Slow Down). Film at Jersey Channel Island – August 6-10th, 1963 (Anna). Scene at 6:30 – August 14th, 1963 (Twist And Shout). Film at Blackpool – August 23rd, 1963 (Thank You Girl). Mersey Sound – August 27-30, 1963 (Twist And Shout / Love Me Do / She Loves You). Big Night Out – September 1st, 1963 (From Me To You / She Loves You / Twist And Shout / I Saw Her Standing There). Melody Maker Awards – September 10, 1963. Ready Steady Go! – October 10, 1963 (Twist And Shout / I’ll Get You / She Loves You). Sunday Night at London Palladium – October 3rd, 1963. Playhouse London – October 16th, 1963. Thank Your Lucky Stars – October 20th, 1963 (Money). Departure For Sweden – October 23rd, 1963 (I’ll Be On My Way). Live at Gothenburg – October 27th, 1963 (There’s A Place). Drop In: Stockholm, Sweden – October 30th, 1963 (She Loves You / Twist And Shout / I Saw Her Standing There / Long Tally Sally). Extra video: The Beatles Come To Town, full screen version ( She Loves You / Twist And Shout)
DVD 2: Return from Sweden – October 31st, 1963 (Baby It’s You). Royal Variety rehearsal – November 4th, 1963 (She Loves You). Royal Variety performance – November 4th, 1963 (From Me To You / She Loves You / Till There Was You / Twist And Shout). This Week TV show – November 5th, 1963. In Town TV show – November 7th, 1963. Day By Day – November 12th, 1963. Move Over Dad TV show – November 13th, 1963 (Misery). Film at Odeon Cinema – November 15th, 1963 (I’ll Get You). US TV network, Live at Bournmouth – November 16th, 1963 (Roll Over Beethoven / She Loves You). Scene at 6:30 interview – November 20th, 1963. The Beatles come to town – November 20th, 1963 (She Loves You / Twist And Shout / This Boy). Interview at ABC Carlisle – November 21th, 1963. Scene at 6:30 – November 25th, 1963 (I Want To Hold Your Hand / This Boy). Interview at Cambridge – November 26th, 1963. Morecombe & Wise Show – December 2nd, 1963 (This Boy / All My Loving / I Want To Hold Your Hand / Moonlight Bay). It’s The Beatles – December 7th, 1963 (I Want To Hold Your Hand / Money (That’s What I Want) / Twist And Shout / From Me To You – Third Man Theme). News at Southend-On-Sea – December 9th, 1963. Live at Wimbledon Palais, London – December 14th, 1963 (I Wanna Be Your Man). Thank Your Lucky Stars – December 15th, 1963 (I Want To Hold Your Hand / All My Loving / Twist And Shout / She Loves You). Christmas message – December 20th, 1963. Extra video: Royal Variety performance, original version (From Me To You / She Loves You / Till There Was You / Twist And Shout) CBS evening news at Bournemouth (She Loves You). It’s The Beatles (Not A Second Time / I Want To Hold Your Hand)
From Us To You is a two DVD collection of various Beatles television appearances and home movies. Totalling four hours, the films begin with the earliest footage of the band in early 1962 to the end of 1963, almost two full years. The quality varies with each clip, but they are all generally very watchable and offer a fascinating glimpse into the early years of the band beginning with the short clip from Floral Hall. This is a copy of the ITN broadcast on May 16th, 1996 about when it first surfaced, and the network’s logo is present in the corner. The color footage is clear and the music is dubbed in but it is very clear and enjoyable. Raw footage contains shots of the band playing on stage at The Cavern and various other audience shots with “Some Other Guy” and the instrumental “Catwalk” playing as a soundtrack. This footage has a time counter at the bottom of the screen. The final “Some Other Guy” is an alternate cut from the Anthology.
The March 25th Sefton Park is color 8mm film of the band goofing in the park and is followed by more 8mm color footage of the band outside of the BBC Paris Theater shot by a member of the Karl Denver Trio on April 1st. This footage was used in several edits of the “Baby It’s You” promo prepared by Apple/EMI in 1995 in conjunction with the single release of the same name, from the Live at the BBCalbum. The Yarmouth footage is in black and white and contains a short interview (out of sync) talking about fashion to a French mc followed by two short concert clips with “She Loves You” and “Please Please Me.” The North Summerset footage was filmed on July 27, 1963 and consists of home movies of The Beatles taken by photographer Dezo Hoffman. The film includes color footage of The Beatles at the beach, on go-carts, and general goofing off while involved in photo shoots. Portions of this footage was used in the “Real Love” video from 1995, as well as during “The Beatles Anthology,” Tape #1. It was aired on BBC TV on Dec 3, 1982, on BBC 4’s “The Tube”.
