The Beatles in film The Beatles in film The Beatles appeared in five motion pictures, most of which were very well received. The exception was the (mostly unscripted) television film "Magical Mystery Tour" which was panned by critics and the public alike. Each of their films had the same name as their associated soundtrack album and a song on that album. The Beatles had a successful film career, beginning with A Hard Day's Night (1964), a loosely scripted comic farce, sometimes compared to the Marx Brothers in style. A black-and-white film, it focused on Beatlemania and the band's hectic touring lifestyle and was directed
The Beatles was an unorthodox nonfiction film that combined newsreel footage with covers of Beatles songs by performers ranging from Elton John and Keith Moon to the London Symphony Orchestra. The Broadway musical "Beatlemania", an unauthorised nostalgia revue, opened in early 1977 and proved popular, spinning off five separate touring productions. In 1979, the band sued the producers, settling for several million dollars in damages. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1978), a musical film starring the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton, was a commercial failure and an "artistic fiasco", according to Ingham. A wave of Beatles nostalgia and persistent reunion rumours