Beatles '64

• 1. Introduction

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  Beatles '64 begins in the United States in February 1964, at the moment the country first heard the group perform live. The documentary, directed by David Tedeschi and produced by Martin Scorsese, was released on Disney+ on the 29th of November 2024. The film documents the cultural impact of that three-week visit and examines the personal dynamics of the four group members during that period. Archival footage from the Beatlemania era forms its visual core. What it took to bring that footage to viewers in 2024 is as much of the story as the events it documents.

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• 2. The Maysles Archive

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  Albert and David Maysles shot footage of the Beatles in 1964 for their own documentary, What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A. Park Road Post digitally restored that material in 4K for Beatles '64. Footage from the Beatles' performances at The Ed Sullivan Show and the Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C. was also restored for the production. New interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were filmed for the documentary as well. Their present-day recollections sit alongside the archival footage, giving the film its dual perspective. The audio from those same performances required yet another technical approach.

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• 3. Restoring the Sound

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  Giles Martin remixed the audio from those same performances, using de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films. That technology had been applied to Beatles catalogue before Beatles '64: to the 2022 reissue of Revolver and the 2023 reissue of 1962-1966. The decision to apply it to Beatles '64 emerged from relationships formed on a different Scorsese documentary entirely.

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• 4. The Production Circle

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  David Tedeschi first became involved with Apple Corps through his work as an editor on Martin Scorsese's documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World. That project drew both directors into a close friendship with Olivia Harrison, widow of the late George Harrison. Her involvement extended into Beatles '64 as a producer. The full producing credits list Scorsese, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sean Ono Lennon, Margaret Bodde, Jonathan Clyde, and Mikaela Beardsley. Jeff Jones and Rick Yorn served as executive producers. The soundtrack that accompanied the documentary offered another dimension to the film's musical world.

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• 5. The Companion Soundtrack

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  The Beatles '64 soundtrack was released on the 22nd of November 2024, a week before the documentary itself appeared on Disney+. It collects studio recordings by the Beatles of songs that feature in the film. It also includes the original versions of tracks the Beatles covered. Among them are Chuck Berry's recording of 'Roll Over Beethoven' and Little Richard's recording of 'Long Tall Sally'. One of the compilation's more unexpected inclusions is a 1968 performance of 'Yesterday' by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on The Ed Sullivan Show. That performance post-dates the documentary's main events by four years. Its inclusion extends the album's timeline to 1968, with an artist who carried a Beatles song back to that same stage.

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