A Hard Day's Night

[Hard Day's Night] adds up to a breathless, sometimes funny film maybe even worth a squeal or two.

This re-release offers a refreshed glimpse of a long-lost English Atlantis-and a farewell to it.

The movie never feels like a nostalgia trip. It moves, breathes and sings with life.

As invigorating and funny now as it was on its original release half a century ago, A Hard Day's Night offers both a perfect showcase for the Beatles and an intriguing snapshot of fast-changing, early-1960s British society.

It's pure joy as I Should Have Known Better, And I Love Her and Tell Me Why pour out over footage of thousands of screaming, weeping schoolgirls with bouffant hair and miniskirts pursuing John, Paul, George and Ringo.

The results remain pop perfection.

It’s like a collision of French New Wave freedom, pop-culture satire, and a magazine photo shoot gone out of control, all set to a soundtrack of catchy rock tunes destined to become classics.

As an article of celebrity enshrinement, A Hard Day’s Night is a joyful paradox—myth making premised on winking demystification, and having a blast with both.

This landmark film looks like a documentary, sounds like a musical, and feels like a comedy.

A Hard Day's Night has no plot. What it has instead, which is plenty, is invention, good looks and a lot of larky character.