/// MISSION BRIEFING

Thirty years after A Hard Day's Night, its producer, director, writer and others describe its making. United Artists Records came to Walter Shenson, asking him to produce a movie so UA could issue a soundtrack album. Shenson signed Lester to direct, and they got the Beatles to agree to star. Shenson sent Owen to Dublin to spend time with the Fab Four; from this came a script built around their being prisoners of their own success. Phil Collins, himself an extra on A Hard Day's Night, hosts this examination of a seminal film: what was ad-libbed, why was it a hit, what was its influence on other movies, and how did it define the way the public viewed each Beatle for years to come?