Another amusing segment has an old game show called "I've Got a Secret" in which a person comes on and tells the host a secret and then the contestants have to figure out what the secret was that was whispered in the hosts ear by questioning. The person in question for this show is Pete Best, the Beatles ex-drummer. It's funny because he says that he QUIT the Beatles because he wanted to start his own band. In reality, he was fired.

The last major segment is an interview with the Beatles in 1966 right before Candlestick Park, their last tour stop. It's quite entertaining when one interviewer asks "Is the song 'Day Tripper' about a prostitute?" In fact, he should have been asking about what drug it was about!

Overall, this disc should only be bought by a real Beatles fan. The poor quality of the concert is nothing a casual fan would want. It's more of historical interest. So I guess if you want the gameshow bit and the interview at the end, its worth 5$. The sound and picture is television of the era quality which is decent.

I would recommend The Beatles Anthology over this. Also, Good Times has another DVD composed entirely of non-musical bits of the Beatles called Fun with the Fab Four. That disc is much better. Sometimes you can find both in a two disc set.


Not recommended   March 1, 2004
Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

If you have the Beatles Anthology, this is a waste of time and money. The bulk of the entire 51 minutes here consists of the Beatles February, 1964 in Washington, D.C. Most of that was already aired on the Anthology, and they used a cleaner, crisper tape source. Here the audio is terrible and the video is grainy, muted and washed out. There are no tight camera angles and everything is shot from a blurry distance. The entire footage from here is dreadful.

More interesting is the brief segment with Pete Best, from the American game show, "I've Got a Secret." Watching Pete and hearing him interact proves conclusively that Ringo was the right replacement for the boys. Not only could Ringo drum circles around Pete, Ringo's charismatic personality cemented the Fab's legacy. It's impossible not to love Ringo, from this footage it seems a stretch that Pete could ever have won a solid fan base, he's not funny, stiff, and has zero charisma.

The only decent bit on the entire DVD is some brief footage (not shown on the Anthology), of the Beatles right before taking the stage in August, 1966, at Candlestick Park. I bought this solely because I am a die-hard Beatlemanic and had never seen this rare footage before. It lasts only 70 seconds. If you're a hardened fanatic like me, you'll have to buy this DVD just for those previous 70 seconds. If you're just a casual fan, pass on this.


Not the Best   June 19, 2004
Julie A Ross (Pleasant Hill, CA United States)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

This DVD features three segments: the Beatles' 1964 Washington, DC concert, their 1964 Hollywood Bowl concert, and a press conference from their August 1966 final tour. In between segments you see a blue screen with music notes all over it, which looks like it was done on a home computer. Next comes the quality issue: I have bootlegs that look and sound better than this DVD. Then comes the issue of completeness: At least two out of the three shows (I'm not sure about the interview) are incomplete. Of the Washington concert, only 8 of the 12 songs are presented. I have a bootleg DVD with all twelve - including "Long Tall Sally." Of the Hollywood Bowl concert, 2 of the 10 existing songs are here. I have a bootleg of the entire performance. If you want the complete Washington concert, check out the Beatles Around the World DVD. As for the Hollywood Bowl, one other song is presented (and in much better quality too) on the Anthology. So after all that, why is my rating so high? Well, yes the quality is bad and the shows are incomplete, but there are few other places where you can legally find this material. So it may not be a bad buy.


Not For Casual Beatle Fans   May 17, 2007
JC (New Jersey)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Yes, the concert footage on this DVD is quite poor. But...

Besides concert footage, this DVD contains press conference footage from around the Rubber Soul era which I found very interesting. Far from the quick and witty Beatles of the first U.S. visit, here they look world-weary and tired. Their attempts at the zany, funny answers seem forced and half-hearted, and even the questions from the press are overly serious and even morbid ("Are you going through the IRS to pay taxes from the tour?", "What would happen if you weren't transported in an armored vehicle, do you fear you'd be physically harmed?")

There are a couple of songs from the farewell Hollywood Bowl show. Here again, the Beatles appear to have run out of enthusiasm, and the poor quality of the footage cannot explain away their tired and lackluster performance.

Juxtapose this with footage from a couple of years earlier, their first U.S. concert in Washington D.C., just days after their Ed Sullivan debut. Here, the Beatles are still in disbelief over how their fame has preceded them. They are forced to grapple with an appalling stage-in-the-round, where they have to alternate different sides of the stage, including turning the drum set around. But they still manage to sing their hearts out, and with an innocent enthusiasm. One funny for instance: John sings the wrong verses in "Twist and Shout", but Paul and George render the correct "answer vocals", and seem to get some amusement over the fact that it is obvious that John is singing the wrong words.

Also included is a Pete Best appearance on "I've Got a Secret". After his "secret" is uncovered, he explains that he quit The Beatles to do his own thing -- the real story now quite notorious, and no secret to any Beatles enthusiast!

The D.C. concert footage is notoriously bad, so I had no great expectations when I purchased this DVD. The fact is, I usually spend more on a sandwich than I spent on this DVD, so I have not complaints. It's an entertaining package for people who have already pursued other Beatle archive material -- but if you're looking for quality concert footage / documentary, I would highly recommend "First U.S. Visit".



A Decent Compilation   April 7, 2007
Jesse Ross (San Francisco)
No, this is not the greatest Beatles compilation out there. But it's far from the worst. This is probably the best DVD release of the Beatles' 1964 Washington concert. Six songs are presented in full, plus the first half of "Twist and Shout" - it cuts off at the point where the film ran out. The quality is quite good on that portion. Next up is the Beatles' Hollywood Bowl concert footage. Good video quality, but very bad audio. However, the version of "Twist and Shout" here is not edited like it is on some of the bootleg versions I've seen. The final segment is the press conference from 1966. That is very interesting to hear.

I am giving this video 4 stars mainly because of the Washington concert. It is the best presentation of that concert yet. The rest of the video gets three stars, due to the lack of remastered quality.

In conclusion, this is a fair compilation, but it is not Anthology. If you don't have the Washington concert yet, get this. If you do, don't bother with this one.