The film at Jersey Channel Island is more color 8mm home movies of the band walking around and boarding the airplane. There are even shots of the wing from the air. This is followed by “Twist And Shout” shot on August 14, 1963 for Granada TV’s “Scene at 6:30” aired on Aug 14 and Aug 19. They were filmed performing “Twist and Shout” and “She Loves You” but only the former has surfaced, appearing on montage clips in the Anthology and part of Imagine: John Lennon. The footage is very clear and the band look very arty in their black turtlenecks. Blackpool was filmed on August 23rd, 1963 and shows color footage of the band on stage and in the dressing room.
A thirty minute documentary follows titled The Mersy Sound. Made by filmmaker Don Haworth, The Beatles worked over four days on this project. On August 27th they were filmed performing “Twist And Shout,” “She Loves You,” and “Love Me Do” in an empty theater in Southport. This was edited with footage of a screaming audience from the August 26th show at the Southport Odeon. On August 28th they filmed interviews, on August 29th a mock airport arrival and a ferry trip were filmed, and finally on August 30th Ringo and George were interviewed. The video is in excellent quality black and white. The documentary was first broadcast on 9 October 1963. “She Loves You” performance was also sold on to the Jack Paar Show in America where it became the first Beatles US TV show appearance on January 3rd, 1964.
The documentary is followed by their performance on ABC-TV’s (UK) comedy show “Big Night Out.” This was taped on September 1st, 1963 at Didsbury Studio Centre in Manchester and is in black and white in very good quality. This is the first of four appearances on the television program and was originally scheduled for August 18 with an August 24th air-date. The Beatles mimed four songs: “From Me To You,” “She Loves You”, “Twist and Shout”, and “I Saw Her Standing There” while standing on a stage in a mock up of The Cavern in Liverpool. This clip consists of the Mike and Bernie Winters opening and the musical performances. This is followed by a short newsreel of the Melody Maker awards. After this MBE present the entire October 4, 1963 episode of Associated-Rediffusions’s “Ready Steady Go!” They mime to “Twist and Shout,” “I’ll Get You,” and “She Loves You.” But the broadcast also includes Ringo being interviewed by Dusty Springfield and Paul judging the “Mime Time.” Four girls lip sync to Brenda Lee’s “Let’s Jump The Broomstick.” Paul of course picks the prettiest girl, Melanie Cole with the black dress. “Twist and Shout” and “She Loves You” were released officially on Ready Steady Go: Volume2. All three songs appear on the Japanese laserdisc Ready Steady Go.
The “Val Parnell’s Sunday Night At The Palladium” from October 13, 1963 contains only the interview. They performed “I’ll Get You”, “Twist and Shout”, “From Me to You”, and “She Loves You” but the film no longer exits. There is audio circulating from the show, however. The following October 16th, 1963 Playhouse, London is a very short interview clip. This is followed by their appearance on the October 20, 1963 “Thank Your Lucky Stars.” They mimed to three songs but only one, “Money,” has surfaced among collectors and is included in this collection in very good quality. The first disc ends with three clips surrounding their first trip to Sweden. The departure contains various shots of them boarding the airplane and is followed by a very short clip in color of their show at the Cirkus Lorensbersparken in Gothenburg, Sweden on October 27th, 1963. The final clip is their appearance on the Swedish television program “Drop In” on October 30, 1963 and aired on November 4th. The Beatles performed “She Loves You,” “Twist and Shout,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “Long Tall Sally.”
As a bonus on disc one is an eight and a half minute color newsreel from November 20, 1963. This features a concert at the ABC, Ardwick, Manchester and is titled “The Beatles Come to Town.” Run in theaters on December 22nd, it includes two songs: “She Loves You” and “Twist and Shout.” It is fantastic seeing this film with a live performance instead of the mimed ones that make up the bulk of the disc. There are great close ups but Lennon becomes camera shy during “Twist And Shout” for some reason.
The second disc contains home movies in excellent quality of them landing at Heathrow after the trip to Sweden and disembarking the plane. There is short black and white film of their rehearsal before the show taken from a newsreel, and is followed by the Royal Variety performance with “She Loves You,” which was not broadcast, taken from a fair quality print. The rest is in excellent condition. This edit also appears on the recent Misterclaudel release in identical quality. Following this are interviews from the following day from the TV show “This Week.” Filmed in the back of the limo, they talk about success, their haircuts, and fans state how sexy they are. The “In Town” television interview is from November 7th, 1963 and was filmed at the Dublin airport. The interview covers the same ground regarding their haircuts, the Liverpool sound, and how surprised they are by their success. The one unique angle in this interview is a short discussion with George whose mother came with the band in order to see some of their Irish cousins. The interview ends with Ringo speaking about their appeal to female fans.
