Comment by 60s Fan on December 10, 2013 at 6:12pm

Is this a movie or a stage play or something? Cool!

Comment by BeatleBob on December 12, 2013 at 12:48pm

This was a movie. But the info I found didn't live up to the Cool Poster from it that I posted!! LOL! This is what I found:

This 50-minute video (which has a very strange release history) is not only lots of fun, but also a crash course in a lot of what was right and wrong with the bands in the British beat boom of 1963-64. Based on its artistic merits, Go-Go Big Beat would command an extremely low rating -- none of the instruments or singers are miked, the miming is often atrocious, and only about half the songs constitute the kind of material that many of us would choose to listen to by the groups involved. On the other hand, some of the instruments (including lots of Vox guitars) are cool to see, plugged in or not, and there are entertaining lessons to be learned here watching acts like the Merseybeats, the Cockneys, the Swinging Blue Jeans, and the Migil Five (who look incredibly uncomfortable trying to rock out, its members at least 10 years older than any of the other musicians here). The bands that didn't make it -- and some of them had above-average songs -- had a look that simply didn't excite, or came off as lightweights in the way they presented themselves, barely taking the trouble to look like they were playing their instruments; in fact, most of their efforts were directed toward keeping in step with one other. But the Hollies, the Animals, and Lulu & the Luvvers throw themselves 100% into their miming as though they were really in a concert setting, and their clips are extraordinary. Go-Go Big Beat was originally an 82-minute feature made up of the short films Swinging UK and UK Swings Again, featuring these bands and the three excessively proper deejays introducing them; they were linked to a ballet film, produced and directed by Kenneth Hume, called Mods and Rockers, depicting leather-jacketed and Edwardian-garbed toughs duking it out in sub-West Side Story fashion, all set to songs written by the Beatles (but recorded on the soundtrack by the Liverpool band the Cheynes). In the background, a very effeminate young black teenager watches the fighting and stares admiringly at the statue of a naked gladiator, and, at the end, walks off arm-in-arm with a male biker. This was pretty bizarre stuff to try and sell to teens, and apart from the homoerotic content, a lawsuit by the Beatles ensued over a publicity campaign. Mods and Rockers has disappeared from this version of Go-Go Big Beat, leaving only the 50 minutes of music interludes that Hume originally bought simply to pad out his "ballet" film. There's enough good -- or revealingly bad -- stuff throughout to make this release a good candidate for DVD release, despite its shortcomings.

Brian Epstein instituted legal action after publicity material for the film suggested that The Beatles would appear. In fact, their music was used in a short ballet sequence.  

Comment by 60s Fan on December 12, 2013 at 3:59pm

Thanks for more information!!! I noticed the poster said it has MUSIC BY The Beatles, but didn't mention them actually performing (or even lip synching and miming) ! LOL but that's ok because all the other artists featured is enough for me to watch!!! :-)  I hope to watch it someday, somehow!

Comment by BeatleBob on December 13, 2013 at 12:32pm

You're Welcome for the info!! :-) When it said Hear These Beatles Greats, I thought it meant The Beatles were performing those songs in the film. LOL! Guess not. But yeah, some of the other artists performing sounds good enough to watch!! Maybe someday you'll find it!  :-)

Comment