"I almost think the other reviewers must have some sort of interest in selling this DVD. It's almost completely worthless. The "approximate" running time is 90 minutes but when you play it you'll see that it's just five separate 9-minute segments and some additional interview material from some of the people involved in making the DVD. There's not a lot of "new" footage; maybe a very short video clip here and there and a few rare photographs. And of course each of the 9-minute segments repeats a significant amount of material used to introduce the segment, which is obviously just a cheap way to add running time to the DVD. The only good thing to be said about it is that many of the people interviewed did have some association with the Beatles at some point in their history, but unfortunately they don't really have anything insightful to say. Just stuff like, "Yeah, John was a bad kid in school," or "When George joined the band he was much younger than the others.""
Silent home movies set to generic music & interviews.
Paul J. Mular | San Carlos, CA USA | 04/24/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This DVD program is only 46 minutes long, and appears to be a Cable TV documentary that ran on VH1.
One question: Why is a program made up entirely of vintage 1:33-1 footage produced in 1:85-1 widescreen? It only cuts off the top & bottom of the classic footage we are watching this for. Stupid producers involved in this!
The entire show is made up of rare B&W and Color silent home movies, some shot by the Beatles themselves. Early mute concert footage (of which no other recording is known) and on-the-set of Magical Mystery Tour footage are the highlights. The bulk of this would have been better as bonus material on a Magical Mystery Tour DVD than as the main focus of the DVD.
The home movies are professionally transferred to video and look fairly good, although the films should have been cleaned first.
At times the interview is super-imposed over the rare home movies, often blocking out the Beatle in the shot. This may be frustrating, but don't worry, the footage will be repeated (and repeated, and repeated) without the interview intrusion. Yes, the show is padded by repeating the home movie footage.
Phil Collins is one of the interviewed, but I found nothing new in the interviews and fast-forwarded until new home movie footage appeared.
Oh, yes, John Lennon is interviewed through old film clips, and unfortunately they are very BRIEF clips!
The DVD has bonus interviews that did not make it into the final cut of the short TV special, but most glaringly missing is the complete John Lennon Intervew!
Should you buy this? Only if you must have every known film footage of The Beatles. There are NO SONGS HERE!"
In it for the money
D. Krapels | The Netherlands | 12/13/2009
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Now and again, almost-famous people will think up brilliant ideas to get rich very fast by connecting themselves to succesful celebrities. The most unashamed example for me is clearly 'The Beatles: Rare and Unseen'. Alarm bells should start ringing the minute you hear almost-but-not-quite Beatles songs. Furthermore, the not-so-famous celebs being interviewed use hollow superlatives about the Beatles having 'shook up the world' or having created a 'brilliant sound'. Mm, not really mindblowing, now is it? Phil Collins (who'd been interviewed for this so-called 'production') is probably closely related to the producer, because as a professional he surely would never have had anything to with this rubbish. I got my copy as a gift, which is the only reason I cannot return it. Unfortunately. The five-star reviews for this product must have been created by the producer himself. If you read it, you see it isn't a review at all. It's just a bit of commercial copy, being re-used."
A Waste Of Time And Money !
Roy A. Harper | Largo, Florida United States | 05/12/2008
(1 out of 5 stars)
"Unless you are the hardest of hard core Beatle fans, don't bother with this ! In places, is 'elevator', generic Beatles music, and much of the rare footage is played while 'someone' who knew them speaks, with the speaker in the foreground. I only found interesting the interview with the drummer for Trini Lopez, and his association with Ringo. For good Beatles 'stuff', you're better off getting their movies, or the DVD set of them on The Ed Sullivan Show."
A Must For The Serious Beatles Collector
MichaelFla | Homestead, Fla | 06/12/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am an avid Beatles' collector including authenticated autographs of all them save for Lennon. This is to say that I take my Beatles' collecting very seriously, and I being a 1st generation fan I can state that this is one fine collection of unseen footage... Granted it is as good as 16mm film could be at the time, but it is archival, rare and more of what made The Beatles'so much fun and great. This DVD has nothing to be ashamed of and can stand proud in any true fan's collection... The interviews are great and the silent film pieces are almost like having rare 16mm Beatles' reels in one's collection! Get it, yeah, yeah, yeah!"