MovieChat Forums > The Compleat Beatles Discussion > What's the history of this?

What's the history of this?

posted 17 years ago by Mr Moody
16 replies | jump to latest

What is the chronology of when this was made and how it was released?

I see references to it being a 1982 movie but the theatrical release wasn't until 1984 (I saw this in the theater, but I could almost swear it was in 1980). Was it made for TV first, then released in theaters later?

How did Eric Idle lampoon this movie so well in All You Need Is Cash, supposedly 4-6 years before it came out? Was the John Lennon death material added later?

It's a huge mystery I can't seem to find any answers to.

[–] beachbuggy_music 17 years ago

The 1984 release date quoted confused me too. I'm convinced I saw this earlier than that (late '82/early'83) on rental video. But maybe my memory's just playing tricks on me!

Anyway, this film is largely responsible for me becoming a Beatle nut around that time (still am, in fact). Before seeing this I had a couple of albums but I didn't really know anything about the band in any great detail. After seeing this repeatedly (I remember having to re-rent the video a couple of times so I could watch it again... and again) I went out and bought all their albums, loads of books, started collecting bootlegs and generally obsessing!

This really is a fascinating film. Nothing I've seen since has quite caught the spirit of what the Beatles were about for me. Anthology may have been four hours longer and had access to more/better quality archive material (not to mention the inputs of Paul, George & Ringo) but this really captures something of the excitement of the era that Anthology doesn't quite manage for me.

[–] MaccaMan4741 17 years ago

Yeah,
I remember seeing 1982 as the Copyright date, and seeing it on Cinemax for the first time in early '84, Only to have it copied on VHS in '85, when I became a full-fledged fan of the Boys.

[–] judacia 16 years ago

My story is nearly similar. My parents are avid Beatles fans, however we only had a few of their LPs while I was a child. I had my first Beatles phase around the time I first saw this program on PBS. I drove my friends crazy with all my Beatles talk, and my Girl Scout troupers were a bit nasty to me about it. In my teens, I had a second phase around the time that Backbeat came out. I was not only able to start collecting the CDs, but also which ever videos I could find. Now I'm trying to replace all the videos that are available on DVD. Sadly, Compleat Beatles is not one of them. Nevertheless, I found that my copy is not copyright protected when I was playing with my DVD recorder.

[–] lostnorm 16 years ago

I first heard of this from an add that was inserted into
the "Red" & "Blue" LPs, the first Beatles albums that I bought!
I ended up recording it on my local PBS station during a
pledge drive, I had wanted to get it on DVD but that never happened.
I have this on both VHS (purchased a few years ago) and Laser Disc
(just got it a few months ago), the copywright is 1982.
I transfered it to DVD as it will never be released officially
because of the Anthology. I prefer this to the Anthology.

[–] GojiraShei 16 years ago

I first saw this around 1990, when it was on PBS. It was probably released in Britain in 1982, and then made it to America in 1984. That's my best guess anyway.

The Rutles thing is pure coincidence. If you want to check out an actual parody of this documentary, see if you can find "The Compleat Al," a mockumentary about the rise of 'Weird Al' Yankovic, from the mid-80s. The introduction, in particular, is almost word for word verbatim, only Liverpool is replaced by Linwood CA. Pretty funny stuff.

[–] plwblj 15 years ago

Lynwood(sp.)

[–] LinkTGF 15 years ago

If I'm not mistaken, I recall Eric Idle stating that as a close friend of the Beatles, he got to see the unreleased doc they were making "The Long and Winding Road", which is fairly close in subject matter to "The Compleat Beatles" - which is why when the Beatles saw "All You Need Is Cash" they all mostly loved it because it spoofed "The Long and Winding Road" so well

-Beatles Apple Scruff-

[–] Anscules 14 years ago

i thought i saw this in 82 on hbo in the states. i would kill for this on dvd. it is completely superior to the anthology. the gut punch at the end of this film is never approached in the slightest in the anthology.

"Rampart: Squad 51."

[–] macklin-1 14 years ago

If anyone is keeping score I bought this as a VHS in 1983, Times Square NY. There was a compleat Beatle line of stuff, record Collection (Compleat but not the albums covers), sheet music (two large volumes boxed - I had this two), TV Specials and the movies (a boxed set). They all had the compleat Beatle packaging with the multi colored logo - not the one pictured above.