The next interview dates from November 12th at the Guildhall in Portsmouth conducted by Jeremy James for the Southern TV show “Day By Day.” This occurred before a performance that was actually cancelled. They speak about driving in the van to get to the gig and the usual questions about their popularity. One of the more interesting exchanges is: Q: “You’re getting so much publicity these days, and even the ‘egghead’ papers are writing about you. Have you been just a little bit worried that you might be going over the top fairly soon?” JOHN: “No, you know. When you gotta go, you gotta go.” Q: “What are you going to do when your time comes?” GEORGE: “Sail on me yacht.” They also speak about the Royal Variety performance from the previous week: Q: “How did you enjoy the Royal Variety show?” GEORGE: “It was great. Fabulous. It was very good, you know. The audience was much better than we expected.” JOHN: (jokingly) “Much taller.”
This is followed by a brief clip of home movies outside of the Odeon Cinema Lewisham, showing fans cueing for the show. Next is raw footage of their November 16th show in Bournemouth which was used for the CBS special report on British Beatlemania aired the following week. The broadcast is available on The Undiscovered Beatles Vol. 1 (MBE 2007SPV02) and as a bonus track on this disc.. It is most interesting for footage of them performing “She Loves You.” The short “Scene At 6:30” interview clip covers the usual ground, asking how long their popularity will last and is followed by another version of the Manchester newsreel found as a bonus track on the first DVD. The bonus was in full screen, but this is in widescreen and in poorer quality than the other and contains additional footage at the end of the band opening fan mail.
The interview at ABC Carlisle dates from November 21th, 1963. It is in poor quality and very short, but the interview asks an interesting question about how the band feels about having police protection when in London. “I think we need it” Ringo laughs. The November 25th, 1963 “Scene At 6:30” clip was filmed at the Granada television studio in Manchester. Liverpool commedian Kenneth Dodd is interviewed with the band and the first question asked is, “to what extent do they attribute their success to their hair styles.” Dodd, with his hair sticking straight up, says it has a tremendous amount of influence on his success and goes on to say The Beatles are Martians. Dodd goes on to say that isn’t true for the Beatles “because they have a tremendous gimmick: talent.” After a rather lengthy and silly interview, the band mime to “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and ” This Boy.”
The interview at Regal Cinema in Cambridge dates from November 26th and lasts only a couple of seconds. It is in poor audio and video quality and features Lennon talking about going to America. This is followed by their appearance on the Morecambe & Wise Show, filmed at Elstree Studio in Borehamwood on December 2nd. The video is very clear but has a grey bar in the upper left hand corner. The footage contains the band miming to “This Boy,” “All My Loving,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” and “Moonlight Bay.” The final number is a little skit with the band dressed in straw hats singing the standard with Ernie Wise while Eric Morecambe walks around with Beatle wig singing “Twist & Shout.” Most of the footage is in superior quality since it was taken from the Anthology but the very end, when Lennon tries to tell a joke, is edited back in from an inferior source.
The “It’s The Beatles” special dates from Liverpool on December 7th at the Empire Pool. They play “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “Money,” “Twist & Shout.” This is in good quality with the time counter at the bottom of the screen. The footage from ITV News dates from the Odeon Cinema in Southend-On-Sea on December 9th, 1963. It contains various shots of the band shaking hands with the mayor of the city. This is followed by several seconds from a concert at the Wimbledon Palais in London December 14 1963. The footage is grainy and silent and is set to “I Wanna Be Your Man.” “Thank Your Lucky Stars” was filmed at Alpha TV Studio Birmingham on December 15. This is, according to the voiceover at the beginning, the “Mersyside Edition” with various groups from Liverpool including Cilia Black, Gerry And The Pacemakers, and of course “the magnificent Beatles.” The band mimes to “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “All My Loving,” “Twist & Shout,” and “She Loves You.”
The disc ends with their Christmas message from December 20th. Filmed at the Astoria, Finsbury Park in London, and consists the band giving Christmas greetings to their fans. The first of two bonus tracks on the second disc is the complete Royal Variety Performance. This cut has the time counter at the bottom of the screen but is in great quality. The second bonus track is the complete CBS broadcast from November 1963. Overall the two discs contain four hours of fascinating material. It is such a comprehensive collection that viewing it all in one sitting is overwhelming. The discs are in NTSC format region 0 with very simple menus making navigation very easy.
