Colourization of A Hard Day's Night
By Tony Copple, prompted by John Whelan

A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles' first movie, producted by Walter Shenson and directed by Richard Lester, with screenplay by Alun Owen, was very highly regarded by Roger Ebert and other critics as a piece of moviemaking. Beatle fans of course see it as a priceless snapshot of the band that repays repeated watching and listening. It was filmed in black and white in 1964. In 2002 Miramax released the film in a restored format with 5.1 Dolby stereo sound, followed in 2002 with a DVD version and much bonus material.

Now a suggestion is gaining momentum to produce a colour version. The process is complex; every frame must be modified and re-filmed.

Here are some examples of what it might look like showing that the technology is now available to create a very satisfying result, though time-consuming and expensive. This work has been done by a group of volunteers just to show what is possible. For continuity other shots have been spliced into these samples, which are not part of A Hard Day's Night.

Miramax, think about it! The potential audience is out there.

And I love her

Tell me why

She loves you - partial colourization.