[–] nobozos35 13 years ago

It was released on VHS/Laser Disc in November 1982. I drove to a city an hour away just to rent a copy. I was disappointed with it. A tremendous lack of footage. They couldn't even use the Ed Sullivan Show footage. Watching still photos and album covers spinning around isn't interesting to me. They should have just issued a book.

[–] pmontgomery-2 13 years ago

I can tell you the history of this film because I produced and directed it. I was hired by Delilah Books in 1980 to make a short promotional film for the two volume set they were publishing of all of the Beatles sheet music called THE COMPLEAT BEATLES. Because the project was being backed by ATV Music which at the time controlled the Beatles publishing rights I had complete run of the song catalog as well as access to all the the EMI masters. I started collecting footage and shooting interviews and by the time I was finished had a four hour rough cut of the entire Beatles story and Delilah realized that it could be much something bigger than just a promotional short. But we did not have the Beatles permission so it was whittled down to two hours as we were forced to remove footage that they controlled the rights to, including the Ed Sullivan Show (we did use the audience shots but could not use the performance). MGM/UA Home Video came up with the money to finish the film and they released it on VHS in 1982, at a time when there were very few music documentaries being released on video. It did very well and then in 1984 Delilah and MGM arranged for it to be released theatrically in the U.S. by a small distributor named Teleculture to give it a second life. It continued to be a best seller on VHS. Some years later, when Paul McCartney was preparing the Beatles Anthology, he bought the negative and all the rights to the film from Delilah to get it off of the market and clear the way for his production. That is why it is not available on DVD and probably never will be.

[–] preppy-3 13 years ago

Figures. Since McCartney has bought the rights we'll NEVER see it again! Truthfully "The Beatles Anthology" WAS great but "The Compleat Beatles" was good too. I saw it at a small art house cinema in Cambridge MA (for some reason the chain theatres wouldn't touch it) in the early 1980s. The screen was ridiculously small and no stereo sound...but I loved it. Thank u for clearing up what we were all wondering Mr. Montgomery. Seriously it's terrible that your film will probably never see the light of day again. Maybe McCartney might have a change of heart but I wouldn't bet on it.

[–] movienut710 12 years ago

Mister Montgomery, I thought you might like to know that your wonderful documentary literally changed my life when I first saw it in 1984. It is because of your film that I began to learn to play guitar, which inspired many of my friends to do the same. My various bands have had a good deal of local success,(I played music as my main source of income for several years) every girlfriend I've ever had I met through playing music, I know couples who met at my shows, who are now married and have children, (Couples that without a doubt would not have met otherwise). I know The Beatles were The Beatles, so of course I pay them all possible respect, but YOUR film is what changed ME from a casual Beatles fan to someone who wanted to be a professional musician. Being able to thank You personally is for me the greatest use I've ever had for the entire internet. You REALLY REALLY changed many lives for the better, and that's just in my sphere alone. God Bless You, Sir

[–] cryptical70 12 years ago

The Compleat Beatles started as double volume set of oversized music books, with all of the music and lyrics of the Beatles' songs. Also included in the books were articles and pictures. It was available in the reference section of my public library. However I considered stealing them, since they were not for home use(!!) This was circ. 1981-82.

In 1982 I went into my local video store in Levittown, Long Island, NY. This was the time when VHS was first starting to come on the scene, and small video stores were opening everywhere (pre-Blockbuster). The store also sold Atari systems and games. One day I was in the store the manager stuck in a VHS tape, and it turned out to be the Compleat Beatles! The movie began in America as a commercial video tape, and it was definitely 1982.

[–] SteveResin 12 years ago

It was released in 1982 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of 'love Me Do'. The BBC here in the UK at the time also showed all 5 Beatles films, yes, even Let It Be. I bought the Compleat Beatles on vhs at Christmas 82, and almost wore it out wathing it through the 80s and early 90s until Anthology was released :)

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Duty Now For The Future

[–] erslade1 12 years ago

Just bought this on laserdisc & it looks great a beautiful clear picture. There is even a remastered laser but with the original film elements used i would say they would both look the same.